Church Service is Boring.... sorry

[Chris]

Is it right to understand part of this for Chris is a general excitement for Christ and to know him more? This will lead to more and deeper study on the church too.

Or is the ideas of intellectualism where it ends and Chris wants more head knowledge?

Now if we were all honest we could likely say the first could be satisfied in any setting and the latter will never find satisfaction.

I want to know Jesus Christ more! I want to know everything about him, his church, and the awesome faith we have.
I don't want the same .... old ... lessons .. being ... taught.

[Chris]

Chris, why did the apostles repeat themselves so many times? Just about everyone of their letters they’re calling us to sacrifice, to love, to suffering, to moral purity, to submit to those in authority, ect. My point is we know all these things, yet the apostles felt it’s still necessary to teach them. OK, so maybe you do know what is sin and what’s not, but we know that there are still problems with sin that need to be preached and addressed. Occasionally, we’ve found that a sermon no one else remembers is one that someone else found especially meaningful and helpful. Even though you are not pleased with the lack of academics in the service, those academics are not deep or spiritual truth. There is no further deeper spiritual truth learning about why Polycarp didn’t feel pain when he was burned. It is always good to encourage one another to endure as Paul did or as Polycarp did, and we enjoy the occasional sermons on martyrdom.
Can you honestly say that this is deeper spiritual truth and meet fit for us to discuss in a church service? Quartodecimanism controversy (when to celebrate the resurrection)? I think it’s far more important for us to discuss the wiles of the devil and how we resist and encourage one another to stand firm. It doesn’t really matter if we meet on Sunday or Saturday or why that’s going on that is superficial issues in the grand scheme of things. It doesn’t overly matter when we celebrate Easter/resurrection Sunday/Saturday.
None of those things Jesus called us to be concerned about. Jesus called us to be concerned about how we walked and conduct with others. How we love our neighbor as ourselves and how we love God.

Having interesting theological discussions is not necessarily up-building to the majority of the people there. But encouraging one another, praising what is good and holy those are good to do.

A deeper spiritual truth is to pray for those that are boring.
To love and pray for the mumbling youth.

Deeper spiritual truth is not history. Yes, history is interesting and I enjoy it I’m sure you and I could talk for hours on early church history or teachings but that’s not deeper spiritual truth.

Jesus told us the highest commandments and Paul flat out told the church why he could not speak to them of deeper things (carnality).

I enjoyed listening to Finny and his sermons, I appreciated how he spoke on Numbers and I thought a lot of what he said was very sound. But his character is not one I would ever wish to be under. That is a higher academic focused church… and they have more carnality from what I’ve heard than a church that somehow is in deeper spiritual discussions. I think the majority of our churches are very carnal, and that’s a problem. But the solution is not to be complaining about the lack of intellectualism.
You will resolve more problems in the church by spending time on your knees than time in Menno.
I would say if Menno shut down tomorrow, the majority of us would probably look for another outlet for our time wasting rather than spending time on our knees.
I’m not exempt from this. A higher and deeper spiritual truth is prayer.
Another thing you could do is talk to the preacher afterwards find some thing from his sermon that you appreciated expand on it and discuss it with him. If you don’t appreciate anything from the sermon perhaps you need to study why you are getting nothing.

Chances are I would love a discussion on early church doctrine, early church writing, early church practice, early church anything… but the churches I’ve gone to that do that are the most argumentative churches I have ever gone to. Also I’m not going to walk away from those discussions with a new focus on dealing with my sin my conviction and how to treat others I’m going to walk away annoyed that so-and-so thinks somethings stupid or at least what I think is stupid. Trust me we will not agree on early church doctrines, early church practice… these things are terribly divisive to focus on and are not what the scripture tells us to focus or meditate on.

I appreciate what you are saying, and the time you took to say it, but it really did miss the point.

I am VERY passionate about Jesus. I want to know about him, more in depth, more of his church, more of his gospel. More and more. I don't just want to keep stopping at spiritual milk! I'd much rather learn of how the church as it evolved and formulated met peace between conflicting bishops than hearing another David slaying "life's Goliaths" any day. (I'm sure you've heard that sermon too). The controversy itself put church authority over law, and is an example of Galatians text being put into practice by the church itself! The teaching itself shows love between bishops, and how they resolved the situation peacefully despite conflicting views (no church split!). It's an important sermon and lesson!

The entire Gospel and Church is both History, and living and breathing today!

The gospel itself seemingly "repeats itself", but that's because you are reading a letter to Corinthians, Romans, Galatia, Thesso., Ephesus, etc. That said, as the church "evolved" and grew, it wasn't nearly as repetitive. It was amazingly deep! Amazingly thought out! Scholars, authors, commentaries of Early Christians. It's really amazing stuff!

I'm sort at odds with people saying "intellectual Christians are of poor morals". It's sort of like calling Paul, Luke, John, Peter, Ignatius, Polycarp, .... Chrysostom... etc., of poor morals. I mean many were smart and martyrs. Cyprian to boot. Origen and his genius of poor morals? No. Don't think so. That is not a fair argument. It's basically saying people need to be "babies" or be sinners.

