Antidote for empty pews.

Growing up, I was raised in churches with several kinds of preachers of timber and caliber. I have been privileged to listen to countless sermons.  What surprised me most was that the words of most speakers of today hardly move the curtains on the church windows. Rather than converting souls of men, the sermons hardened the souls? If you were to be sincere, you will confirm having an experience where a sermon has made the congregation sleep off on a Sunday morning. At times, it is as if some preachers carry some bottles of sleeping tablets with them to the pulpit.
Personally, I value teachings about the finesse of communication. In points of fact, I grew up in churches where most speakers were enlightened, eloquent, charismatic, and funny. However, I wonder why we had few converts? We were not many in some of our churches. And whenever we grew in number, it seems that we could not break through that particular number into much more? It is as though we were forbidden to multiply. We just seems to reach that state of no change after a time of progress. Where are all those people who attended last week? We were supposed to be hearing these interesting speakers together again?
As I began to study public speaking from the paradigm of the kingdom, I came upon some mind blowing discoveries that will be of help to anyone who has been called to grow a congregation, or lead a church group. Although, prayer was so paramount to the church growth in early church, I realized that most of the time, the congregation grew in number by the end of each sermon.   Curiosity drove me to question what made these congregants of old grew in number based on sermons preached? Why is it that our countless mushroom churches of today are not growing? Was it in the eloquence of the speaker? Was it in the Pastor’s dressing? Was it in the preacher’s vocabulary? Was it in the level of education of the Pastor? Was it in the geographical location? What I discovered among several secrets were: It was not in the outline of the preacher’s sermon. Rather, it was in the central subject of the message that was preached. The Apostles of old preached the Christ crucified and His resurrection.  They preached about the power in the name of Jesus Christ. They preached about the reason for resurrection of this very Christ. They preached about the present position of the Christ at the right hand of the heavenly Father, they spoke about the second coming of the Christ. They spoke about the name and the person of Jesus (see Acts 4:17).
If we will make a difference in the 21st century, we will emphasize what is the main thing on our pulpits. We will take a cue from these men who were not schooled, yet they were able to minister with boldness. We will be wise to be with God more than we hang out with men. We will dwell in the secret place of prayers. We will study God’s words more than we stay online connecting and linking on social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, etc). We will learn to be with Jesus more. Our confidence will not be in the level of education we have attained, or from theological schools. The school of the Spirit will be paramount in all. I wish you Godspeed in this higher calling which has no true retirement!