Saturday, April 30, 2005
Who Is The Audience For Preaching?
I've sat on the sidelines of the preaching discussion this week, for two reasons. One, some posts can be dashed off, and some take real effort -- I don't generally have time during the week to do the ones that take real effort. Secondly, since I am not a preacher, I wonder about my worthiness to join this great clan:
Jollyblogger addressed issues of showmanship in preaching -- this is a vitally important questions. He uses the example of Marjoe Gortner, but what about Sam Kinison? The line sure can get fuzzy from time to time. Transforming Sermons also looks at JB's post.
Scotwise links to a post from The Spirit Formed Life on the topic. Sheep's Crib reacts to this great post from Unveiled Face.
Finally, Adrian Warnock, Sheep's Crib, and Transforming Sermons all react to my last post on the subject from last weekend.
I want to pick up where I left off last with this quote:
Churches in general rely way too much on preachers and teachers and leaders of all sorts. Christ did not come to bless a few, He came to bless the world, and everyone,I mean everyone, that receives that blessing should be capable of passing that blessing on. I don't believe evangelism is the job of preachers and teachers and leaders, I believe it is the job of every single man, women, and child that calls on the name of Jesus. Jesus should be talked about in the supermarket and on the street corner. Given the number of Christians in the US we should hear that name in fast food joints and arcades and malls whenever we are there.
I do not mean that everybody should be inviting people to church so the preacher can tell them about Jesus -- I mean that everybody should tell everybody else about Jesus, not always with words but definitely telling, and then everybody else should come to church because that is what people that believe in Jesus do.
This model changes radically what the church is about. Now the church is not about spreading the Word, but about building maturity amongst those that have the Word. I also think this will radically change preaching in your average congregation. Consider:Hebrews 6:1-2 - Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings, and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.I long for preaching that is true to these verses.
I am going to be very personal for a moment. It has been a long time since I have been in a church that was "for me." I reached a level in my Christian maturity where it seemed my only options were professional ministry, or some sort of lay limbo where my leadership and training was acknowledged, but never really put to use. God has made it abundantly clear that He does not wish for me to be in professional ministry, that is true for so many. My heart hurts for the those with real passion for Jesus Christ that never seek knowledge or wisdom or maturity because they also know they are not called to professional ministry, and that there is no place for that non-professional maturity in the church.
I argue that the church is the very place for that maturity, and the place for creating that maturity. Those that are mature go OUT from the church and do the introductions and the birthings OUT IN THE WORLD. Is that not the model that God Himself gave us when He left His heaven and came TO US?
So, I think preaching should be that which brings not mere Christianity to its audience, but Christian maturity. This means that church will very much go over the head of "seekers." So be it, church is not for seekers, rather it is for the found. The found go out and find the seekers.
I have talked to many preacher friends about this and they all become disconsolate and state that they feel called to evangelism. I generally respond with but a single question, "Why do you think Billy Graham is not pastoring a church?" If you are called to evangelism, then by all means go and evangelize, if you are in a church then preach to the found and tend the flock.
Jollyblogger addressed issues of showmanship in preaching -- this is a vitally important questions. He uses the example of Marjoe Gortner, but what about Sam Kinison? The line sure can get fuzzy from time to time. Transforming Sermons also looks at JB's post.
Scotwise links to a post from The Spirit Formed Life on the topic. Sheep's Crib reacts to this great post from Unveiled Face.
Finally, Adrian Warnock, Sheep's Crib, and Transforming Sermons all react to my last post on the subject from last weekend.
I want to pick up where I left off last with this quote:
So what is my vision for preaching? Just this -- it is a tool for my, and every other Christian in the congregation's, use in their own ministry. Each of us is called to be intimate with another, and through that intimacy the Spirit spreads. Not all of us are gifted at putting voice to the thoughts and ideas that surround that intimacy. That is what great preaching does -- it describes and explains the urgings of the Spirit that people feel, not from the preaching itself, but from the people in the seats or pews around you. A mediocre preacher will sound like a great preacher if he serves a congregation full of true and committed servants of the Lord. That's why I think a pastor should devote himself first to discipleship because discipleship will make the preaching better.Given the model for church growth and evangelism underlying that paragraph, the question I ask in the headline to this post is of vital importance. Let me discuss that model a little more in detail.
Churches in general rely way too much on preachers and teachers and leaders of all sorts. Christ did not come to bless a few, He came to bless the world, and everyone,I mean everyone, that receives that blessing should be capable of passing that blessing on. I don't believe evangelism is the job of preachers and teachers and leaders, I believe it is the job of every single man, women, and child that calls on the name of Jesus. Jesus should be talked about in the supermarket and on the street corner. Given the number of Christians in the US we should hear that name in fast food joints and arcades and malls whenever we are there.
I do not mean that everybody should be inviting people to church so the preacher can tell them about Jesus -- I mean that everybody should tell everybody else about Jesus, not always with words but definitely telling, and then everybody else should come to church because that is what people that believe in Jesus do.
This model changes radically what the church is about. Now the church is not about spreading the Word, but about building maturity amongst those that have the Word. I also think this will radically change preaching in your average congregation. Consider:Hebrews 6:1-2 - Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings, and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.I long for preaching that is true to these verses.
I am going to be very personal for a moment. It has been a long time since I have been in a church that was "for me." I reached a level in my Christian maturity where it seemed my only options were professional ministry, or some sort of lay limbo where my leadership and training was acknowledged, but never really put to use. God has made it abundantly clear that He does not wish for me to be in professional ministry, that is true for so many. My heart hurts for the those with real passion for Jesus Christ that never seek knowledge or wisdom or maturity because they also know they are not called to professional ministry, and that there is no place for that non-professional maturity in the church.
I argue that the church is the very place for that maturity, and the place for creating that maturity. Those that are mature go OUT from the church and do the introductions and the birthings OUT IN THE WORLD. Is that not the model that God Himself gave us when He left His heaven and came TO US?
So, I think preaching should be that which brings not mere Christianity to its audience, but Christian maturity. This means that church will very much go over the head of "seekers." So be it, church is not for seekers, rather it is for the found. The found go out and find the seekers.
I have talked to many preacher friends about this and they all become disconsolate and state that they feel called to evangelism. I generally respond with but a single question, "Why do you think Billy Graham is not pastoring a church?" If you are called to evangelism, then by all means go and evangelize, if you are in a church then preach to the found and tend the flock.
