Let Man Not Separate Bible and Spirituality

December 27, 2011December 26, 2011 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Yesterday’s post touched on an important point – that preaching is not primarily about method. There is something much more significant going on in terms of our view of God, of His Word and as a result, of preaching itself.

Saturday’s post prompted a couple of comments. In the post I noted how I had run two very unprofessional polls. In one, preachers noted what would help them improve; and in the other, people were asked the greatest weakness in the preaching they hear. Almost no preachers selected the need for further training in biblical studies, while the runaway winner in the other poll was that the greatest weakness lay in the area of poor Bible handling. Hardly a scientific poll, but a discrepancy that does ring true, I feel. It is very hard to spot poor Bible handling in the mirror!

In response to a comment essentially raising the issue of personal spirituality, as opposed to issues of technique and practical matters, Lonnie made a comment that included this statement: “Wouldn’t handling the Bible better result in a closer walk with the Lord, for you and your listeners?” Let me quote my response and add a few comments:

I think there is a dangerous divide forced between Bible study and personal spirituality. I don’t want to hear from a preacher with great exegesis but poor devotional life, neither do I want to hear from a preacher with a great devotional life but poor exegesis. The two must must must go together. Good exegesis is not the only ingredient in spirituality, but the Bible must be a primary feature of genuine Christian spirituality, so good exegesis can never be an optional extra, or simply something left to certain “elite” teachers.

It is my conviction that all of us, not just preachers, can enjoy a delightful and very real relationship with God as we meet Him through His self-revelation in the Word. I find it frustrating when Christians give the impression that their walk with the Lord is going well, even though they don’t have much of a taste for the Bible (or conversely that their studies are diligently pursued, without much of a taste for God Himself). I find it frightening when I sense that a preacher doesn’t have both realities working hand in hand.

All this to say, in line with Lonnie’s comment, that I agree absolutely that better Bible handling is not just a matter of method or technique, but a feature of genuine spirituality and devotion to our Lord.

Saturday “Short” Thought: And the Winner Is . . . ?

December 24, 2011 / Peter Mead / 10 Comments

There is a discrepancy that I need to share with you. This week, in a slightly relaxed pre-Christmas mode, I ran a couple of polls on the Facebook page and the LinkedIn group associated with this blog. I asked, what do you wish you had more of in order to help improve your preaching. Here are the results in reverse order . . .

In last place – further training in biblical studies (5%)

In fourth – more encouragement from listeners (10%)

In third – further training in preaching (19%)

In second – more fellowship with other preachers (24%)

And the winner – more time for preparation (43%)

Now I have done enough classes in quantitative analysis and statistics to know that this survey is bordering on meaningless, but in the spirit of bad statistics, let me make a couple of comments before I point out a big discrepancy for pondering over this festive season.

Comment on the winner – people responded to the survey by clicking on their most desperate felt need. I suspected that time would be the greatest felt need because many of us wish we had more of it every single week! This doesn’t mean that only ten percent of preachers need more encouragement from listeners. I suspect that number would be higher if people could have voted for two or three options.

Another comment on the runner-up – it is interesting that quite a few folks expressed the desire for more fellowship with other preachers. I suspect that the ministry of preaching is unnecessarily lonely in many churches. Perhaps it is worth starting some sort of preacher’s gathering in your area, or better, in your church. I have been so encouraged by the first two gatherings of a dozen preachers and interested parties in our church.

DISCREPANCY! I posted another poll in a larger group of Christians asking “What is the greatest weakness in the preaching you hear?” The options available were lack of Bible, poor handling of the Bible, lack of clarity, lack of relevance, and poor presentation. Issues of clarity and presentation came last, lack of Bible came third, lack of relevance second, but the runaway winner was poor handling of the Bible with 45%. Combine that with lack of Bible for a total of 65% and two things jump out at me.

1. I’m breaking too many quantitative analysis rules to list.

2. Runaway greatest need in one poll (Bible handling), and distant last in perceived need among preachers (further training in Biblical studies) – could it be that preachers are generally over-confident in their ability to handle the text accurately and effectively? I know some of the preachers who responded to the poll and don’t think this to be true of them, but in general, this strikes me as true: many preachers need more training in effective Bible handling. I wonder if it would be worth picking up that book that might help over the next couple of weeks as we sit at home enjoying Christmas festivities? That might be the best feast of them all!

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Have a wonderful Christmas!

What Would Help? People

December 23, 2011December 20, 2011 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

This week I am pondering how we might pursue improvement in our preaching ministries. We’ve thought about training and time. Today let’s talk about other people. (If you want to see the poll on LinkedIn, click here. There is also a poll on the Facebook page here.)

