Does Information Matter
The flash drive in my pocket holds astronomically more digital data than existed on earth fifty years ago. But part of me is growing increasingly suspicious over whether volume storage like this, apart from functions like backing up or sharing files, really adds value to what I do in ministry.
This issue has ripened as I make the transition from seminary professor to church planter and go through the process of giving away all the books I should have borrowed for free from the library but instead bought on Amazon. The pile that remains is smaller than the pile stacked up for our students to scavenge.
My growing doubts about the value of information stem from a market reality: As quantity grows, price declines. Imagine what diamonds would cost, for example, if they were as available as 9-volt batteries? So much text, graphic, and video material (to name just three genres) is being generated every few seconds that the demand for it simply cannot keep up. (See the Wikipedia article on Information Overload).
The new information market has brought us a couple of cultural realities…
1. Access is becoming the highest value: I’m slowly developing the capabilities of my gmail account and learning that the stuff I need seems to do just fine stored on the internet rather than on my hard drive. This is the future. For younger people, information tends to have its life only in the now. Why store it when you can just Google it?
2. Perspective is becoming the greatest need: Hearing that only 10% of teens wear wrist watches, I interviewed some who said that cell phones make watches unnecessary. But as I read Andy Ford’s CultureWaves website I got a new POV: in a 24/7 world where I expect to have my needs met whenever they occur, what’s the point of a Timex? In effect, we’re talking about every human having a Personal Time Zone, with everything that implies. Just knowing the stats on watches does not tell me this.
So what does the declining (or should I say shifting) value of information mean for leaders?
1. Expand ministries that emphasize access. Web 2.0 will offer new opportunities to create levels of interactivity that were unknown just a few years ago. I’m not suggesting this sort of thing replace small groups and other forms of relationship, only that we rethink our information model. For example, can a small group meet by conference call during the rush hour commute (and still get everyone home alive)?
2. Involve people in new perspectives. The typical person hearing a Christian sermon on Sunday is positively stuffed with messages and media received all week long. Rather than being like a cup of cold water in the desert, a talk at church can feel like a cup of cold water thrown into the ocean. Something about how we talk should answer the question, “What kind of world is this, and how does God make a difference in how I fit into it?” That’s certainly not the only question, but it is one we (I) easily overlook.
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Earl Creps—a popular speaker and leader—is director of the Doctor of Ministry program and associate professor at the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary (AGTS) in Springfield, Missouri. He has been a pastor, ministries consultant, and university professor. Along the way, Creps earned a Ph.D. in communication at Northwestern University and a doctor of ministry degree in leadership at AGTS.
What is Earl doing? View or subscribe to Earl Creps' Google calendar. Or learn how to contact him directly.
A question I have asked before, “Is the Sunday morning service deprecated?” Seriously, why trudge off to some distant building, at some predetermined (and possibly inconvenient) time, just to obtain “teaching”.
If I want a sermon, there are hundreds available online. I can get one on my DVR, I can get one on my iPod, I can get one off some blog or website somewhere. And many of them will be better than what I can get from my local church.
So, what role does the local church play in this “information overloaded” society? And how does a Sunday service help fulfill that role?
I think the question, more importantly, is what was the sunday service originally meant for? It gave folks that didn’t live very close to towns a set time to come together and fellowship, and get teaching. I think that meaning has been lost somewhere along the way. Teaching and fellowship are most important, and we meet on sunday because it gives a pre-determined time and place in which these can occur simultaneously. I agree with you that you can get better teaching offline sometimes. But is that the only reason we attend sunday service? If it is, it might as well be an orthodox mass. Church implies fellowship. Fellowship is the key. Not a handshake, and a hello, but a real human encounter, person to person.
As a Pentecostal, the holy Spirit makes the difference. Congregational prophecy, tongues, and interpretation do not happen in isolation the same way they operate in the congregation. A Spirit filled worship leader makes a big difference. All of the gifts of the Spirit can come into operation.
