Does the modern church's reliance on programs weaken its effectiveness?

Paul Carrington suggests a direct correlation between the number of programs in the church and the weakness observed in the modern church today. Carrington critiques the trend of learning through structured programs and seminars, comparing it to learning to swim in a classroom setting. Instead, he advocates for experiential learning, like actually getting in the water to learn to swim. He suggests that the church should focus on discipleship and interactions among its members, allowing God's word to gradually take over all aspects of their lives.

In Carrington's view, the beauty of the church lies in its diversity, where older and younger members can learn from each other's experiences. This mirrors the natural way in which Jesus developed disciples, by walking with them day by day. Carrington encourages the church to move away from assembly line-like production and instead return to the biblical way of discipleship, which is gradual, experiential, and deeply personal.

1 John 2:6 (NKJV): 'He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.'

So I think there's a direct correlation between the plethora of programs that we have and the weakness that we actually see in the modern church today. I would put it like this, what would be more effective, taking a whole 12 week program or seminar on how to do evangelism or actually going out with someone who's done evangelism and learning in that same way? How do you learn to swim? You don't really learn to swim in a classroom setting. You learn to swim by getting in the pool or in the ocean and and you know failing a little bit, floundering a little bit, but gradually getting more skillful.

And I think a lot of times in this programmatic age, in an age of trying to create leaders, and there's all sorts of books and all sorts of ways to kind of manufacture what really isn't there, We've diverted and gone off the course. Rather, we should get back to what the Bible actually says we should do. The church becomes the focal point of discipleship. And then the church from the pulpit interacting with one another as brothers, going out into the world, how I interact with my family, how I work on my job. All of these things now begin to have God's word taking over little by little.

And there's gonna be areas where I'm weak, areas where I don't understand certain things. And that's again the beauty of the church so that we have older men, older women, people that we can rub up against, we can learn from as they have had different experiences. I can get some of those, I can share some of my experiences. And I think that's God's program, God's way of developing disciples over time. We gradually bear fruit.

It's not all at once. It's not a matter of just taking in information, learning to swim in the classroom, but it's actually getting into the water real life. And that's how God has designed it. When you think of how Jesus created or developed disciples, how was it? He would walk with men day by day, along the roads, sitting in homes, going to the synagogue, all these different ways.

But it was very much a natural opportunity, a natural way that men took in the life of their master. And I think we need to get back more to that than just simply an assembly line, increasing production, reading more and more books on how to do it, and just simply get back to the way the Bible teaches we ought to do it.