How would you like for the Sunday morning service experience to extend into the days of the following week to make the Sunday sermon more memorable, as well as the transformation more permanent? That’s what we will explore in this article.
The key to powerful daily living for your congrgeation is providing with a systematic devotional experience. When people experience systematic devotions they will enjoy a deeper connection with their faith community, a healthy biblical diet, and be grounded daily in scripture.
Introduction
In recent years there has been a lot of talk within ministry circles about the need to focus on relationships. Small group ministries have exploded, the use of social media and streaming services are creating virtual connections, and lobby spaces are being built to promote the development of relationships.
Now, I am a huge proponent of relational development within our faith communities. A central narrative woven throughout scripture is the value God places on relationships: our relationships with Him and our relationships with one another. In fact, Jesus said, “By this, all people will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” I would argue that our relationship with God was always meant to be done in a community, and never meant to be a solo endeavor.
That being said, I am concerned the focus toward relationships has become a distraction from focusing on the real need people have. More than the need for relationships, people need more of God. They need to know him deeply and understand him clearly, and though I love my friends and value the human relationships God has blessed me with, none of them can replace my relationship with Jesus. And, most people agree.
The Research
In a survey conducted by The Pew Research Group in August of 2018, 81% of people say that getting closer to God is why they attend church. The interesting thing is that when people were asked for the top reason they attended church, the top reasons said nothing about wanting/needing more/better/strong relationships.
This isn’t to discount the value of relationships, because as I mentioned above, I think relationships are a core part of a healthy relationship with God. However, getting closer to God is still the primary reason why people attend church. This tells me that, as ministry leaders, we need to provide more opportunities for people to get into the word and get closer to God, such as through devotions.
Shifting the Focus
This week we are wrapping up our series on combatting Biblical illiteracy in the church. If you would like to go back and check out the rest of the series you can do that here. This week we are going to look at why developing systematic devotions is so important.
If you go to your local bookstore and go to the religious/faith/spiritual/Christian section, you will find an endless choice of devotional books. They are written by great authors, pastors, and biblical scholars and cover a wide variety of topics and issues. Despite this variety, there is one thing these devotions fail to do: speak directly to your faith community and the journey God has placed you on.
Members of your congregation come on Sunday mornings and receive a message you have crafted in your time of prayer and study. Then they return home and spend the rest of the week with a devotional that tackles a topic, issue, or concern that has nothing to do with the message they received on Sunday and is disconnected from what God is doing in your faith community.
Imagine what would happen to the spiritual growth and maturation of the people in your church, as well as the mission God has given them as a local body if their daily devotions through the week were speaking to what God was doing in real time. If their daily devotions were either pointing backward to the sermon they just heard on Sunday or the forward to the sermon they will receive the coming Sunday.
Let’s explore why developing daily devotions for your congregation is worth the time and effort it would take.
Connection with Faith Community
A church’s culture is built on shared common experiences. An event, a tragedy, a funny instance, or a powerful spiritual moment are all common experiences that build the foundation of a church’s culture. By developing a devotional the people in your church can go through at the same time, you are creating a connection throughout the week people will have, even if they are not actually spending time together.
With the growing busyness of people’s schedules, it is getting harder for people to get together outside of the Sunday services. However, if they were individually walking through the same devotions, they are still sharing an experience they are able to talk about, discuss, share testimonies around, and encourage each other with because they are going through it together.
Healthy Biblical Diet
As we discussed earlier in this series, delivering expository sermons on a regular basis provides a healthy diet for a congregation to grow in their knowledge of the Bible and their intimacy with God. This experience doesn’t have to stop with the sermon on Sunday morning.
When developing expository sermons, there is always sawdust on the floor. What I mean by that is, you always end up with more material that doesn’t make it into the final version of the sermon. There are cross-references, historical background, literary structure, and other elements of scripture that enhance the exploration experience of scripture. Due to time constraints, sermon focus, and the flow of the message, though, things get left out, but that doesn’t mean you need to sweep up the sawdust and toss it.
Instead, take the sawdust of material and shape it into a devotion that provides more information, takes people a little deeper than the sermon could, or broaden their perspective. By providing a devotion for your faith community to walk through, you will be providing an opportunity to explore the whole scope of scripture through a balanced diet.
Grounded Daily in Scripture
The value of devotions is spending time with the scriptures on a daily basis. A relationship with Jesus Christ needs attention like any other relationship. It also requires us to know Jesus in an intimate way, which is hard to do if the only time we read God’s word is in the opening moments of a Sunday morning sermon. Systematic devotions provide an experience that brings people back each day to their Bible.
When the individuals of a faith community are spending regular time with God each day, they are increasing their intimacy with God and growing their relationship with him. This creates a natural progression of growth for the faith community as a whole. When a church body is growing in relationship with Jesus together, they are more effective in their community and advancing the Kingdom of God.
Conclusion
Devotions should be a regular part of a Christian’s lifestyle. But, the devotions don’t have to be disjointed from the rest of the spiritual experience they are having in their church. As ministry leaders, we can encourage time with the Bible, increasing Biblical literacy, by creating an intimate devotional experience in a systematic way that connects with the rest of the growth journey they are enjoying with their faith community. It may take a little extra time and planning, but the benefits are invaluable.
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