Would You Use Docent Research Group for Sermon Prep?

Would You Use Docent Research Group for Sermon Prep?

  • Yes, I have no issues.

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  • No, but I would use Docent for "other" areas of my ministry.

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B.L.

Puritan Board Sophomore
Morning Esteemed Friends,

I was recently made aware of the Docent Research Group and discovered a number of pastor "celebs" endorse their services for helping them craft their sermons, etc.

With the recent plagiarism controversy swirling around some church leaders in their sermons I was curious when I learned there are research groups out there that pastors can submit RFIs to (for a fee) for help on everything from sermon series planning to sermon preparation (plus assistance in a host of other ministry areas). It seems the "clientele" Docent is targeting are those who pastor large congregations who "need" assistance doing the work of a shepherd day in and day out.

If you are (or ever were to be) a pastor would you consider using the services of a group like Docent? Is this sort of research outsourcing common these days do you think? Perhaps I am naïve, but I never would have guessed pastors (their congregations really) would be paying for a service like this.

Here is a description of the "research" services Docent offers:

The work of a pastor never really ends. You’re sermon prepping. Then you’re meeting with staff or elders. Next you have a couple visits with a congregant. And as you go from meeting to meeting, you’re thinking about a hundred other things–priorities for your Sunday school offerings, whether to continue growing your congregation or to plant a new church, and how to deal with the hundred different “small” things that come up throughout the week that, when added together, aren’t so small.

The result is what author Chris McChesney calls “the whirlwind.” There are so many things to be managed on a day-to-day basis that it leaves little time for working toward specific goals you have as a pastor or as a church. You really want to read that book, but you haven’t gotten to it yet. You would love to know more about your local demographics to better understand your neighborhood, but you don’t know where to look. Management wins and executing ideas gets lost.

Docent Research Group assists pastors facing these problems, pastors who are wearing too many hats and are feeling spread too thin. Our research team offers services ranging from book summaries to congregational surveys to sermon prep and planning assistance. With Docent Research Group, you don’t need to get bogged down on management. You can also execute important projects. When you partner with Docent, you are extending your research capabilities and guaranteeing that you’ll have the resources you need to do your job well.

Research Projects​

  • Book Summaries can help you keep up with the latest big releases or provide a useful overview of a classic book you want to read but won’t get to anytime soon. Learn more …
  • Church Surveys are custom designed in order to tap into a church’s unique DNA and address each church’s specific questions and concerns. Learn more …
  • Demographics Using up-to-date government data gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau as well as other trusted sources, Docent can provide detailed, easy-to-digest reports on the demographic and cultural makeup of specific areas and regions that are of interest to you and your ministry goals. Learn more …
  • Position Papers Docent Research Group has extensive experience working with large churches to craft position papers that communicate church belief and policy in clear, easy-to-follow terms. Learn more …
  • Sermon Research Docent Research Teams help preachers by providing an outside perspective and equipping them with research aids and illustrations to help them explain the Scriptures to their people. Learn more …
  • Sermon Series Planning As they develop relationships with pastors, Docent Researchers are able to offer assistance planning out a long-time preaching strategy. Learn more …
 
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Perhaps they should assist pastors with prayer too. After all, if order implies priority, they comes first: Acts 6:4.

Digital prayer wheels might be handy or perhaps a few monasteries that we can finance to help with time off purgatory for grandfather.
 
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Perhaps they should assist pastors with prayer too. After all, if order implies priority, it comes first: Acts 6:4.

Prayer wheels might be handy or perhaps a few monasteries that we can finance to help with time off purgatory for grandfather.

This reminded me of a session meeting I heard about a few years back where one of the agenda items was discussing a congregant's request to restart a prayer ministry. Those present discussed the mechanics of what something like this might look like...consolidated list of prayer needs, team of "prayer warriors" who would meet together, weekly prayer emails, etc. When the brainstorming had run its course one of the young pastors was said to have commented that the church had tried something similar in the past and that his schedule was too busy to commit to doing that again. Apparently the congregant who made the request had been actively voicing her desire to get another prayer group started for some time and gained the nickname "the squeaky wheel" by some present.

Prayer, like preaching, has fallen on hard times I'm afraid. Both seem to have been substituted with another "p" word -- pragmatism.
 
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