I’m not sure why it is, but with the Calvinist craze occurring within Evangelicalism, one would think that churches would be changing; however, this is largely not the case. Most of the Calvinists I run into that are senior pastors, associate pastors, children’s pastors, or seminary students look nothing like consistent Calvinists. Instead, they hold dearly to the “doctrines of grace” while using methods that cannot be built on these doctrines. They 1) manipulate their hearers by pulling at heart strings in their sermons, 2) craft their worship services in order to induce emotion, 3) use pragmatic homiletics to appease the sensibilities of their audiences, 4) do not lead their churches in the eventual implementation of biblical discipline, 5) are not concerned with regenerate church membership, and 6) are as pragmatic in their methods as any other Arminian. I just don’t understand how knowing that God is sovereign in salvation does not lead to methods that communicate this truth. If God is sovereign in salvation, then manipulation, crafted worship services, seeker-sensitive homiletics, undisciplined love, unregenerate church membership, and pragmatic methods do not lead sinners to salvation. They instead do the opposite; they lead them away from God and to the mirror.
So, why is that Calvinist dressed up like an Arminian? It is either because 1) he really is an Arminian; 2) he is a growing Calvinist that has not thought through the implications of the doctrines of grace; or 3) he thinks that the doctrines of grace somehow have nothing to do with the “neutral” methods used to unpack them. To the first man I simply say, “Quit lying!” To the second, “All of us have been where you are; and I imagine that I am still there in a sense. Continue thinking through the implications of these doctrines; and be willing to lovingly, long-sufferingly teach others the implications of correct doctrine.” And, to the third, “Wake up! Neutral method is a myth. Either your methods reveal the glory of God or hide it. You are doing one or the other. If pragmatism governs your methods instead of the Scriptures, then you are probably revealing God’s glory through your preaching while hiding it through your methods.”
If all Arminians and Calvinists are consistent in their doctrines, then their two worship services and entire philosophies of ministry should be starkly different. This however is not the current case within Evangelicalism. We are mainly Arminian in our worship and ministry philosophies.
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“We’re Godlier because Our Worship Services are Longer Than Your Worship Services”
I’ve made and heard other pastors and Christians in the past make negative comments about other churches because their services, sermons, or singing were either too short or too long. The more that I think about it however, the more I realize that any standard placed on any church apart from textual warrant stinks of legalism. How long should a worship service last? The answer simply is “as long as your pastor(s) wants it to last.” Since your pastor(s) is the leader of your worship service, he should be able to decide how long your worship services last. So, which church does better, the one that worships for 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 120 minutes, or 180 minutes? The answer is that none do better! For readers that affirm the Regulative Principle, the elements of worship must be present for worship to take place; however, cannot all of these elements take place in under 30 minutes?
I can remember listening to one pastor preach online at a church in Louisville; he had a PhD, but only preached for 15 minutes. I remember thinking that he wasted his time getting a PhD if he’s going to be preaching “sermonettes.” Me = legalist. The reality is however that there is no such thing as a sermonette if the pastor preaches the text in front of him; whether it lasts 5 minutes or 105 minutes is really irrelevant. Pragmatically, I prefer preaching sermons that go 5 or 10 minutes past the attention spans of my audience, because I want them to listen with effort for a brief period in the sermon. I personally think that every sermon should remind the hearers of their responsibility, even of their responsibility to listen to God’s Word because it is God’s Word. Thus, I believe sermon length should be determined based on biblical implications (human responsibility, preach the Word, reprove, rebuke, correct, exhort, etc.), rather than arbitrary thoughts like ”I think that a sermon is only a sermon if it is minutes long.”