Monday, August 29, 2011
What It Takes
MMI asks:
Preaching is a way to give thought and voice to what goes on in the rest of church and the rest of life, but it is not the gospel and it is not the primary focus Christ's, or our, ministry. It can attract crowds, it can put money in the plate, but of itself it cannot change lives.
This thought by the way reflects heavily on the worship wars. I won't belabor it, but I will ask you to think about it.
I will also confess that preaching is a huge temptation, Said Rhoades, "I know many people that hold a very high view of preaching. Most all of them are preachers." That is a huge clue. There is a lot of ego involved in this discussion.
I think the place to start is with confession.
“Every week in America, more people hear a sermon than engage in any other communal act,” Moody said. “Preaching still has an important influence.”In my day in Young LIfe we talked about "earning the right to be heard." By that we meant that the kinds has to know us well enough personally that the relationship would create in them a desire to listen to what we had to say.
Moody hopes to improve the quality of preaching in America by attracting top talent to the pulpit.
[...]
I’ve seen some posts in the past couple of weeks that have kind of gone along with this sentiment… that preaching isn’t necessarily the best way to reach people any more.
I know many people that hold a very high view of preaching. Most all of them are preachers.
Is preaching something that is foundationally biblical? I mean, I know that Jesus taught. After all, we call it the ‘sermon’ on the mount for crying out loud.
But most of Jesus’ time was not ‘preaching’ per se, was it?
Preaching is a way to give thought and voice to what goes on in the rest of church and the rest of life, but it is not the gospel and it is not the primary focus Christ's, or our, ministry. It can attract crowds, it can put money in the plate, but of itself it cannot change lives.
This thought by the way reflects heavily on the worship wars. I won't belabor it, but I will ask you to think about it.
I will also confess that preaching is a huge temptation, Said Rhoades, "I know many people that hold a very high view of preaching. Most all of them are preachers." That is a huge clue. There is a lot of ego involved in this discussion.
I think the place to start is with confession.
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