The communication guru, Marshall McLuhan, once said, “Anyone who thinks education and entertainment are different doesn’t know much about either.” That statement got me thinking about preaching.

When I was in seminary I took a lot of learning theory classes because one of my master’s degrees was in the field of education. I’m not even sure why I went into that degree program, but it really laid a foundation for the way I preach. I don’t want to spend twenty hours a week preparing messages that people will forget in twenty minutes!

I have a communication conviction: the most important truths ought to be communicated in the most unforgettable ways!

Jesus set the standard with his parables. Pure genious! You hear his parables once and you remember them forever. Why? Because his stories weren’t just truthful. They were entertaining. Jesus had a way of engaging the imagination and emotions. And that is the key to memory retention. The stronger the emotion the longer the memory!

Anywho.

We’ve got to do a better job of communicating the gospel in more entertaining ways. That doesn’t mean “less truthful.” It simply means “more engaging.” I’m certainly not suggesting that we dumb down or water down the truth. I think we have to do the exact opposite.

Dorothy Sayers, the C.S. Lewis of her generation, said in her book Creed or Chaos: “We are constantly assured that churches are empty because preachers insist too much upon doctrine–’dull dogma,’ as people call it. The fact is the precise opposite. It is the neglect of dogma that makes for dullness. The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man–the dogma is the drama.”

Here’s my question: is there anything more exciting or entertaining than following Christ? It is the antithesis of boredom. Nothing is more exciting or entertaining than pursuing God-ordained passions and God-sized dreams. And that’s pre-eternity! I think heaven is going to be infinitely entertaining

In the words of Peter Kreeft: “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a dull life or a dull truth. Dullness, not doubt, is the strongest enemy of faith.” Kreeft said our greatest failure isn’t moral or intellectual. He said it is our “aesthetic failure” in our pictures of God that most potently threaten our faith.

I’m not sure who came up with the juxtaposition, but I like the word “edutainment.” Our sermons ought to be educational. But they need to be entertaining as well. Why? First of all, they ought to modeled after Jesus’ parables. We need some more whole-brain preachers who engage both the logical left-brain and imaginative right-brain. And secondly, if we don’t engage our listeners they won’t hear us. It’s that simple.

I don’t remember a single boring sermon I’ve ever heard. How can the gospel be boring? Following Christ is the ultimate adventure! We ought to be the most passionate people on the planet! Our sermons ought to reflect that.

A few years ago, someone emailed an article to me titled Cinema: The New Cathedral of Hollywood. Our church was cited in the article and the article compared churches and theaters. The author said, “What we want from church is actually precisely what we get from film.” She said that “movies are an alternate form of transcendence… something that very few people are even capable of feeling in church these days.” Fredrick Buechner said,”Hollywood consistently beats the church at its own game.”

No one should beat the church in the transcendence game!