On Sundays I am excited to attend service to see what God is going to do. I have a sense of anticipation of God changing lives.
There are more ways to learn during a Sunday service than just hearing the preacher’s message. All parts of a Spirit led service can work together to draw people closer to Jesus.
I suppose sometimes I take it for granted that the Holy Spirit will be there. It enhances everything, and honestly, a preacher can never in his own abilities, no matter how smart he is, convince someone to believe in Christ. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. It’s weird for me, however, to approach the topic of salvations happening in a service, because that wasn’t how it happened for me, though I grew up as a pastor’s kid. I found Him alone in my room, and was led further through the guidance of my youth pastor outside of church, so the thought is foreign to me, to be perfectly honest. Not to say it doesn’t happen, it just didn’t hapen that way for me. As for the complete emphasis on the Holy Spirit, the jury is still out on that for me. I was born and raised pentecostal and AG, I simply found that the Holy Spirit had more relevance on a personal rather than a corporate level. So, again, sometimes I don’t lean as much toward total domination of the attention being toward the Holy Spirit, if all three parts are equal and one, yet separate. You gave me something to chew on, Steve.
For community to happen, communing with one another has to take place. Weekend worship services are still relevant for that purpose. In such an environment, discipleship happens. Iron sharpens iron. As far as the involvement of the Holy Spirit is concerned, we would do ourselves a favor to consider the Holy Spirit’s activity in the daily lives of believers rather than relegate our anticipation of His presence to a weekend worship service. Information is still power, and it still trumps ignorance. It seems that we must wrestle with the questions of 1)what information is substantive and capable of life change, and 2)what mode and tone of communication will be most effective in its spread. Blessings!!
You said pretty much what I wanted to. Though neither is more important than the other, I think we just tend to go with the corporate interaction of the Holy Spirit, since it’s just easier to say, “That must have been Him,” or “that was definitely not Him.” It’s much harder to see the interaction of the Holy Spirit on a day-to-day basis, and so learning to recognize that aspect first probably makes the rest alot easier.
As a white person, I learned “church preaching” in an African-American AG church. There was an emphasis on following the lead of the Holy Spirit. Occasionally, the senior pastor would stop the service to sense the Spirit’s leading.
Some years later I went a foreign Assemblies of God seminary where I took a couple classes in homiletics (preaching). There I learned the technicalities of preaching and the communications process. After leaving the seminary I remained in the country for six months and as an American had many opportunities to preach in local churches. I had forgotten what I had learned about the Holy Spirit in the African-American church and did my standard seminary, grade “A” messages. Responses were always polite.
One Sunday the pastor was teaching on the baptism of the Holy Spirit in Sunday school so I felt I could not preach one of my seminary grade “A” messages. I adlibbed and preach out of Acts 10 on the Holy Spirit baptism. There was a tremendous response during the altar call, many were Holy Spirit baptized, and a demon was cast out.
For the next two months I must have preached twenty times. I either preached Holy Spirit baptism or spiritual gifts. The Holy Spirit visited powerfully every time except at one church that was going through a split. Pentecostal communications requires the Holy Spirit to be most effective in advancing the kingdom of Jesus. Otherwise we are in the flesh only.
Pentecostal communication training requires us to learn to flow in the Spirit in addition to excellent verbal communications.
RE: Dr. Creps point #1.
Other than close family members, I find it difficult to maintain meaningful relationships with people that don’t have email. Email affords opportunities for asynchronous communication which significantly enhances a relationship. Such allows me to maintain “stream of conciousness”-like conversations with people I choose to be friends with.
I think I know more about how Dr. Creps views than world and thinks about some issues than I do about people in my church I’ve known for years. That may sound bad, but it’s just a function of how I relate to people.
I have a good friend that I’ve known for over a decade. We likely wouldn’t still be friends had we not been able to keep in touch via email for a 2-3 year period when our life paths took us in divergent directions. We’ve now been coworkers for several years.
