Concentration

I am always reading in the news papers about peoples declining concentration span, people site evidence such as shorter adverts, shorter scenes in soap operas, fewer people reading as a pass time. My question is what does this mean for the church?

Does it mean the church should pander to the prevailing trend in culture? Or should it buck the trend and encourage people to "stop being so lazy and pay attention"?

The irony is that amidst all this talk of shorter concentration spans, films haven't got any shorter and my hunch is that actually today people watch more films. Yes the scenes chop and change but the storyline remains and we manage to concentrate on it. The challenge for churches and those leading and preaching is not to bemoan the culture or berate the people it is to innovate the service.

The Bible is the inspired word of God and is the thing which "equips his [God's] people for works of service..." (Eph 4:12). It must be the focus of our meeting together or we fail to do what church is designed to do. The issue is over how we do it. Does it have to be a 30 minute monologue? Could it not be interactive and involve congregation participation at least on easy observation questions? Could you break into groups to discuss personal application, either during the service or in groups over coffee? Could you use physical objects, sights, smells, pictures as effective school teachers do? Or use video clips or song lyrics - though do so with care? If we want people to be devoted to the word our job as preachers is to get them engaged with the word.

What about the service itself. Familiarity is great it makes people feel at easy, it makes them comfortable. But it can also make them lazy, they don't have to engage their brain because they know what is coming next, so why not freshen up the service, innovate, CHANGE. Why not introduce a slot about something cultural and the gospel, the latest TV sensation, or a internet phenomenon like Facebook, or break the gospel talk in 2 to do communion in the middle... It may shake a few people but if you explain that it is so that we engage with the Bible, so that we can better devote ourselves to it I don't think many would complain for too long.