Improving Retention

I referenced an article on the 9marks.org website a few days ago entitled My Flock is Poorly Educated, Should I Preach Expositorily?

Without offending our good people, it is probably true that most of our people lack in the area of biblical and theological literacy. When I first entered ministry in the mid 1970's, it was standard fare for Christians to attend Sunday AM, Sunday School and Sunday PM, plus prayer meeting. Many, if not most churches have fewer meetings where the church gathers for teaching. A positive is that it has allowed us to address some community/fellowship needs by introducing small groups, but one negative is that we have lost some opportunity for exposure to systematic teaching. Therefore, it seems reasonable to assume that the average Christian layperson is not as well educated as previous generations.

This probability makes it imperative that we maximize what we do on Sunday morning. That is why I introduced this subject a week or two ago. Over the weekend Phil Newton, who contributes to the 9marks.org website, shared some ideas in an article entitled How Do I Preach Expository Sermons to Uneducated Hearers. I would recommend reading his article and gleaning some of his insights.

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On a totally different subject (though perhaps not), there have been numerous mentions on various blogs about the CT interview with Eugene Peterson. Definitely worth a read!