Church talk, what’s the harm. So I tell someone I’ll call them knowing I have no intention of calling. So I make someday somewhere plans with someone when I know I am not going to follow through. It is kind at the time. No one really ever believes church talk. Everyone does it. Even the Pastor. What does it hurt?

Expectation is one reason church talk is a negative. Unmet expectation is a catalyst for hurt, anger, dejection, and feelings of inferiority, as well as being the cause of disappointment. The truth is some people do believe. Some people do not want to believe that you outright lied. Some people expect the future event you lied about to be true. So one of the people you are lying to is you.

Another reason church talk is a negative, a lie is a lie even if no one believes. Do you want to be known as someone whose spoken words are false? If no one believes your church talk, do they believe your prophecies? Do your messages become entertainment? Fun for moment but no one really believes for an outcome. No expectations can be gleaned from your words. After all they’re just church talk.

They are church folk, so they might forgive you. They might even join in and talk some church talk of their own. Is that what ministry is for, to gather a room full of trash talkers all sharing church talk? No one believing anything said, no one following through. No worries. It was just church talk. I came, I got the t-shirt, I can talk the talk.

There may be a valid reason sometimes for plans to change. The polite thing to do is to inform all parties that something changed. We’re not talking about changes, we are talking about the imitation planning some people do to sound good in the moment. We are talking about the intentional lie. You know, church talk!