I hear Pastors talk a lot about church people who leave because the teaching "Isn't deep enough". I know sometimes church people are fickle and leave for many reasons (but they say "the teaching isn't deep enough" because it sounds spiritual).
But here's my challenge to Pastors: Is your teaching deep enough? Do you ever go beyond the basics to teach people the things that mature them in Christ?
I scan the website of churches all over the country and what I see (quite honestly) is a lot of fluff. Lots of pop culture series titles, lots of copycat stuff, but not a lot of Gospel centered teaching.
If you know me, you know that I'm not one to stir things up needlessly, but I'm concerned. When Pastors aren't feeding their congregations, several "symptoms" pop up:
1. Mature people leave (Get over the "They should feed themselves" line. If you're their Pastor, they want you to teach them. If you can't deliver, they'll go somewhere else)
2. The same topics get recycled – teaching on marriage is great, but 3 series a year on relationships is probably a bit much
3. You can't raise up leaders – If you have to hire all your asst. Pastors from outside, you have a serious problem that starts with the teaching and ends with your leadership development.
4. There's a constant revolving door – If you're a typical church, you experience 15% attrition every year, but if no one is sticking for more than a year, there's a problem that needs to be dealt with if you want to have an impact in your community.
One of the reasons I'm so committed to teaching through books of the Bible is because it disciples people. By the way, you can reach lost people and disciple people. We've seen over 1,000 people make 1st time decisions at Calvary in the last 18 months. That does include another 2,000 recommitments to the Lord.
My point is, if you are consistently hearing that the teaching isn't deep enough, maybe you need to change the way you teach.
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