“Bored Enough To Leave”

Monday, February 25, 2013

The preacher at my church is so boring that I can barely stand to listen to him for more than ten minutes.  Why do we have to make the focal point of service listening to one person talk to us for an hour?  I mean, if this is what "going to church" is all about, I don't think it's for me.

Sincerely,
Yawn

Dear Yawn,

Christianity isn’t about entertainment, and if the only problem you have with a congregation is that it doesn’t hold your attention, it is time to take a serious look at your own spirituality.  Learning and studying God's Word is often hard and can feel tiresome, but the hard work pays off in the end.  It is nice if a preacher can be "easy on the ears", but ultimately, it is our job to learn and grow from studying the Bible (1 Pet 2:2)

The church’s main job is to stand by the truth (1 Tim 3:15), and one sign of a congregation turning from the Lord is that the preaching and teaching are no longer about truth, but about entertaining the people (2 Tim 4:3-4).  So, using excitement or the feeling of being entertained isn’t a good benchmark.

On the other hand, a congregation whose love has grown cold (Matt 24:12) or one that has left their zealous love for the Lord (Rev 2:4) is sometimes seen as “boring”.  If a church is no longer active and working to be effective in its service for the Lord, that can be a real problem.  After all, we are to worship God in spirit and in truth (Jhn 4:24), and if a congregation holds to the truth in word, but not in deed, there is a definite issue.  That type of “boring” can be a reason to leave a group.

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