William Glasser is quoted as saying:

“We Learn…
10% of what we read
20% of what we hear
30% of what we see
50% of what we see and hear
70% of what we discuss
80% of what we experience
95% of what we teach others.”

Right there is a good answer to preachers that ponder why their church never does anything that they preach about. If people disagreed with you, they would leave the Church… right? So they stay, listen to your sermons, nod their heads, and then… nothing. Few people get moved to action. Many pastors have grown frustrated trying to figure out why.

Here is where I have to say the hard stuff. You ready? Are you sure? You see, the problem is that sermons aren’t a good way to get people to learn.  As much as people talk about “experiencing” God at church, that is not the kind of experience Glasser was referring to above. If you ask a question during your sermon, I am sorry… but that doesn’t count as discussing. And no matter how cool your PowerPoint background animations are, they don’t count as “seeing” on the list quoted above.

Yep… this is the hard part. People are only going to learn 20% of what you preach. And if you tell funny jokes 20% of the time… guess which 20% they are going to remember best?

To be honest, the educational theorist in me can’t figure out a true use for sermons. I have preached many myself, actually. But I still can’t find a reason to justify their existence.  We will only learn 20% of what we hear at any given sermon… and that is if it holds our attention.

For that matter, I also can’t find a good, valid reason for a lecture at school.  There is over 100 years of educational research that has proven that the lecture is the least effective way to teach. But we still yak away in colleges, grade schools, and churches every day all the time.

The thing is, I love the communal aspect of the Sunday morning meeting.  Worshiping together, shaking people’s hands, getting caught up on someone’s life, hearing announcements (I like announcements. Really. I think I am the only one sometimes…), getting prayer,  and all of those other activities are vital for a healthy church.

But what to do with the sermon? I have thought that maybe churches should just cancel the sermon and have small group meetings after worship.  Everyone goes from church to the house they meet at, has a focused discussion, and then eats together.  Or maybe the sermon could be a time to cast vision for the church after an extended time of fellowship.

The best thing I have for the sermon, however, comes from an educational idea called the Microlecture. Maybe we should have microsermons that get right to the point. Then, people gather together in groups to explore the key concepts. Of course, that is supposed to be the point of having small groups midweek.  So, once again… what to do with the sermon time?

I can’t think of an effective alternative that just doesn’t recreate other things that are happening in church.

The only thing I can up with is this: don’t expect people in your Church to learn what is preached from the front.Their main avenue of learning has to come from another source – one that allows them to discuss, experience, and teach others.

Those are the avenues I want to explore next.