Why Para-Church Groups?

 Why are there so many para-church organizations connected with Evangelical Christianity? There are groups of experts who operate outside of any local church to minister to areas of need. It could be marriage or child raising. It could be financial or emotional support. There seem to be groups ready and willing and able to minister to needs that evidently are not being ministered to on Sunday morning.

One reason that I see for this has to do with the style of preaching used in many churches. Expository preaching and teaching is a style of preaching that uses the Bible as it's sole source. Very few outside sources are ever cited. Only Bible characters are ever mentioned, unless it is your own salvation story. I think that any Bible student knows that the Bible has a lot to say about God and Christ and very little to say about other issues of life. And most life lessons in the Bible are from ancient cultures that have no bearing on modern life. And so, since the Bible is limited, outside groups are there to fill in the gaps.

Topical preaching, which was pastor Mitchell's method, takes a Bible truth or verse and speaks to real life issues using real life, up to date, examples. Topical preaching speaks to a specific subject and applies core Bile truth to specific topics. Topical preaching gets truth from the bible and applies it to real life living and experience. Topical preaching, with doctrine explained during Sunday School, can minister to real people anywhere at any time.

As a disciple under Wayman Mitchell I found little need to go to outside sources.  Shouldn't a pastor's job be to understand the Bible well enough to let it help people in the real world?

Recently, our pastor here was explaining a biblical idea and he reached a point where I expected some real world current experience examples. Instead, he reached back into the Bible to find examples of what he was talking about. I was disappointed. One thing about the Bible. No matter how many times you read it, the story never changes. In real life, people and circumstances can and do change.

So, instead of Focus on the Family, couldn't our church help people with marriage and child rearing?