[Sudsy]

In my personal experiences in churches, the ones who were the least boring and every Sunday was an anticipation of what God was doing, were ones that were heavily involved in evangelism. I have attended churches that want to 'go deep', so to speak, in spiritual understandings and they end up pointing their finger at one another over some sanctification issue or they become so dogmatic about what they believe they split to become another church and then this cycle repeats itself again and again. Meanwhile they are so caught up with their own religious beliefs that they show no concern for lost and dying souls.

I grew up in a church that was quite focused on the salvation of their friends, family and the community they lived in. We had constant growth of the unchurched and today this is the largest church in the city. It isn't a perfect church without spot or wrinkle and imo, some doctrines are suspect, to put it softly, but lives are being changed as they keep the focus on outreach more than entertaining the saints.

I also participated in a revival of a 'dead' Baptist church that had lost their outreach and had become stagnant. No new converts. Just studying on how to be a good Baptist. Then God brought an MB, who left his church where they had grown evangelistic cold, to ignite the flame of evangelism in this Baptist pastor. At the same time, evangelistic oriented believers began to trickle in from various 'dead' Christian churches. And did we have revival ! Not a boring moment with all the new converts to handle and their eagerness to learn. Some going off to seminary and some into all kinds of ministries. It all started with one MB brother that used to listen to my father preach on the street corner and he had the same zeal to see souls saved.

I've also been in churches that are just going through the motions of what I call 'churchianity'. No new unchurched people are born again and the only church growth is through bigger families or 'church hoppers' looking for a church that suits all their perceived needs. 'It's all about me and my spirituality' mindset.

For me, I need a fellowship that helps me keep my focus on reaching the lost, first and foremost. Recently it looks like our city may become a new location for an evangelical free Methodist church starting up. I aim to check this out. Sometimes the church one is attending has become neither hot nor cold but lukewarm. And Jesus said that makes Him disgusted. When we are not bringing the refreshing and revigorating Gospel to the world, we are in a lukewarm state. Many churches today, including the most conservative type, are in this lukewarm state. They are not making salvation appealing but quite the opposite. Others are making it appealing but appealing to the flesh, the carnal nature. And that too, is neither hot nor cold.

Join or influence your pastor to be a soul winning church that sees the unchurched come to Christ. If this happens, church will be the most exciting gathering there is as you work together and share learnings and experiences with new born babes in Christ. That is the solution to boredom in my experience. This is what, I believe, the abundant life is all about.

[NedFlanders]

I’m not so sure the Gospel just repeats itself in Scripture. The kingdom of God is the Gospel that Christ repeated - is it that you are in a church where the Good News is salvation in Christ - if so it is nothing but dressed up with fancier Protestant preaching likely. The true Gospel is the one Jesus taught the gospel of the kingdom of God and a church that teaches such will be exciting and meaty. Look at Galatians 1 - if it is a salvation only Gospel that misses the kingdom of God - it is time to leave.

[Josh]

Is it right to understand part of this for Chris is a general excitement for Christ and to know him more? This will lead to more and deeper study on the church too.

Or is the ideas of intellectualism where it ends and Chris wants more head knowledge?

Now if we were all honest we could likely say the first could be satisfied in any setting and the latter will never find satisfaction.

I want to know Jesus Christ more! I want to know everything about him, his church, and the awesome faith we have.
I don't want the same .... old ... lessons .. being ... taught.

Chris, from about age 9 until 20 or so (when I quit going) my family went to a house sort of church where the men sat around and discussed all kinds of deep theological matters. Unfortunately, the rather simple truth of the gospel wasn’t getting repeated and we young people basically missed it. I consider this a grave error.

[ken_sylvania]

I'm just being 100% truthful. I don't mean to hurt feelings. This has nothing to do with faith, as I love sitting in groups of people discussing theological points, about God, and mostly I love serving the Lord and spreading his perfect message of salvation.

My intent is to get help or suggestions - or at least comradery of some sorts....

But I just have to level. It's a truth I'm afraid to reveal. It's an honest reality in my existence. I DON'T know if it's just me. I'm life experienced enough to state this isn't some whim of youth, but a life long experienced reality.

I'm nearly completely bored with church services. They are painfully boring at times. I'll make number points.

1) For whatever reasons, there is an eerie silence before church. People mumble and talk quiet before service start times. There is no reason for this really. There isn't joy before the service, and way less smiles, but more joy after the service on people's faces. This is the start of the process.

2) The singing is always nice. This is about the only thing I truly enjoy consistently in the service.

3) Devotions - This varies. At this point the service is 15ish minutes in or so. It's often a youth mumbling (where I can barely hear) and it is a topic I've heard at least 30+ times. I am not being ugly, just a reality. The scripture reading if I can hear it is okay, but often the pre-programmed devotional "tiny sermon" is rather elementary. After they read the scripture, you pretty much know what the concept is and the next 15 minutes of them talking you probably already know what they are going to say. Outside of the reminder of the word itself, the commentary is very boring to me.

