On Devotionals

Patrick Malphrus

Greetings, everyone! It’s been quite some time since I last had the blessing of writing for 1782, but I’m honored to once again have this opportunity. I went back and forth over what I might write about and it occurred to me that I should probably address a topic that often comes up when I talk about ministry with other pastors. I’m 44 years old but have been blessed to serve in pastoral ministry for the last 23 years. I’m no mathematician (Theology major here, you do the math) but by my mathing that means I’ve been in pastoral ministry for over half of my life. As I have ministered and observed other pastors, I’ve noticed that we pastors tend to develop methods, and the older a pastor gets, the more easily he falls into certain ministry patterns.

Don’t get me wrong, patterns and practices are not bad things. If you care about efficiency, and you should, you will develop patterns of ministry and hang on to those patterns because they (hopefully) work. And men (especially you pastors reading this), we are called to work, but that’s for a different article. Nevertheless, despite forming the same types of ministry patterns that other colleagues have doubtlessly formed, I started something new a few years ago and its results have been wonderfully surprising and effective.

Before I tell you what this new thing is, I’ve just got to share some of the reactions I’ve faced from colleagues. I’ve been told I’m crazy for doing this new thing in ministry. At its onset, one colleague asked “What are you going to do once this thing takes off and your people grow to expect it?” I’ve been warned that I’ll burn out. I’ve been warned that “You’re going to create a monster here.” The one who told me this has come back and said “See, I told you so.” Jokingly, I’ve been told by some that “You’re making me look bad!” In all seriousness, I’ve been told by one colleague “You’re making me look bad. No, I really mean it.” Others have wondered at the amount of time it takes me to do what I do, and have asked specific questions about method and execution. Most have wanted to know what benefit this new practice has had on my church.

Are you sufficiently intrigued? What is this new thing I started a few years ago? Well, it began with a little thing called COVID-19. It’s been said of COVID that the pandemic made the days long but the years short. That being said, what feels like yesterday was actually a few years ago. I remember it like it was yesterday, though, and maybe you do too. The news was filled with nothing but reports of the dreaded COVID-19 virus. Shoppers went into a frenzy akin to the days of the Y2K crisis. Then came “10 Days to Flatten the Curve.” Everyone seemed to be staying home. I think it’s safe to say that any pastor worth his wingtips struggled to find ways to connect with his people, but I found one that would completely change my ministry. As a result, I’m almost 900 days into “10 Days to Flatten the Curve.” What in the world am I talking about?

The day after the aforementioned initiative was announced, I decided to go live on Old Providence’s Facebook page at 7 AM and do what I called a “Daily Devotional.” Originally, my plan was to spend around 15-20 minutes live, and to offer some sort of devotional for my people. Though a country church, most of our folks had access to the internet and I thought that going online would be a good way to reach people who I’d otherwise be visiting. Little did I know that these daily devotionals would have such an impact on not only my church, but on many others, as well.

My first devotional was an introduction to the differences between a devotional and a sermon, and along with this, I started a 3-part series on how to read and study the Bible. From there I took up topical issues about different facets of Christianity. I did this Monday through Friday, live, each day at 7 AM. Eventually we subscribed to Sermon Audio for those who couldn’t connect with us via Facebook. That’s when things really started to take off. “10 Days to Flatten the Curve” was long gone, but I still offered daily devotionals because the response was tremendous.

Not only were the majority of my own church members tuning into devotionals, people from all over our local area began to tune in. Eventually, some of those people started attending church at Old Providence. We began seeing more and more visitors and the common refrain was that they heard about us through our daily devotionals. You need to understand something about Old Providence. We were founded in 1742. We don’t have a drummer in a Plexi-glass cage. I don’t own a pair of skinny jeans (I know, I know, praise be for that). We still sing Psalms every week. We still have an organ and a choir who still wear robes. As I’ve said, we are a country church, but we are also in a rural setting. In fact, we’re 25 minutes from the closest Walmart. By all reasoning, that means we’re on the American frontier. Furthermore, we’re not doing any of the things a lot of “experts” say you have to do to grow a church. Even so, people started coming more and more, and some traveled over an hour one way.

Needless to say, I kept going with the daily devotionals. At this point I’m around 900 devotionals in and I’ve taught through juggernaut books of the Bible like Genesis and Romans, but also through smaller books like James and Judges, and all with the mindset that my goal was to offer clear teaching with practical application in a devotional sense. I’ve learned that though I never intended these daily devotionals to become a means of outreach, they’ve certainly become one.

I’d like to say I had enough vision and wisdom to see what these would become, but I didn’t. It’s only in retrospect that I’ve figured out that these devotionals have given my people one of the most non-threatening tools imaginable to invite people to church. Think about it…what’s less threatening than one of my church members being able to say to a neighbor or co-worker something like “Hey we’d love to have you come to church with us, but if you’re wondering, 5 days a week you can find our pastor online, doing a little devotional. What you see is what you get with him!” I’ve learned that daily devotionals remove the mystery of what folks will encounter during a worship service. The results of this commitment have been fascinating.

Not too long ago a couple joined the church who watched devotionals for almost 2 years before attending in person for the first time. They both said that they don’t really know why they waited so long to come, but they were so glad that they did. Their words sort of reminded me of the stories I used to hear from missionaries to the Soviet Union who talked about how much time they had to spend with people before they could get them into church. I’ve learned that whether I like it or not, America’s religious landscape has changed, and I’ve got to be willing to change my methods with it.

I’m still online 5 days a week, 6 including our Lord’s Day service, but I no longer do the devotionals live. To be blunt, it was just killing me to do so. The level of stress I faced was unsustainable. Instead, I still offer devotionals 5 days a week, but by recording them in advance. I’m currently making my way through Matthew. I take breaks for summer vacation and other times throughout the year, but I always come back. The demand is too high to stop, but I will be honest, this is a real commitment that makes me happy for the breaks that I get. The amount of work I put into them is high, but it is so worth it for the benefit gained, and not just from an outreach perspective.

A year or so into the devotionals I was speaking with a colleague who has done much study in Reformation history. He said to me “You know, what you’re doing isn’t all that different from what Calvin did in Geneva.” He went on to talk about how part of Calvin’s work was going to the church and offering simple bible teaching 5 days a week, separate from his Lord’s Day sermon. The effect on Geneva was that people changed. This should be no surprise to us. The power of God’s Word cannot be disputed. Whether it is the power of His Word in creation, speaking all things into existence, or the power of His Word in that the Word of God is the Sword of the Spirit. God always works through His Word, promising in Isaiah 55:11 that His Word never goes out and returns to Him void, but that it always accomplishes what He intends.

Well, what do you know? Much like my devotionals that often run over 15 minutes, this article has gone beyond its 1500-word limit. There’s much more I could write about this subject but won’t. Please know that the purpose of what I’ve written is not to tell you that you should do what I’m doing at Old Providence. In fact, you might even read this as a cautionary tale of sorts. I’m also not saying that the end result will be the same for you as it has been here, for us. The point of what I’ve written is to share something that has worked here for training our people and bringing more people in. It’s as simple as that. Take it or leave it. However, do not doubt the power of God’s Word and its ability to transform everything from a local congregation to the way a man like me does ministry. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’d love to talk to you about how the Lord has worked and is continuing to work at my church.

Patrick Malphrus is pastor at Old Providence Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in Spottswood, Virginia. The aforementioned devotionals can be found at www.sermonaudio.com/oldprovidence or on Old Providence’s Facebook page.