I used to think church had to be exciting to be effective. I focused a lot on novelty and tried hard to keep people’s interest. My assumption, it seems, is that the normal fare of ministry — Scripture, prayer, the Lord’s Table, and fellowship — needed embellishment.
But then I found that exciting was never exciting enough. Once we start relying on novelty and excitement, we are playing a losing game. Over time, I began to focus on what I used to think is boring, and I discovered it’s anything but.
Our family visited a church a couple of years ago while on vacation. Everything was unspectacular, and it was just what we needed. The music wasn’t flashy. The sermon was biblical and communicated clearly. As I talked to people later, I discovered that this church had made a point of this kind of non-flashy ministry for years, and it had produced a church built on substance, not flash.
Boringness isn’t a virtue in itself. Intentionality is key in our corporate worship. We should craft what we communicate carefully, and we should structure our services to engage people and draw them Godward.
But the best ministries are plain. The things that help people grow are the things we tend to overlook. Do them for a long time, and you will find yourself on the path of maturity. Find a church that majors on these things, and you find a church that is teaching people what matters most.
I want to be a pastor who believes in the simple power of opening and speaking Scripture, and who preaches what some consider to be the boring parts, believing that because it’s God’s word to us, there really aren’t any boring parts.
I want to maintain a clear focus on the same doctrine that’s been preached for two thousand years. I want a novelty-free, innovation-free focus on proclaiming the same old message that never gets old. I want a repeated focus on the simple message of Jesus and the cross.
I want to worship in a church that believes in the public reading of Scripture, in the value of public and private prayer, in baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and in the regular, unspectacular one-another ministry of the church. I want a simplicity in music, one that doesn’t draw attention to itself, but that focuses our attention on the object of our worship.
And then I want to be okay with doing these same, simple things for a long period of time, believing they’re exactly what we need.
Sound boring? It’s anything but boring. It’s thrilling in the best possible way. When we encounter Christ in the text, when we meet the Lord at his table, when our thoughts and affections are drawn Godward, and when we do what God has commanded us to do, we discover a richness — dare I say a thrill — that you can’t get by chasing excitement for its own sake. The thrill doesn’t come from chasing thrills but by pursing God himself.
Boring works best. When we talk about the ordinary means of grace, don’t let the word ordinariness fool you. The ordinary means will lead you to something extraordinary, and you and your church will never want anything else.