Why the Sermon Is Not Enough

If you've spent much time in church, you may have noticed that more seats are filled on Christmas and Easter than on an average Sunday. Many of us may have grown up as church CEOs—Christmas and Easter Only attendees—sharing in the mindset that by attending on these dates we had fulfilled our religious duty for the year. If you think about it, that's a little like a college student who shows up only for midterms and finals thinking he'll be able to pull off a passing grade.

But even faithful attendees of weekly worship can overestimate what our attendance accomplishes, particularly if our weekly investment in learning Scripture begins and ends with listening to a sermon. In doing so, we're a bit like a college student who comes to lecture every week but does nothing outside of class to reinforce what he learns. Neglecting the syllabus, this student just shows up each week, listens to the lecture, and goes home. No matter how good the lectures are, his grasp of the subject will only go so far. Read more