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I love it when people better known than I are saying the same things I said! I stumbled onto an article “No More One Night Stands,” by Allen White, whom I don’t know. It’s not about illicit dalliances; it’s about churches and Christian organizations putting their faith in big events. 

He writes: 

A classic example is the Promise Keepers movement in the 1990’s. The dynamic of bringing tens of thousands of men together in a stadium was truly inspiring. Every man pledged to be a better husband, father, brother, and son…and they really wanted to. I really wanted to. Before long, Promise Keepers inevitably became promise breakers. There were some exceptions. The issue centered around the lack of a plan. There was no next step for the men to take in order to keep those promises. This isn’t just my observation. This is the conclusion Randy Phillips, the former president of Promise Keepers, reached.

I wrote two blogs on this:

• “Effectiveness of the spectacular,” which should have been titled “The ineffectiveness of the spectacular.” Jesus fed 5,000+, raised a widow’s son from the dead in front of A LOT of people, and there were only 120 believers in the upper room before Pentecost. 
• “Spectacular events:” Passover, the Red Sea crossing, and Sinai were not enough to keep the Israelites following God. 
  

We put too much weight on the event, even the Sunday morning sermon. We preach a sermon on, say, anger, quoting all the appropriate scripture. Some of those who have an anger problem think, “Yes! I need to do something about my anger.” But that’s the end of it. It is, as Allen White says, a “one-night stand.” (Or “one-day stand!”) Instead, the pastor should refer people to a course particularly for anger or to existing men’s or women’s small groups where through accountability relationships over time, God could have a chance to work.

By contrast, I once heard a pastor preach on money, and he followed his sermon with three possible action points, including a course, another event, and meetings with a Christian financial planner. That’s doing it the right way!

Allen writes:

For every event a church plans, you must ask the question: What’s the next step? Decisions without steps and support lead to discouragement and failure… If you are responsible for these events, then you can insist on a next step. If you’re not, then you could certainly recommend one, and even offer to run it.

I couldn’t agree more.

Paul’s challenge to Pastor Timothy in 1 Timothy 4.7 – 16 assumes that learning to live as a disciple of Jesus is a process. It includes teaching to be sure. But there are also the daily disciplines, not only for the pastor but also for the people:

Train yourself for godliness…command and teach these things…set the believers an example…practice these things, immerse yourself in them…keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching.