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Teaching and Preaching
Rev. Sara Nave-Fisher
“No one comes to Sunday School anymore! And the same small handful of people have been going to Bible Study for several years, and we just can’t get anyone else to show up!”
Sound familiar? Maybe your congregation is still holding on with a few people who have been dedicated to Sunday School since childhood; maybe yours, like mine, has decided to cancel the program altogether. Sure, we’re trying new approaches to small groups – some more successful than others – but the reality is, most people come to Sunday worship and not much else. The temptation to wring our hands over this is strong, but instead, what if we changed our approach and leaned in to this new reality?
The congregation I serve has had a lot of new attenders in the last couple years, many of them from other traditions or previously unchurched. This growth is due in large part to people looking for like-minded community; we are just outside Washington D.C., and the added pressures in our particular community have drawn us together. And through that, we are so clear that we are not called to be just a civic nonprofit; we are a church, and we need to be grounded in Scripture and theology in order to live our calling faithfully.
So I started thinking about preaching differently, and have intentionally incorporated more education into the worship hour, without an assumption of prior knowledge or that everyone is on the same page. It is easy to take for granted that everyone in the pews knows who Paul is, or what a parable is, or when Scripture was written. Most Sundays, this education looks like simply sharing the story of the text, even if it’s a few sentences of context, for those who might not have heard it before; first-time churchgoers are always on my mind – as are those who might vaguely remember these stories from Sunday School as a kid, but not thought about them a lot since then.
But the biggest change I’ve made is that, every 2-3 months or so, I don’t actually preach during worship, and instead lead what is more like a Bible Study as the sermon. To set these days apart, I don’t robe, and speak from the chancel instead of from behind the pulpit. The studies on baptism and communion were especially fruitful, particularly with those who are newer Disciples and weren’t sure how we are the same as and different from their other church. For the studies that are more practical, on topics such as supplication, lament, and reading the Bible, I often share handouts that they can take home and reflect on during the week, so they can continue their own faith formation at home.
I’ll admit, when I started this change, even I myself was resistant to it at first. I am a pastor’s kid who takes preaching very seriously, and I was a little afraid the congregation would feel like they weren’t getting what they were paying me for, if I wasn’t preaching! But every time, I get comments about how much they love it and appreciate the practicality and clarity. Of course, if every week was a study and not a sermon, we would all miss out on God’s call through other forms of preaching, so I intentionally vary the style and structure of sermons throughout the course of this 2-3 month cycle, so they don’t get bored - and neither do I!
I’m not sure what challenges the church will face in the coming decades, or how my preaching will evolve to address that. But no matter what happens, I am confident that the Spirit is continuing to move, and I look forward to discovering together what is next.
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