Preachers need preachers for mutual encouragement – As I wrote recently, preaching can be a lonely experience. Preparation tends to be done alone. After preaching preachers would often rather be alone. But is a ministry of preaching a commitment to lots of solitude? Yes and no. It would be wrong to lose sight of the need of the body of Christ for everyone in it, including those who preach. Having fellowship with those who understand and care makes a big difference.

I would encourage every preacher to be involved in, or to organize, a gathering of preachers for mutual encouragement and resourcing. Not a venue for egos, or for pyramid climbing, or for conflict. But a venue for genuine heart to heart fellowship and support. Is there one in your community? There is value in sharing with other preachers outside your church. I have been involved in a ministry that seeks to launch preachers clubs around the world – where these have worked, the ministry has been greatly blessed. Gatherings of preachers meeting every month or two and working on a passage of Scripture as well as praying for each other – valuable, to say the least. Having a local preachers’ group is great. Even better, is there one in your church? Surely we should all be looking to build up others and mentor others, so why not develop a preacher’s gathering within your church?

Preachers need people for encouragement as well as feedback – Listeners tend to fall into three categories. One is the listener who never communicates with the preacher other than being polite. Another is the listener who only communicates critique (either directly or through asides). The final category is the listener who genuinely looks to encourage the preacher. People in this last category are worth their weight in gold. Finding people who will pray for the preaching ministry, and encourage the preacher, and advocate for the preacher, etc., is not easy. Yet when people in this category offer feedback, it is so much more palatable.

I don’t want to slip off into discussing issues of feedback. I want to recognize the need for encouragement, just as all people, in all ministries, need some encouragement. Doing ministry does draw down on our resources. We look to God for empowerment, but He chooses to give us strength, in part, through the proper functioning of the body of Christ. I don’t know how to let your listeners know that you need this, perhaps you should accidentally send a link to this post (or maybe an appropriate moment of vulnerability in a message might help).

For what it’s worth, I’ll offer the results of the poll in the short post tomorrow.

What Would Help? Time

December 22, 2011December 20, 2011 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

This week I am pondering how we might pursue improvement in our preaching ministries. Last time I thought about training. Today let’s talk time. (If you want to see the poll on LinkedIn, click here. There is also a poll on the Facebook page here.)

We probably all wish we had more time. Truth is, we can only free up the time we have and use it better. Some things cannot be avoided – demands on our time from a certain amount of pastoral crisis (although boundaries are important here to protect us from too much), and family responsibilities (boundaries are needed to protect this time).

I had an email from a friend the other day pondering the signs of superficiality. Included in his list were such issues as prayerlessness, failure to get into the Word, failure to read solid meat materials, great time wasting, a passion for secondary issue pursuits and the latest fad. We also need to take stock of the age in which we live – an age characterized by instant and constant communication, but not an age characterized by people of great spiritual depth.

Diligently managing our time is not simply about getting time to prepare sermons – a very pragmatic goal. It is about having the space to soak in a deep relationship with God, so that out of that depth, we might offer to others the blessing of profound preaching and ministry. I wonder if the next couple of weeks are a good time for us to prayerfully take stock of the time challenges in our ministry. Perhaps some changes need to be made. Perhaps some boundaries need to be installed. Perhaps our hunger for the things that really matter needs to be cultivated afresh.

What have you found to be helpful in terms of managing your time as a preacher?

What Would Help? Training

December 21, 2011December 20, 2011 / Peter Mead / 1 Comment

This week I am having a relaxed look at things that might help us continue to improve as preachers. If you want to see the poll on LinkedIn, click here. There is also a poll on the Facebook page here. Here are a few thoughts on training:

The concept of training – As a younger man (just about), I am always impressed when I meet older men who are hungry to keep learning. I’ve been humbled by the attitude of some in classes I have taught – I think being eager to learn from someone who is much younger is a sign of real maturity. I want to be like that. I want to take advantage of opportunities to learn more and keep growing. Wasn’t it one of the teaching gurus that stated the day you stop learning, you stop teaching? Some are so eager to influence others, yet stubbornly unwilling to acknowledge their need of being influenced. I suppose it would do us all good to prayerfully consider what our attitude to learning says about us.

Training in Preaching – The poll option states, “Further training in preaching,” but the reality is that any training in preaching is a rare privilege, even in formal training institutions. At the same time, by widening the scope of the definition, we must acknowledge that all preachers have received the training that comes from hearing others and from repeated practice themselves. Both observation and practice have an impact on our preaching. Nonetheless, why wouldn’t we be hungry for training from those that might have something to offer us? I’ve been involved in teaching preaching in Bible college, seminary, conference, cross-cultural training seminar, church-based workshop, non-traditional mentored environments, etc. All have their benefits. What has been the most helpful training you’ve received? What opportunities might you take advantage of in 2012? (Remember, it is possible to get training courses on DVD, online, in book form too.)

