Month: May 2008

Professional Preacher?

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

I am currently reading through Brian McLaren and Tony Campolo’s book, Adventures in Missing the Point.  In his typical style McLaren criticizes the “modern” approach to leadership in the church under 10 headings.  For one of these he uses the term “careerist.”  While I am far less inclined to criticize the church as freely as McLaren does, I agree that this element of Christian leadership is a problem.

He prefers the idea of being amateurs.  By this he means that our motivation for ministry is not quenched by the pressures of seeing ministry as a career.  Leadership and preaching need to be “less like the drudgery of a job and more like the joy of a day golfing or hiking or fishing or playing soccer or whatever … not something we have to do, but somethinig we get to do.”

On one level he is right.  My privilege of being in full-time ministry should not turn it into a drudging climb up a career ladder.  Perhaps you work in the secular world (also a privilege) and get to preach too (again, a privilege).  He is right, ministry is something that we get to do.  But perhaps where he misses the mark is the sweeping generalization that those of us in ministry see it as drudgery.  I for one consider it a privilege to be freed up through financial support to dedicate my time to ministry.  I know many others that see ministry as a get to privilege.

Furthermore, perhaps he misses the mark slightly by a limiting definition of the term amateur (McLaren is not a stranger to re-defining or carefully defining terms).  The term amateur does include the sense of loving (latin root amare) what we do.  It also can indicate low standards and poor quality.  Equally the term professional can suggest the dispassionate use of skill for money, but at the same time it can imply high standards and good quality.

I am an amateur preacher.  I am a professional preacher.  I don’t want to be amateur.  I don’t want to be professional.  It all depends what is meant by each term.  Let’s not be amateurish, nor professionalized, but passionately good stewards of the privilege of ministry.  Hopefully on that we can all agree!

Read Widely, Disclose Wisely

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

I recently heard of someone who made a mistake in his ministry. His mistake was to write down the title of a book for someone he was discipling to go and read. The book was written by an author from a very different stream of christianity. The content of the book was solid, nonetheless, he was run out of the church essentially as a false teacher.

I remember reading an article several years ago about the concept of a liberal education. At one level the concept of “liberal” refers to the wide and free reading across the spectrum. It’s ironic that today many of the liberal seminaries will never include “conservative” books on reading lists, yet conservative seminaries recommend and even require the reading of “liberal” scholars. Which is truly liberal? I went to two liberal seminaries, that is, ones which encouraged reading from all over the spectrum (please don’t misquote this sentence – I really went to two very solid and conservative seminaries, for which I am genuinely grateful!)

So let us read widely. Others may not appreciate the value of this practice, but they don’t have to know about it. It is not possible to have genuine conviction without the testing of our ideas. We can only test our thinking by reading outside of our own theological camps, whatever they might be. So read widely, but disclose wisely. Let the spectrum broaden as maturity increases. And if power-figures in your church are not mature enough to read beyond a narrow selection, then be discerning in your disclosure.

Alternatively, we could just read authors from our particular stream of Christianity, I know many who do this, but I suspect his would be a real mistake in ministry!

A Worldwide Lack

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

Here is a quote that I have used in presentations of our ministry over the past few years.  It’s an observation made in the early pages of Operation World, the great prayer guide for the world by Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk.  It’s an observation that I find to be true as I travel:

There is a worldwide lack of men taught in the Scriptures to lead the churches . . . those who accurately and effectively expound the Scriptures are few.

So, what will we do about this?  Well, let’s pray for the Lord to raise up accurate and effective expositors all over the globe.  Let’s pray for those ministries seeking to equip and train those gifted for such ministry.  Let’s make sure our tiny corner of the globe, wherever we preach, does not fit this generalized description.  Perhaps let’s prayerfully consider ways we can influence and mentor beyond our tiny corner.

The Power of Expository Preaching

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

Following on from our discussions of the definition of expository preaching, let’s take a moment to refresh on the power of expository preaching. When the Scripture is interpreted well and presented relevantly, there is great power.

The Power of the Word of God – It is hopefully a core conviction that the Word of God is powerful and living. It does not need to be made relevant or made powerful, it is powerful and it is relevant. Our job as preachers is to let that powerful relevance show. Our role is not to be forceful in our own thinking or philosophy, nor in our presentation of the opinion of others, but to effectively present the Word of God.

The Power of the Authority of God – Inasmuch as we accurately handle and present God’s Word, there is authority in preaching. This doesn’t mean we have that authority in ourselves. I’m not advocating heavy shepherding from the pulpit. As Augustine stated long ago, “When the Bible speaks, God speaks.” The authority is His. Hopefully our listeners will be like the Bereans and test what we preach against God’s Word, and then obey God (Acts 17:11).

The Power of the Spirit of God – Expository preaching, in my view, requires that we take seriously our task as communicators. We should be good stewards of the gifting, the calling, the opportunity. We should do all we can to communicate effectively, but always understanding that heart change is not to be found in the fields of persuasion, rhetoric, eloquence, etc. Heart change is the work of the Spirit of God. So as we seek to accurately present the Word He inspired, to the people He is working in, as a person He is empowering, then maybe heart change will occur!

