1. For those preachers convinced in the value of question times as a way of learning and responding to the word of God:
a) sometimes preach shorter sermons (less than 40 mins in our church's case),
b) consider holding a forum-style discussion rather than just preacher-answers-questions arrangement
c) have a panel to answer questions/ask questions/react to the sermon, rather than just one person
2. I heard someone recently say that church attendance and growth sky-rocketed during the 1950s in Australia largely due to the growth and Establishment of suburbia. The churches of the day catered to their bourgeois values.
3. Rosters and other church maintenance tasks, finance committees etc, if run badly can absorb massive amounts of time and energy. They can cause bitterness, exhaustion. They can take keen servant-hearted Christians away from other forms of service. They can even lead to these things in the long-term being run badly, or unimaginatively.
Church leaders should put their money where their mouth is: if we say all gifts are valued and the more visible gifts deserve no special treatment, then we should pour energy into praying form training, reviewing, supporting, guiding, encouraging overseeing our maintenance roster people.
4. I attended a conference evening session where three speaks spoke for 40 mins each. Goes to show what you can do in 3 hours.
Volume 6 Number 4
