Good friends of mine, Thom and Joani Schultz, released a book last October entitled ‘Why Nobody Wants to Go to Church Anymore’. They followed that with the release of their documentary, ‘When God Left the Building’, a sobering look at the shocking decline of the Christian Church in America. The book and the film are the culmination of years of research. Along the way Thom and Joani have been pleading with pastors to change the way they do church on Sunday. For more than two decades they have demonstrated time and time and time again that standing in front of an audience and talking at them is the least effective means of communication known to man.

Unless you involve people directly in your presentation you lose them. That’s why some of the most active Christians I’ve ever met are those who are going on mission trips, doing acts of mercy, engaging in lively conversation and putting their faith in action. Those who only sit in church and listen (or pretend to listen) to a sermon every week are rarely active in their faith. And it’s no secret why the church is dying.

Pastors have talked it to death!

If weekly lectures are killing once great and influential institutions what makes you think your next lecture will be any different? If you don’t learn to engage your audience in a variety of ways and make your presentations interactive, you’ll eventually suffer the same fate. People will get tired of listening to you.