Training in Biblical Studies – Such a significant part of effective preaching is effective Bible handling. There’s no room for complacency here, but the opposite in this case is not dutiful diligent discipline (although it can be that if you prefer). No, the opposite of complacency in this area is the blessing of deeper interaction with God in His Word. I would ask serious questions if there weren’t a real genuine hunger for more of that in my life. So let’s look for ways to learn more (formal training), for people to learn from (knowledgeable mentors) and for resources to help us grow in that area (a book on interpreting the literary forms, a refresher on biblical Greek or Hebrew, a book on hermeneutics – I’m really enjoying An Introduction to Biblical Interpretation at the moment).

In the mad and busy schedule of ministry I understand how training gets squeezed out. But when the desire to learn and grow diminishes, something good has been throttled out of our hearts.

What Would Help?

December 20, 2011December 20, 2011 / Peter Mead / 10 Comments

People often quip, at least in my country, about having roast preacher for lunch on a Sunday. In our house we are training our children to listen well with a good attitude on Sundays, so we tend to have a quiz together as we digest the sermon over lunch.

Some Sunday lunch quizzes are more difficult than others for us as parents: sometimes the children struggled to listen and remember what was said, sometimes we parents struggled to listen and remember what was said, sometimes we have to navigate around sermons or preachers that didn’t really do so well, and sometimes we have to answer questions when our children start asking about the preacher’s content or demeanour.

Instead of fostering a critical spirit toward preachers, we want to encourage our children to be good listeners with hearts open to what they can learn. As preachers, we need to be continual learners too, looking for how we can be ever better stewards of the ministry God gives to us.

So here’s a question for us as preachers: what would help us to improve? Actually, I’m not asking about the generic class of “preachers” – but specifically, what would help you to improve, what would help me to improve?

I started a poll over on LinkedIn to get a few responses, and have added it to the facebook page too. If you are on LinkedIn, click here to go to the poll and add your thoughts (you’d be most welcome to join the group too). If you are on Facebook, click here to go to the page and you’d be welcome to “like” the page too.

Since I only had five spaces for possible answers, here are the five options that came to mind:

– Further training in preaching

– Further training in biblical studies

– More time for preparation

– More fellowship with other preachers

– More encouragement from listeners

In the next days I will share some thoughts on these needs, and for what it’s worth, I will collate the results at the end of the week. Please do confuse matters by adding other suggestions too, either here or on either networking site.

Saturday Short Thought – Lone Ranger Ministry?

December 10, 2011December 8, 2011 / Peter Mead / 4 Comments

This week I have blogged about delivery, which in many ways is all about the connection between preacher and listeners. Preaching is an inherently communicative ministry, yet it can be such a lonely ministry. Some preachers are too busy and don’t spend the time they need to, alone with God. Other preachers are too independent and don’t spend the time they need to, connecting with others. Preaching involves lone time in preparation, and often a desire to remain alone after preaching (since a spent preacher can feel so vulnerable during post-preaching interaction).

Three slightly random thoughts to finish the week:

1. The preacher should never be truly alone. Preparation time should be saturated in prayer, and enjoyed in fellowship with the God we represent. If we have any encouragement from our union with Christ, if we have any comfort from His love, any fellowship with the Spirit . . . surely we do. We must.

2. Preacher’s benefit from interaction with each other. This week we had our second preacher’s workshop at church. I am excited about this group and hope that in time it will become a special gathering that will not only educate and develop preachers, but will create a sense of team in the preaching ministry of the church. Sharing resources, sharing feedback, sharing enthusiasm, sharing encouragement. I wouldn’t want to miss out on that!

3. In a small way preachers can benefit from online connections. I find some benefit from mutual encouragement with other preaching friends online. Comments on this site make a difference in my ministry. So this week I have launched the Biblical Preaching facebook page – a place for preachers and listeners to connect and share resources, discussion, encouragement. The slightly less formal surroundings there will, I hope, allow interactions that will feed into the content of this site. I’ll also share the odd link to helpful resources there too. The more people that know about it and “like” it, the more value it will have. Would you help by “liking” the page (you can click on the like button in the facebook box to the right, or go to the page and like it there), and perhaps share the link with others via facebook and twitter? Thanks so much. Don’t miss the chance to win two great preaching books too – click here for promotion information.

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Next Week: Powerful, Provocative, Pithy – Preaching Proverbs

Can I Tread on Some Special Toes?

December 9, 2011December 9, 2011 / Peter Mead / 32 Comments

It is coming up to the time of year when people are making resolutions. One of the big ones in churches is to read the Bible through in a year. So perhaps you are thinking of encouraging people to do this by suggesting a reading plan. Here’s where I am going to tread on some special toes.

“I don’t think the Robert Murray M’Cheyne reading plan

is a good idea.”

There, I said it.

