The Elephant Tied To A Rope

Learned Helplessness in the Pews

Looking at an elephant, you wouldn’t imagine it could be tied down and restricted with a small rope. Whether it’s true or not, there is a story of how you can subdue an elephant by tying it with a small rope as a baby. Then, as it grows, it gets used to its limitations. Eventually, this 12,000-pound animal won’t go anywhere because it’s been trained to believe that it’s not powerful enough. It’s the perfect example of learned helplessness. It also accurately describes the learned helplessness in the pews of the church.

Whether the story is true or not, it’s the perfect example of learned helplessness. It also accurately describes the learned helplessness in the pews of the church. How did the church, the most powerful group of humans on the face of the planet, find itself in this state?

The church didn’t start out this way. There was definitely a shift. Search the book of Acts and Paul’s description of the church described in the New Testament epistles, and a different mindset can be found. The mindset was one of collaboration and spiritual initiative.

The church was active. All of the church was active. There was no monologue from the stage. No sign of a senior pastor. It was centered around Jesus and the Holy Spirit speaking into the gathering and summoning obedience. This is how the church multiplied.

They had their eyes on their rabbi Jesus. It was expected that disciples of a rabbi would be like their teacher. So if the rabbi is preaching and healing, the disciples longed to learn how to preach and heal as well.

This is what Jesus meant when he said, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” At this point, the disciples were the “fish” but Jesus trained them to be “fishermen”. This is far from the expectation of passive pew sitters we have today. He expected them to do something.

So instead of a nondescript shopping center turned auditorium, the church gathered in homes, and everyone was expected to contribute. That’s how things work in a house (more on that later). This wasn’t a unique thing but an ordinary experience. Paul truly believed all believers had gifts from the Spirit for the benefit of the common good.

But somewhere along the way, we’ve ditched the mutual edification for a pre-arranged show. Marshall McLuhan coined the phrase “the medium is the message,” and our reliance on a stage and an audience is sending the message that most of the church is helpless and passive. The lecture/TED Talk set up of Sunday morning reinforces the wrong idea about discipleship.

Jesus’ main way of training his disciples was not one-sided lectures. We have only two recorded “sermons” in the gospels. The rest of Jesus’ interaction is stories and questions, punctuated with times of practical application. Jesus’ method of discipling others was exactly the opposite of what we do nowadays.

The bulk of the heavy lifting is put on one person with all the answers. This stems from the elevation of pastors and teachers. In other words, caregivers and knowledge brokers shape the form of Christianity. This becomes a more critical problem when caregiving is perpetual hand-holding, and dispensing knowledge becomes an insatiable quest. No one ever gets better, and no one has enough knowledge to actually do something.

Of course, that’s extreme language, but you can see it in our systems and structures. In order to be a leader, the top qualities are being knowledgeable of the faith, a great speaking gift, and natural charisma. This is the standard. Being tall and having a great smile are a bonus. These are the things that count when ministry is centered on the stage.

And this becomes the implicit curriculum. Every organization has one. It’s what’s taught underneath the surface. Most Protestant churches assent and even promote the priesthood of all believers. That’s the explicit curriculum. The implicit curriculum is our everyday language and practices.

Most will agree that there needs to be more dialogue and that real discipleship and growth happen through relationships. Still, we have to look at money and time as the real indicators of our values. Our practices reflect our values. The average pastor puts more time into his sermon than into the ministry of small groups. More money is put into the Sunday service and the maintenance of the building than anything else besides salaries.

So the implicit curriculum wins out. Our values become reinforced every Sunday. The church is still tied to a rope.

Stay tuned for part 2 next week