I’m a very distractable person. Part of it is my personality; part of it is biology. I regularly hear things that no one else in my family hears. That’s great when it comes to a running toilet or a dripping faucet, but not so great when it comes to a senior saint unwrapping a cough drop in the middle of church. I am capable of deep, penetrating focus, but it is a struggle for me to maintain it. In a world of constant distractions, attention is a very valuable commodity. It is one of the most precious things that we can offer to God in our times of corporate worship. Because attention doesn’t come easy for me, I’ve had to develop a series of habits and disciplines in order to protect my capacity to exercise it in group settings. Here are 5 simple tips based on things that have made a substantial difference in my own experience:
Sit near the front
My eye is drawn to movement so when the person two rows up and three seats over from me begins to drill his index finger into his right ear, I have a hard time focusing on anything else. What is he going to find in there? What will he do with it? I don’t want to be thinking about that, but I can’t help it, and therefore, I have better results when I manage my environment as opposed to attempting to overcome my natural proclivities. If there are too many people between me and the pulpit, I will find myself dealing with more visual distractions that I can handle during the sermon. That being said, I almost never sit at the very front of the church because I like to see other people when I’m singing. Seeing other people raise their hands or close their eyes affects me. I like to be enveloped in worship, so I choose to sit close to other singers and responders. Balancing those contradictory concerns is a bit of a challenge. In most worship services you can find me about 4 rows from the front of the church. A few people around me for the singing, but not too many people in front of me for the sermon. That’s my sweet spot.
Leave your phone in the car
When I step into the sanctuary my hope and intention is to meet with God and therefore, the last thing I want is to be called out of that encounter by a phone call reminding me to vote in the next election. Cell phones mean that anyone can reach us anywhere at any time, even when they shouldn’t. You have to tune those voices out in order to tune into the still small voice of God.
As a 51-year-old man, I operate on the assumption that I don’t really know how to work my cell phone, so even if I think I have it silenced, I probably don’t and therefore, I choose to err on the side of caution. I leave the phone in my car or I leave it in my office. I don’t want it to go off unexpectedly and I don’t want it to serve as a distraction. A recent study conducted by the University of Chicago found that:
“even when people are successful at maintaining sustained attention—as when avoiding the temptation to check their phones—the mere presence of these devices reduces available cognitive capacity.”[1]
That’s true at school and that is equally true at church, so for me, the phone never comes with me into the sanctuary.
Use a paper Bible
I enjoy using digital tools for Bible study and sermon prep, but in church, I always use a paper copy. Partly this is because I don’t wish to be distracted by my phone, as mentioned above, but partly this is because a paper Bible better allows me to pay attention to the wider context. When the preacher is reading the text, my eye can quickly scan up and recall the preceding narrative, and scan down to note the impact and consequence related to the story now in view. Phone Bibles show too little text on the view screen and have too many tools that could draw me out of the experience of active listening. My phone Bible is a wonder of modern technology! If I touch a word in the verse it shows me all the other places that word is used and I can access those passages through a hyperlink. Within seconds I am miles away from whatever it is the preacher is saying.
My paper Bible encourages me to stay put. It encourages me to focus on this text and this message in this moment. I need that. I receive maximum nourishment from deep attending on the external, preached and heard word.
Take notes
There is some science to the art of note taking. When I was in university and seminary I developed the habit of summarizing. My professors spoke fast and moved quickly and there was no way that I could transcribe every word that they were saying, therefore, I learned to listen for key words, phrases and concepts. I might take 300 words of notes out a 1 hour lecture. Around 2014 I bought a tablet that came with an external keyboard and I started using it to take notes in lectures and sermons. All of the sudden I discovered that I could type as fast as most preachers could talk and so I started keeping full transcripts. While there may be a few benefits to that approach, I noticed that I wasn’t experiencing the sermon like I once did. I was capturing it, but it wasn’t capturing me.
I’ve gone back to my pre-tablet approach to hearing and receiving sermons. I try to limit myself to a half sheet of paper and I try to capture only the main headings, key phrases and essential implications. That leaves plenty of time and space in the hearing experience to simply absorb what the Spirit is saying through the preacher. That’s the balance I’m after: enough note taking to keep me engaged, but not so much that it desensitizes me to the voice and prompting of the Lord.
Pray
I pray before I head into worship and I will often pray internally during the service as I feel my flesh beginning to stir. If I get fidgety, I will pray for peace and focus. If I find myself becoming critical with the preacher (which happens more the older I get!) I will pray for humility and mercy. If I find myself getting bored (which happens sporadically and unpredictably) I repent and pray for spiritual eyes to see and a softened heart to receive the message that God has for me in this familiar text.
Prayer pushes my nose back into the text and keeps the doors of my soul open to the wind of the Spirit.
When I commit to these habits and practices, I find myself experiencing more of God’s presence in the context of corporate worship.
