On Preaching to Your Congregation

Bob Thune has some comments worthy of thought at The Resurgence* in an article entitled “Is Preaching Killing Your Church Plant?”

Preachers like Piper, Keller, Driscoll, and Chandler speak to thousands each week, and it's great to learn from those guys. But if you're trying to preach like those guys, you're probably making a mistake. Because let's be honest: you're not preaching to thousands.

I spoke with a church planter recently who couldn't understand why his core group of 30 wasn't bringing anyone to church. Answer? Because it's awkward to sit in a room with a few dozen people and get yelled at through a big sound system! It just doesn't fit the environment. I met another guy a few years ago (a Baptist brother, stereotypically) who was setting up a big wooden pulpit in his living room every week so he could preach to his core team of seven people.

Trying to preach like someone else is problematic for a lot of reasons, including the fact their audience is not our audience. We can learn to preach by listening to others. And we should.

But imitating them is not the same as learning from them.

It reminds of the old adage (which I will roughly paraphrase): If I listen to one man preach, I will learn to preach like him. If I listen to a hundred men preach, I will learn to preach like me.

Trying to be John Piper with the gifts of Charlie Brown and the audience found in a bad coffee shop won’t work and will be demoralizing.

In preaching, we must be willing to learn and improve, and we must be willing to be what God has called us to be.

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*You know the disclaimers.

The Problem with Christianity

We have viewed Christianity individualistically—“am I right with God?” (not that this is unimportant). And in so doing have privatized the faith and  have lost in large measure the larger vision of the redemption not just of individuals but society and the world.

So said M. James Sawyer in response to Michael Spenser’s piece about The Coming Evangelical Collapse.

I see this sentiment often—that our faith is too personal. I think it could not be more misguided. While Sawyer has some interesting, and I think some good, stuff to say, on this particular point, I think Sawyer is wrong.

To bolster his point, Sawyer uses examples such as abortions, business ethic, and marriage.

For instance, he claims that 40% of abortions are performed on evangelical women who would rather “commit what they believe to be murder than to live with the shame and ostracism of the community that was supposed to love them.” (I am not disputing the number.)

He continues “The ethical reputation of evangelicals in business is so notorious as to make the term Evangelical Ethics an oxymoron. Many Christians let alone non-Christians will not do business with those who make public their evangelical commitment.” (I am not disputing the sentiment.)

What’s the problem? The problem is not that faith is too personal, that Christianity is too individualistic.

It is precisely the opposite. It is not personal enough. We are too concerned with what other think (abortion) or with finding success in this world (business ethics). Our faith is not personal enough to cause us to do right in spite of those around us.

Take the abortion example: A woman whose faith in God is extremely personal and individualistic will be more committed to obeying God and less worried about the supposed response of the community around her. But because she is concerned with the community around her, she decides to have an abortion.

The businessman with an extreme personal faith in God will realize that he too has a master in heaven, and will live accordingly. His bad business reputation is because he does not believe strongly enough in God.

What evangelicalism needs is a more personal faith, and a faith less concerned about the response of those outside the faith. 

The problem Sawyer points out is real, but his diagnosis is wrong. We need a more personal faith, not a less personal one.

McKinley on Church Planting

Michael McKinley on church planting, which isn’t good just for church planters:

Be realistic!  You're not Spurgeon, and that's OK.  The best case scenario for 99% of us is that we are faithful to the gospel, God in his kindness lets us see some real and enduring fruit from our labors, and we don't do anything that disgraces the gospel.  That's a win.

Success is seductive, particularly when you see it in others. Any sane person develops a desire to have it for themselves. After all, if you don’t want to reach people with the gospel, why are you a pastor anyway?

But coveting the success of others can be deadly for a lot of reasons. Here are a few that readily come to mind:

1. It can distract you from trust in God alone for the success of ministry.
2. It can discourage you to the point of wanting to quit since you are not succeeding like someone else is.
3. It can lead to unfair comparisons, particularly since your community and your gifts are not the same as his (whoever he is whose success you are lusting after).
4. It can cause you to always chase the elusive nebulous dream of success (always changing), rather than seeing people as people in desperate need of a Savior.
5. It can be spiritually, mentally, and emotionally draining.
6. It can lead to distraction from the real task of preaching Jesus and loving people.

Add your own reasons. I would like to see them.

Behavior vs. Values

“The reality is that an individual’s behavior is the most accurate indicator of his true character. Ultimately our behavior is simply the acting out of our deeply held values. This in no way suggests that we always like or endorse those things that we value. Quite to the contrary, we may, in fact, be quite disheartened and disgusted with ourselves for the things we value and we will be confronted by our unappealing and destructive values through behaviors that are problematic for us and for those with whom we interact” (Rima, Leading From the Inside Out, p. 37).

Enforcing behavior may be necessary for a time, but it is a poor and ineffective way to change lives.

While institutions need to have rules for a variety of situations, and while rules can serve as effective tools in discipleship, rules cannot change values.

Values are products of the human heart. We always live out of our loves, even when those loves are distasteful to us. This is a problematic thought for those who too closely associate love and emotion. But I think it is true. At the moment of any given action or thought, I am doing what I love to do, even though I may hate myself for it within a matter of mere seconds.

If we want to live differently, then we need to love differently. Rules cannot make me love something else. Neither can medication.

This is why the first and greatest commandment is to love God with all that we are (Matthew 22:37).

A Strange Hypocrisy

The weekend’s news brought the tragic story of the killing of noted abortionist, Dr. George Tiller, noted for performing late term abortions. Apparently he was ushering in his church* (an ELCA congregation) when he was gunned down.

Now, this shooting is absolutely inexcusable. It should not have happened.

But why are pro-choice people upset? To them, whether someone lives or dies is a choice, not a crime. If someone is inconvenient to us, we can kill them. That’s what Tiller believed. That’s what NOW, NARAL, our president, the bulk of the Democratic Party, and some in the Republican Party believe.

So why can someone kill one person but they can’t kill another person?

Perhaps it’s because the right of choice only belongs to women, and this shooter was a man. (I speak as a fool.)

It is utter hypocrisy to support the killing of some (the weakest and most unable to defend themselves) while objecting to the killing of others (who are able to defend themselves).

If you are pro-choice, then be pro-choice.

Don’t throw up some faux charade of hypocritical anger. You are the ones who support the killing of innocent people. You cannot legitimately object when it happens (particularly when the victim is not innocent).

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*Of course, this whole sad episode raises the question of what is going on in our churches when a member is a noted abortionist. Where was the leadership of this church demanding repentance of Dr. Tiller? Where was the church discipline and the denial of communion and fellowship?