Why don't we work harder on engaging this girl instead?
Improving our communication styles. Shortening our sermons. Making the information more relevant She's not the only one who gets bored in church. The rest of us are just too scared to publicly show it.
7 comments:
the sermons at my mother's churches are extremely short -- somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 minutes -- and I feel gypped by them.
I saw this girl as well, and my theory is that because she was 13 and sitting alone, she used her phone to feel more connected and less alone. Or, she was texting the person that should have been sitting next to her asking them where they were.
But, I am definitely on board for more concise and engaging sermons in general.
Three minutes feels a little lazy to me.
Angela, is your Mom episcopalian by any chance?
if i have learned anything in my time spent treating teens it is that their need for connection is the single most important thing, someone lecturing/teaching/preaching on a stage does not connect like some friend at the end of a device. unfortunately this limits their learning to the fleeting moments between their electronic friends.
it seems like church is church still for teens (at least a majority) so it stinks.
changing it too much will disrupt the people my age or older learning
CaseRanter, but didn't we just learn to accept/expect poor communication?
wouldn't adults react even more positively to higher engagement. i'm not just advocating "change", but smarter communication.
Shorter sermons do not necessarily = more engagement. I've sat through hour-plus sermons that were so electrifying I felt as if someone was pouring hot oil down my trousers.
Our church has such an incredible percentage of teens / tweens that it's getting insane and the sermons are seldom less than 45 mins.
What teens need to engage them is what they've been misisng for so long: a hefty dose of the truth.
math is truth. they fall asleep in math class.
the truth still needs to be engaging.
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