How to Help Others Pay Attention in Church
In addition to the need to help myself pay attention in church, I am increasingly aware of the impact that my habits and behaviours have on my brothers and sisters in Christ. In order to assist others in maintaining their focus in corporate worship, I recommend the following practices:
Arrive on Time
My dad was always an early to church guy. We were often amongst the first to arrive at church and the last to leave. I used to think that habit was just a function of his uber organized personality, but more recently I’ve come to understand it as at least partially motivated by social consideration. Late arrivers to church are inevitably, if unintentionally disruptive. If you are arriving at church halfway through the first song, or the near the end of the call to worship, you will create a visual distraction to the people who need to stand up or shuffle over, so that you can squeeze into your seat. Those sitting behind will also be distracted. I know for myself that I tend to lose 4-5 seconds of attention for every late arrival within 20 to the right, left or front of me. If the late arriver is an extravert who needs to high five and/or hug everyone in his or her aisle as they make their way to an open seat, that becomes more like 10-15 seconds. If there are 20 late arrivers in my zone, I can lose as much as 5 minutes out of the service. Punctuality communicates reverence for God and respect for the easily distracted.
Leave Your Phone in the Car
As cited above: “the mere presence of these devices reduces available cognitive capacity.”[2] That applies to the owner of the phone and to all those sitting nearby. Our church makes a cell phone announcement every 4-6 weeks reminding people to silence their phones before the service or, even better, to leave them at home or in the car. Of course, if 25% of your people are still arriving when such announcements are being made, these encouragements may go unreceived and unheeded leading to frequent and disruptive occurrences. It is now a strange service that isn’t interrupted at least once by an unsilenced phone. We regularly have phones going off during the Pastoral Prayer and even during communion.
Anecdotally, this mostly seems to be an issue for Baby Boomers and above. I can’t remember the last time a phone belonging to a 23-year-old went off in our church. Gen Zers are terrified of public embarrassment and are digital natives. As such, they know how use their phones and they understand the etiquette. Baby Boomers always think they have their phones on silent mode, and they almost never do.
Simple solution: leave your phone in the car!
You are going into a meeting with the King of the Universe. Unless your daughter is in labour, or your spouse is on the waiting list for a kidney, there is no one you need to take a call from at this time. For the sake of your own attention, and out of love for the people around you, take a break from the demands of your phone.
Balance Parenting Goals with Mutual Consideration
It has become commonplace to remark upon the different parenting styles of Millennials as compared to Gen Xers and Baby Boomers. Younger parents appear to have a preference for having their children with them in every situation. To a certain extent, this may be a byproduct of new economic realities. The vast majority of Millennial households are dual income. When mom and dad are both working 40 hours a week, parenting hours are at an absolute premium. Putting your child in the nursery on Sunday morning used to make perfect sense to parents, but for many Millennials, it almost feels like neglect. I have a great deal of sympathy for that perspective. My wife was a stay-at-home mom. She spent every waking weekday hour with our little ones and was happy to hand them off to a cheerful and police checked volunteer so that she could enjoy 90 minutes of worship and fellowship with her brothers and sisters in Christ. I totally get it if today’s mom doesn’t quite feel the same.
In addition, a lot of newer moms are more committed to sleep training and feeding schedules than in decades past. As such, I regularly speak to young moms who don’t intend to put their babies in the nursery until the child is 3-6 months old. On a typical Sunday at our church we have as many babies in the service as we have in the nursery. We leave this decision entirely up to the parents, but we do encourage those who keep their little ones with them in the service to exercise consideration. We leave special chairs at the end of rows for moms and dads with little ones. This way they can easily slip out if baby is feeling particularly impious. The vast majority of our young parents are balancing their parenting goals with the need to show courtesy and kindness to others. For the sake of the easily distracted sinners around you, I encourage all young parents to do the same.
Look Like You Are Paying Attention
Human beings are particularly responsive to peer influence. As the wise father in Proverbs says:
“Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” (Proverbs 13:20 ESV)
Our behaviour establishes norms and standards that others will aspire to and imitate. If we raise our hands during worship, others will take their cue from that and do the same. If we take notes during the message, others will notice and do the same. If we speak in a stage whisper to the people around us during the sermon, others will do the same. People tend to conform to the norm in any corporate setting, therefore, what we do as worshippers will have an influence on the habits and behaviours of others.
One of the things we’ve noticed recently is that new visitors to our church who have a background in Roman Catholicism are surprised by the culture of attention in our services, particularly during the sermon. We’ve had young people say: “Growing up in the Catholic church, the focus was more on the eucharist. The sermon was almost background noise. People talked through it or waited patiently for it to be over so that they could get to the more important part of the mass.” Whoever is discipling them will explain that, in the Protestant tradition, particularly within evangelical expressions, hearing the word of God is typically understood as the centrepiece of the service. We hear the word preached and then we respond with prayers, hymns and spiritual songs. The eucharist is very important, but it is never celebrated apart from the hearing of the word.
We each have a role to play in modelling and maintaining that perspective.
When we each make a commitment to that as congregants, we make it easier and more expected for others to develop that discipline as well. Our undivided attention honours the Lord and encourages our brothers and sisters in Christ.
O God help!
Pastor Paul Carter
If you are interested in more Bible teaching from Pastor Paul you can access the entire library of Into The Word episodes through the Audio tab on the Into the Word website. You can also download the Into The Word app on iTunes or Google Play.
[1]https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/691462#:~:text=Results%20from%20two%20experiments%20indicate,devices%20reduces%20available%20cognitive%20capacity.
[2]https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/691462#:~:text=Results%20from%20two%20experiments%20indicate,devices%20reduces%20available%20cognitive%20capacity.
