Being a seminary-trained preacher and pastor IN THE PEW for the past 12 years has been an eye-opening experience.  The View from the Pew is different in so many ways.

From time to time I would share my insights with a pastor where I was worshipping. Often I was greeted with a quizzical smile and silence. Sometimes I got the feeling they thought I was insulting them, -that they were indeed “in touch with how it was in the pews.”  But having been on both sides, I can confidentally say, IT IS DIFFERENT. 

          …And if you WERE in touch, you would do things differently.

The first thing that’s different is how people treat you before and after worship…
When you’re on staff, almost everyone gives you some form of recognition or acknowledgement on Sunday morning. But when you’re a member, people walk by you. What this means is that the staff are probably the LAST people in touch with the church’s atmosphere, …what it’s like to be a member or visitor on Sunday. And while coming to church can be a personally invigorating and affirming experience for staff members, it can be something else for members and visitors.

The second thing that’s different is your point of view on the worship service and sense of contact with fellow worshippers. As a pastor, I had the best seat in the house…  and was able to look out and make eye contact with individuals, and watch their faces and feed off that energy. But as a parishoner in the pew, you see a lot of the backs of heads. You don’t get the “personal” connection to others that the pastor gets.  But when you’re a member, it’s harder to make eye contact with people because of the straight pews all facing forward. This can make worship feel IMPERSONAL at times. (Angling the pews would be a big help. One church where I have worshipped angled their pews so you can see the faces of those across the aisle.) “Passing the peace” is nice, but once it’s over, we’re back to looking at heads.

The third thing that’s different is the level of DISTRACTION in worship. When you’re in the pew, you see and hear fellow worshippers talking, wiggling, writing notes, nodding off, grimmacing, etc. When you the pastor “up front” you don’t see a lot of these details. You’re too focused on what you have to do next. Unfortunately, if you’re a less animated pastor, or boring speaker, you have a lot of competition.

Which brings me to the fourth difference… energy level. As a pastor, you are focused, you’re heart is pumping, and you have things to do. This makes the time go by much quicker. But as a person in the pew, time slows down. You can have long periods of not talking, not standing, and just having to sit and listen. Your energy ebbs when you’re sitting in the pew. 

One place that I really notice this is during the Prayer Time.  The Pastors if GEARED UP for the prayer and plowing through heady concepts (usually written down), whereas as, being the SILENT PARTNER in the PEW your heartrate is lower, and you need more time to absorb the prayer. I can really “hear the difference” when the pastor starts to wind up the prayer time by reciting the Lord’s Prayer. MOST pastors lead the prayer TOO FAST because their adrenalin is flowing and they want to finish. Whereas my adrenalin has mellowed. Why? Because you’ve asked me to close my eyes and LISTEN.  Slow down. Drop your voice (we know the Lord’s Prayer). And while we’re at it, drop the Holy Joe language from your prayer. Strive for authenticity and variety. You don’t have to preach the gospel or recapitulate your sermon in the prayer).

Which leads me to my fifth observation… “you’re not as interesting as you think.”  In 13 years of being a pastor in the pew, I have rarely heard a sermon that was good enough to go as LONG as it did.  I have often heard a good sermon that would have been made BETTER by being 5 minutes shorter.  As someone who has delivered a lot of sermons, I know how fast the sermon time can fly by. But look again at difference #4 above. As a LISTENER, my energy level is different than yours, and I’m dealing with more distractions.  So you have to be “interesting,” …and the easiest way to do that is to tell the Bible story, tell stories, share a personal story… story story story.  Save us from a babble of Holy words.

Which leads me to the sixth observation… your thoughts are not as clear and organized as you think.  I’d say about HALF of the sermons I’ve heard in the past 12 years needed better organization and less wandering. Shortening them would help, but tightening the subject matter would help too. Don’t put a golden thread through your sermon expecting the listener to follow your every twist and turn, rather, use a golden ROPE.

Segway to the seventh observation… Performing the rituals up front makes them more meaningful than JUST WATCHING them from the pew. When you just watch the pastor perform communion, for example, it looks more scripted and boring, whereas, when you are the pastor performing certain actions, you feel a sense of reverence and accomplishment in getting the details right.  From the pew, it appears to drag, or seem quaint.  Part of the problem is the repetitive nature of it, competiting with the distance and distractions, and an energy level often sapped by a “too long” mediocre sermon.

The Pastor’s Secret: Let’s admit it worship leaders…. There’s a sense of “spirituality” a minister feels when leading the people. You get to prepare, and you get to say the holy words and do the rituals. It’s fulfilling your life’s desire to be a minister. But in the pews, you don’t get that big a kick out of holy language and the pastor’s papal gear. 50 feet away it can look and sound small and distant.  [Corollary: Choir music is better when you’re in the choir than when you’re in the pew.]  It feels profound to step into a pulpit, but from a distance, it just looks like a lecturn.

Eighth Observation: It’s nice to hear other voices up front. I know how time consuming it is to get volunteers to help lead worship, but it is SO REFRESHING to see volunteers read, pray, announce, and even occasionally preach -when they do it well.  Especially because we have to listen to your voice A LOT during the service, and for the 20-25 minute sermon, a variety of voices can really help me stay tuned in.  But please do us a favor and TRAIN your liturgists.

Ninth and final observation…    When you’re on staff, it’s easy to remember what’s going on in the church. But as a member, it’s “out of sight, out of mind.”

When I was on staff, I ate and breathed the church calendar. But as a member, I need MUCH MORE of your help to keep me connected and reminded. One of the best things my former church home did was buy one of those Phone Tree machines. It called member homes with a pre-recorded message about upcoming events. At first, I thought it might be tacky. But it proved very helpful to a member who wasn’t thinking 24/7 about the church the way staff does.

Email is helpful too, especially to those of us who work in front of a computer.

<>< Neil