4) Sunday School - This is also very pre-programmed. Because you either have a booklet or a set of scriptures that are "pre-set". Some Sunday School teachers barely let any brothers talk. Others may let them talk and then while rarely it's interesting, mostly it's deviation or digression. I would get much more out of just reading the word as God draws me to it, and allowing his spirit to minister to my heart. While Sunday school isn't "that bad" its simply not what I would call "fun" and often is uninteresting and elementary. For instance, somebody saying "We are saved by grace through the blood of Jesus Christ..." Yes that's right. I agree. I've agreed for decades. It's 100% a blessing. But it's over and over and over and over again. I understand it very well. I'm blessed by it. In my heart I feel it daily. I LOVE Jesus and what he has done for me daily. I get it. I know it.

5) Announcement time - My back is hurting in the pew. I know announcements are important, but seriously, at this point my physical back is aching. I'm listening sometimes that the kitchen floor will be laid out next week so keep children out of the kitchen while my back is aching and the seat God built into me is also hurting in the benches. Some announcements are exciting that said, like when CAM is working somewhere. But the rest is nails on a chalkboard boring and my back is hurting.

6) Sermon time - Back is still hurting. Preacher typically reads the word (and this is good). I enjoy hearing the word read. Often the first 15-20 minutes is impactful but almost all preachers start to digress. Sometimes it goes into a scripture hunt (45 passages to hunt for and turn to for their point). After the first 15-20 minutes the digression leads me to sheer boredom. On rare occasion, it's better.... After 15-20mins Bladder begins busting. Do I go? Do I stand up and do the potty dance to the bathroom? Is it irreverent? Blah I'm going. Finally back relief too. Come back to the sermon (he was talking about the Pharisees) and somehow he's now talking about the dog that went around the horse. (What?)

7) After sermon - Final song. Back hurting again. Do you have comments? Then there's always that one brother who needs to go on.... and on... and on... for 5 minutes. I'm croaking. The final prayer is nice.

8) After church everybody NOW can somehow talk a bit louder. Children jump off the pulpit and run free. "How was your week brother" - "pretty good, just working".... "I had an interesting customer who was one of those Arabs....".... ... ...


Let's do it again next Sunday.


I'm so sorry. What can I do? I love the Lord. I love his word. But I have to be honest every Saturday I somewhat dread the thought of sitting through another 2 to 2.5 hours of this. It's just honestly Boring. I've even question if God is bored with it. It's so scheduled, lacks spontaneous worship, way too structured, just weird. The format seems off.

I can read Jesus's sermon on the mount in about 30 minutes. The savior of the world's most famous sermon in his life! But our sermons ever Sunday are an hour long(ish). I don't know what to say.

What can I do? I almost can't help this. I feel like I just embolden myself and suffer through it each Sunday. Do I need help? Do others feel this way or similar? I know to say it I'm putting myself on a limb. It's taboo to speak of I know (sort of like discussing fat people with an obese person - you just "don't" say it). How can this be helped, or is it just a reality that the services are very boring?

I've experienced at least parts of this.

How do you go about preparing yourself for this dreadful experience?

[Sudsy]

I know some people use these to reduce pain in their backs from church pews or chairs. Perhaps one of these would help -

https://www.amazon.com/Church-Pew-Cushi ... w+Cushions

When I was young, we had no church nurseries. We would bring a pillow to church and stretch out on the church pews as the services were often 2 hours long. I remember men falling asleep and getting jabbed in the ribs by their wife when they started to snore. Occasionally, we had sleep walkers take off for a stroll in the middle of a service. Today many fill their sermons with movie clips and all kinds of screen uses to keep people from drifting off. We live in a quickly bored environment today. Hard to keep most people's attention for any long period of time by just talking. And many of the pews are now gone and replaced with chairs.

It would appear that up until the 15th century it appears that doing church was primarily a standing posture than it was a sitting one.

[Bootstrap]

I'm just being 100% truthful. I don't mean to hurt feelings. This has nothing to do with faith, as I love sitting in groups of people discussing theological points, about God, and mostly I love serving the Lord and spreading his perfect message of salvation.

Where does that seem to work best for you? Where does your love for God blossom most in service? When do you feel that you are really most in the will of God? Does that tell you something about where you might be called?

Late to the party, and I haven't read everything, but I wonder if it would be helpful to start with basic questions. Different people thrive in different settings. I see at least these possibilities:

1. Your church may be right where God wants you, but you need to learn to appreciate it.
2. Your church may be right where God wants you, but God wants to use you to change it.
3. God may be calling you somewhere else.

I don't know you or your church. I do know this: if you ask God, leaving the outcome in his hands, he will show you what he wants.

[NedFlanders]

I'm just being 100% truthful. I don't mean to hurt feelings. This has nothing to do with faith, as I love sitting in groups of people discussing theological points, about God, and mostly I love serving the Lord and spreading his perfect message of salvation.

I guess I missed this Chris…

This is your problem. Go back and study what Christ’s message was. His message includes salvation but that is not what His message is. Once you realize and see this you will change.

[ohio jones]

I remember men falling asleep and getting jabbed in the ribs by their wife when they started to snore.

Sounds like an argument in favor of segregated seating.