"Making Benevolence Actual and the Preaching Shorter!"
Next Sunday, December 13th, I am going to borrow an idea from a friend of mine and give it a shot in Mount Pleasant. I considered holding off on this idea until January due to my sermon series topics, but since we are in the midst of the holiday season it provides a better time. The idea for Sunday, December 13th, is quite simple; you come to services and bring a bag of groceries and the sermon will be shorter. My friend calls it “Pack the Pulpit.”
The idea behind “packing the pulpit” is simple – we come to worship God, but we also must serve Him. Serving God means taking care of the fallen and less fortunate. Even the Savior took advantage of the opportunity to feed over 5,000 and tell them more about the good news. (Matthew 14.13-21)
While congregations may bicker about what “is to be” and “is not to be done” with church money, why not make every effort an individual effort? It has been my experience that when we are called upon to contribute individually it makes the output so much greater because we begin to sacrifice more. Our “Pack the Pulpit” Sunday will be a day for individuals to give as they have been blessing by God to assist someone needy in our congregation or in our community.
Here is the plan – I am planning on delivering a 30 minute message. However, for every bag of groceries (non-perishable food items) brought in, I will shorten the lesson by 1 minute. The maximum the message will be is 30 minutes and the minimum will be a 10 minute lesson. (Now before someone says you cannot get much out in 10 minutes, then go read Acts 2. Peter did what he did in about 10 minutes.)
Just think about the possibility of having 20 bags of groceries for hurting families! Not those sissy plastic bags either, the good ole large grocery sack. Yes, they still make them. I get them every now and then to see if the young person at the counter and figure out how to pack it. For those families in our congregation wanting to contribute an amount of money instead of a bag of groceries, we will allow that too! There is always a need for milks, eggs, etc. for a hurting family.
Pray for us, this is just to changing our community by changing our current view.
Just some thoughts,
Chris
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That’s a great idea. Now, if they want to do that every week in order to get a 10 minute sermon, that could be a problem.
I want to give it a shot. If they want to do it every week, we will add two services to get a total of 20 minutes. Ha!
I will post an update to see how it goes.
Had I made that offer when I was preaching, we would have had a stage filled with groceries every Sunday!
Greg,
Ours might be filled with groceries ever Sunday now! Thanks for stopping by!
This seems like it might be a good idea, I just hope it doesn’t come across as too gimicky.
Also, in Acts 2, the things Peter said took up more than ten minutes. That can bee seen in the words “with many other word did Peter speak unto them, saying save yourselves…” If a preacher speaks “many words,” you know it was longer than 10 minutes.
Bradley,
I hope it does not come off as a gimmick as well, I hope it comes off as an opportunity to open some doors and hearts in our congregation.
When I said Peter did what he did in ten minutes, I meant from when he started speaking until the crowd spoke up to ask what they needed to do. My understanding is after he told them waht to do, he spoke many other words. I was just referring to the first part.
Thanks for stopping by.