One of the response to my re-visitation of “Heiser’s Laws for Bible Study” prompted me to bring up something I’ve been thinking about. I have some questions to which I’d be interested to read your responses (collecting feedback; that’s all):

1. If I posted video sermons / biblical content (by me) on a weekly basis would that be something you think I should be doing?

2. Although such a thing wouldn’t properly be a substitute for church (e.g., no community, at least ostensibly), would it be more of a supplement or substitute for you / others?

Here’s what prompts the question in the bigger picture.

I get a lot of email or have a lot of conversations with people who are disgruntled with the teaching they get at church. Maybe I get too much of it to be rightly perceiving things, but it seems to me that every church has Christians that ….

 

  • Know they aren’t being taught anything of substance or depth
  • Suspect they aren’t being told the whole story about what Scripture is about
  • Recognize that there has to be more to Scripture than what they’re getting (parenting platitudes, self-help, SS stories, character sketches)

Over the course of the past few years (maybe decade) I’ve developed something of a sense (right or wrong) that Churches have a number of thinking people who want to be intellectually and theologically stimulated, but aren’t.  That is, they are frustrated with the lightweight teaching they get each week. Church for them has basically become a weekly rehearsal of the most basic elements of Christianity. Every Sunday reviews who Jesus is, what he did, and the fact that we need to follow his example now in the way we live. Those things are important, but they are rudimentary.

The message I keep hearing is that “Sunday School shouldn’t be forever.”

Again, I’ve felt this way for a long time, but am willing to be told it’s because of my own over-exposure to my In box. I just feel that I ought to be doing something to help if the numbers are there.

Thoughts?