What’s the point of church? How important is it really? What are we trying to accomplish every week, not letting ourselves sleep in, driving up to a building with a bunch of people in uncomfortable clothes, and facing the same direction while we sing or talk about something we cannot see?
I’m not sure I can offer a suitable answer for these church-existential questions, but I figure it’s worthwhile to reflect on the Church—namely, how it teaches, its attitude on money, and its grand intent. Perhaps in analyzing our habits and assumptions as a body of believers, we can be both more efficient as congregations and more insightful as parishioners.
We’ll start this week with the teaching (and preaching) of our congregations. Thinking foremost of Sunday morning Bible class—time set aside specifically for teaching—what can we say is the purpose behind this period of study? Probably the most common answer I hear is that we gather to better understand the Bible, and the point of that is so that we can better understand the Gospel (and our role in it) and, more importantly, understand God, our friend and king.
Another popular answer is that we study in order to form our character—or, to use technical terms, to learn Christian ethics. How should we as Christians in the Kingdom be living? How can I show people that I am a Christian? How can I act out Christian love towards others? These are practical questions, and I tend to favor these myself when teaching classes on Scripture.
Undoubtedly, there are other intentions for teaching beyond these two. A good preacher may bring their pulpit conviction, lamentation, public declaration, or social critique. (These don’t usually translate as well coming from a classroom teacher. If the teacher seems like they’re trying to convict the listeners, someone in the back row will probably whisper that the teacher is being a little preachy.)
It would seem then that Bible class teaching is most concerned with understanding and with ethics—to better know God and to better love others. It’s worth asking if we can max-out on either these goals? The very suggestion may sound like heresy, but admittedly the Bible only has so many pages and surely anyone who is surpassed 1000 Sunday morning Bible classes (not to mention sermons and Wednesday nights) has heard some repeat lessons. Or perhaps that’s not the point, and rather we keep going over the same facts and ideas in order to engrain them in our soul.
We should also mention teaching styles. What’s best: lectures, discussions, or interactive and creative activities? Some of each for variety or to best appeal to a variety of class members? If we have more lectures, do we run the risk of an idiot leading a whole class astray? But if we lean towards discussion format, do we waste our time listening to people who have no idea what they’re talking about?
Class time on Sunday mornings is perhaps my favorite part of the Church’s gathering, despite the fact that my eyes have not fully opened by 9:00 most weeks. But I think it’s important to reflect on these questions: what ought we be teaching our church-goers? And what’s the most effective way to be teaching them?
Regarding the latter, I prefer lecturing (for obvious reasons), but ministerial and psychological studies tell us that discussions are more effective for keeping class members engaged. Of course, if you don’t have someone lecture now and again, you’re never going to learn anything, you’re never going to grow, and your discussions will move in circles.
Regarding the content, that’s both easier and harder. It’s harder in that I have no idea what the Church would be best served to dwell on every week for an hour—it seems like a lot of value can be gleaned from that time. It’s easy, however, to answer then: everything. Let’s discuss theology—the nature of God and our salvation—and let’s even discuss the history and narrative of the Bible for its own sake. Let’s definitely teach regarding ethical change, teaching our congregations to be better people than they were the week before. But whatever we teach on, we cannot be content to teach the same thing over and over again or to hover around the status quo.