What's the Big Idea

"What was church about today?"

My friend Arnold Hendrix and I have had this conversation a number of times. How many messages can we throw at people and expect to "stick" in their hearts and minds? The article lays that question out there in a compelling fashion.

I've looked seriously at ideas such as what Randy Frazee was doing in Texas (before he went to Willow). The idea he was working involved setting out the core principles that needed to be taught each person and each year. That broke down for me because of repetition and the need to essentially go topical in the presentation of those concepts.

We've tried using the Lifeway Sunday School as a guide to tie the morning's lesson and the preaching together. The idea behind that was to take what was presented in class and expand and apply it. It worked fairly well in a limited way, since not everyone here uses the same quarterlies. (Baptist word alert!)

If we are seeking transformation though doesn't the idea of delivering a cogent, targeted, biblical concept each week that isn't diluted by minutia make sense? Here's the meat of the article:

Well, let’s review a typical experience at church. Is it too little or maybe too much? The average churchgoer is overloaded every week with scores of competing little ideas during just one trip to church.

Let’s try to keep track.

1. Little idea from the clever message on the church sign as you pull into the church parking lot
2. Little idea from all the announcements in the church bulletin you are handed at the door
3. Little idea from the prelude music that is playing in the back¬ground as you take your seat
4. Little idea from the welcome by the worship leader
5. Little idea from the opening prayer
6. Little idea from song 1 in the worship service
7. Little idea from the Scripture reading by the worship leader
8. Little idea from song 2 in the worship service
9. Little idea from the special music
10. Little idea from the offering meditation
11. Little idea from the announcements
12. Little idea from the first point of the sermon
13. Little idea from the second point of the sermon
14. Little idea from the third point of the sermon
15. Little idea from song 3 in the worship service
16. Little idea from the closing prayer
17. Little idea from the Sunday school lesson
18. Little idea from (at least one) tangent off of the Sunday school lesson
19. Little idea from the prayer requests taken during Sunday school
20. Little idea from the newsletter handed out during Sunday school

Twenty and counting. Twenty different competing little ideas in just one trip to church. Easily! If a family has a couple of children in junior church and everyone attends his or her own Sunday school class, we could quadruple the number of little ideas. So this one family could leave with more than eighty competing little ideas from one morning at church! And if we begin to add in youth group, small group, and a midweek service, the number easily doubles again. If family members read the Bible and have quiet times with any regularity, it might double yet again. And if they listen to Christian radio in the car or watch Christian television at home, the number might double once more. It’s possible that this one family is bombarded with more than one thousand little ideas every week explaining what it means to be a Christian. No wonder when the parents ask their kids, “So what did you learn?” the answer goes something like this: (Silence.) “Ummm. . .” (More silence.) “Ummm ... “

We have to do better. I'm going to do better. Anyone who reads this and who is doing better, zip me an email. Let's partner to be more effective for Christ.