Shifting From We to You

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Robinson suggests that there comes a point in a sermon, at least in a good sermon, when the listener loses track of all the people around them. Before, the preacher was one of us, representing us before God, but now there is a shift so that the preacher is representing God to me individually. There is a point at which “we” language can effectively give way to “you” language. There is that need for each individual to make personal application of the sermon.

If we shift too early, we run the risk of coming across as full of ourselves. We can offend people by our personal presence in the presentation.

If we shift too late or not at all, we run the risk of falling short of making the call of Scripture on the lives of God’s people.

There is no set point. It depends on the sermon, on the speaker, on the listeners, on the setting. But we undermine our ministry by neglecting either “we” or “you” language, or by failing to evaluate when the shift can and should occur.

Effective Verse-by-Verse Preaching

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Following on from the previous post, I’d like to share Mathewson’s four suggestions for using a verse-by-verse approach effectively.  I could have written my own suggestions, but they’d be much the same as Mathewson, so I’ll let him have the credit for this:

1. Keep the big picture in mind. This means thinking in preaching units or paragraphs, rather than atomistically.  Verse-by-verse is a strategy that serves a larger goal, that of expositional preaching of a unit of Scripture.  Commit to work through a block of text, rather than stopping when the time runs out.

2. Highlight the contours of the text. Include structural observation to help people recognize the contours and shape of the text.

3. Determine which details to cover in depth and which to summarize.  What does the audience need explaining, validated or applied?

4. Use verse-by-verse preaching in concert with paragraph-by-paragraph preaching.  Some sermons in a series will cover larger chunks of text, while others will move verse-by-verse.  Give people both breadth and depth, they need both.

Verse-by-Verse Preaching

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

There are many who advocate a verse-by-verse approach to preaching.  Some entire denominations take this approach.  Some (wrongly) define expository preaching by this form.  Here are Steve Mathewson’s lists of strengths and weaknesses of the approach. 

Strengths. 1.  Verse-by-verse sermons dig deeply into the text, thereby countering the contemporary trend toward biblical illiteracy.  2. Verse-by-verse sermons lead the preacher to follow the contours of the text rather than an artificial outline.  3. Verse-by-verse preaching has a tendency to real the author’s intent rather than imposing an idea onto the text.

Weaknesses.  1. The verse-by-verse approach does not serve all literary genres of Scripture equally well.  2. The verse-by-verse approach sometimes results in sermons that lack unity, wherein there is much analysis, but little synthesis.  It is possible to obscure the flow of thought in a text by giving emphasis to every passing detail.  3. There is a tendency in verse-by-verse preaching to overload the sermon with raw data and short-change application.  4. Verse-by-verse preaching can slow the preacher’s pace so much that a congregation does not get to hear the whole counsel of God over a reasonable period of time.

(See Mathewson’s chapter 110 in The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching, pp407ff).

My Communication Heroes

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Naturally I have heroes who do what I desire to do.  Effective preachers who handle God’s Word very carefully and preach it very relevantly.  Some of these are big names, others are not.  But there are other communication heroes that are not doing what I am trying to do.  They are doing what I feel very incapable of doing.  Here are a couple of examples:

Effective Children’s Sunday School Teachers – the ones that capture the attention of a group of young children and present the teaching of the Bible in a way that makes sense and sticks.  Seeds planted that will bear fruit long into the future.  I’m happy to teach my four children, but I am scared to death of a group of non-Mead children.  People who can handle that are communication heroes in my book!

Effective and Proactive Interpersonal Evangelists – the ones that seem to be finding opportunity after opportunity to share the gospel and lead others to Christ.  I try to get around non-believers, I try to get the conversations around to the gospel, I try to be a witness in the power of the Spirit, but I am also clear that my primary gifting is not in the area of evangelism.  Those that make this look easy are heroes in my book!

What about you?  Are there people using communication skills in the work of the gospel that you know you cannot emulate?  They may look up to you as a preacher and express how glad they are they don’t have to stand in front of a crowd of adults and preach.  Let’s be sure to also affirm those who do what we are glad we don’t have to do!

Preach Grace Not Moralism

/ Peter Mead / 5 Comments

Tim Keller makes a critical point.  Too often as preachers we preach a gospel that moves people from rebel to legalist.  We so easily preach so that younger sons become older sons, but somehow miss the glory of the father’s prodigious grace in humiliating himself for the sake of both sons.

Let us be careful to distinguish rebellious sin and moralistic self-righteousness (still sin), from true grace.  We cannot overstate the danger of preaching that turns worldly rebels into pew-filling moralists, but fails to preach the unique distinctive of grace that only the Christian gospel has to offer.

Preaching to Real Ordinary People

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

Remember that you are not preaching to some kind of super-saintly collection of elite spiritual warriors. You are preaching to ordinary people. Ordinary people have doubts that they don’t think they’re supposed to have. Ordinary people generally feel tired and short on motivation. Ordinary people often have fears that may be unfounded but still feel ever so real when they lie awake at night. Ordinary people think they struggle, but everyone else has it all together in life. Ordinary people sin. Ordinary people, even after responding to the gospel of grace, still feel that their standing before God depends on their own effort and spiritual “success.” Ordinary people already feel guilty about several things, not least their lack of proactive witnessing. Ordinary people are very ordinary. This has implications in how you present yourself, how you present the message, and how it is supposed to intersect with their lives. We preach to very real and very ordinary people.