I think the point Dr. Creps is trying to make is that our culture is changing, the way we communicate and relate with others is changing, and the church needs to evaluate how those changes will impact its effectiveness.
The point I was trying to make regarding Sunday services is that, with the exception of a little commandment about keeping the Sabbath, Sunday services are just a scheduling anachronism of a bygone era. As a society, we are no longer huddling around the TV at 6pm eating meatloaf and watching Walter Cronkite explain the world to us. We’re watching Fox news streaming video whenever we get a chance to check in. Why is the church still stuck on a 20th century time schedule?
As a Pentecostal preacher myself, I totally understand Steve’s position. No doubt, it is a powerfully joyous occasion when the Spirit of God has His way in a corporate setting. However, the question must be asked, how much more would the kingdom of God be impacted if we acknowledged and partnered with the Holy Spirit on a daily basis as opposed to just the weekend? I suggest, from experience, that our Pentecostal urges would be more satisfied if we involved ourselves in daily “Pentecostal communications.”
Furthermore, I fear that we place a lid on our own personal perspective and knowledge concerning the Holy Spirit’s activity through the avenue of fellowship and community. With an omnipotent God, nothing is out of the question. Some people may be more impressed with spiritual gifts, but more impact will be made with spiritual fruit.
Clearly, the place we are in American church history requires Spirit-guided direction. We have to bear in mind that the six or seven people commenting on this blog represent a perspective that is fairly uncommon in the body of Christ. We could all say with little protest that the Sunday AM worship time is such a small portion of who the church actually is. The word on the street is way different though; ask the majority of church-goers and the first thing that come to mind when they hear this word “church” is the Sunday gathering. When we expect it to deliver the totality of spirituality and missions we are both insane and unfair to those involved in facilitating the gathering.
We are indeed bombarded with information as a culture. Viewing sermons as merely drops of water in the ocean would appear to be a natural reaction. Culture will continue to shift and swerve at an astronomical rate. Methods, ministry models, pre-modern, modern, postmodern, whatever – those things can carry little stock. I don’t’ know about the rest of you but one moment I am dogmatic about my particular ministry model; then, the Holy Spirit blasts me into the realization that I can only put stock in him and his mission. I swing way too frantically back and forth between these two pendulums. So, now what? Be spiritual people. Be people that hear and respond to the voice of God in every situation possible. I don’t think I buy into the idea that because we are living in an era of information overload that the Spirit-given information has been minimized. The problem we face is too much information, but if the Good News is really good news, everybody wants some it. Everyone wanted to be around Jesus; why don’t they want to be around us? Its not just the receptive cultures fault; this messenger needs to take it up a notch in his level of Spirit-sensitivity.
Lastly, to sound the age-old line, relationship makes a world of difference. Spirit-driven connection with one another and the Lord has to be kept center focus. When people are gathered in the once a week assembly, the Spirit can do incredible things when the messenger (preacher) and message (Jesus/his word) are directly connected to the people. The listeners know they have found someone they can trust and who genuinely cares about them. You combine that with a centering focus on Jesus throughout the week, than great things can happen. Too often church-goers aren’t real sure why they are there at the AM service. They’re supposed to come or it’s what they’ve always done. The shift in what church actually is will be the bear that needs to be tackled in the days ahead.
Question: Is it possible for the church to be reformed and have a refocusing on church as being missional without the planting of new churches? What about wonderful church folks who love the Lord with all their hearts who still yearn for large auditoriums, awesome worship services, and haven’t embraced the mission? Also, what are some ways that you stay spiritually sensitive?
what?you gave away BOOKS, and didn’t save any for us in CALIF?
great blog
praying for the transition.
Kevin Foster and I are glad to comeup and help you move in
Good morning. The best way out is always through.
I am from Poland and too bad know English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: “Battery operated version of the spartus cat clock.”
Regards :) Mansi.
Badly need your help. Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half the time.
I am from East and know bad English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: “This can improve act toupees of progressing field if the loss shafts scan.”
Best regards :o, Samantha.