His plan, which is still widely promoted by various big names, essentially involves reading four chapters per day. This takes people through the whole Bible plus a bit of repeating (NT & Psalms, I think) in a year. I think it is great to help people get into the Bible, and I know many have been helped by it, but I don’t think this is the best way to go.

Essentially the problem with the plan, and others like it, is that the reading is segregated. So readers start in Genesis, Ezra, Matthew and Acts all on day one. I don’t want to stir up a sanctified riot, but I don’t think this is a good idea. Why not?

1. It treats the Bible chapters as vitamin pills rather than the feast that they are. That is, it creates a sense of “balance” without encouraging readers to really savour the taste of the text as it flows.

2. It hinders the reader from reading the text in context. In a busy life it is hard enough to keep track of one flow of thought, let alone four.

3. It doesn’t encourage the reader to get “in the zone.” I don’t know anyone that would advocate reading four novels at a time, a page from each, each day. How much better to invite people beyond the first few minutes of distracted reading and into the zone where they get gripped by the narrative and don’t want to put it down?

4. It promotes a tick-box approach to Bible reading as a discipline, rather than an overt opportunity to engage with God’s heart as revealed in the epic revelation. So many people view Bible reading as a laborious discipline that they must force themselves to do. But the people I know who delight in the Bible tend to be people who devour it, rather than dipping into it.

Suggestion? Why not encourage and invite people to read the Bible aggressively and relationally, as if God has a personality and is personal. That is, by reading His Word with a passion to know Him, readers/listeners might get to know His personality and grow in their personal relationship with Him.

Perhaps it is worth pondering how to encourage people by enthusiastic invitation, rather than by affirming the “difficulty” and “trudgery” of “getting through the Bible” in a year or three. Here is a link to my friend Ron’s article on Bible reading – as “Bible presenters” lets be sure to be genuine Bible enthusiasts that do more than try to fire up the so-called disciplined wills of our listeners!

7 Tone Balances

December 8, 2011November 23, 2011 / Peter Mead / 2 Comments

The tone of our preaching is so important. Yet this is a balancing act. Seven “tones” to balance in biblical preaching:

1. Serious yet joyful – We handle the most serious of content in the most serious of circumstances. Yet we have more reason than any to have joy. It isn’t right for a biblical preacher to come across as flippant and silly, but neither is it right to come across as sombre and melancholic.

2. Textual yet relevant – We preach as inhabitants of two worlds: the world of the inspired text and the world of our listeners. It is possible for our tone to be too much in one or the other and for our preaching to be undermined as a result.

3. Contemporary yet genuine – We preach as fellow humans in the present situation. It is incarnational to not come across as a prophet who has been locked in a victorian time capsule. Yet we need to be genuine in this, no good pretending to be contemporary in ways we are not, people see through that.

4. Authentic yet appropriate – In a culture that increasingly craves authentic communicators, we must show the real us when we speak. Listeners don’t connect with plastic preachers. Yet we must be appropriate in what we share. Sometimes too much information undoes everything around it.

5. Welcoming yet exclusive – We preach as those who represent the welcoming spreading graciousness of Christ, yet as those who stand with Him in His claim to absolute exclusivity. We can’t be welcoming in a way that offers hope to those on a hopeless path.

6. Warm yet warning – We preach as ambassadors for Christ. He wasn’t stone cold like some preachers are, Christ was compelling and warm. Yet the self-righteous found Christ to be one who warned, rather than warmed them.

7. Winsome yet real – Maybe this has been covered already, but let me reinforce it. We speak as representatives of a God who seeks to woo the wounded. Our preaching tone should be winsome and Christlike, but that won’t work if it is mere catchphrases that aren’t supported by a deeply stirred reality.

Saturday Short Thought: Christmas According to Sibbes

November 26, 2011November 23, 2011 / Peter Mead / Leave a comment

This week I spent a few days on here thinking out loud about Christmas. I’ve also done quite a bit of thinking in terms of the six messages I have coming up in December. I am going with a Christ of Christmas theme, delving back beyond the start of the New Testament to tap into the epic expectation of the one anointed to be prophet, priest and king. I’m sure you have plans and ideas stirring too.

But let me throw this into the mix from a few centuries ago. Richard Sibbes is a preacher worthy of our attention. According to Sibbes, the incarnation is a greater mystery than that of creation…

“We cannot too often meditate of these things. It is the life and soul of a Christian. It is the marrow of the gospel. It is the wonder of wonders. We need not wonder at anything after this.” (Sibbes, Works 5:485)

Like Sibbes and those puritans who were like him, may we be stirred as we ponder the Incarnation. May it elicit wonder and thankfulness in our hearts. May we be stirred to preach the Christ who

“hath taken our flesh upon him for that purpose, that he might have experimental knowledge of our infirmities and weaknesses, and from that he might be the more sweet, and kind, and gentle to us.” (Sibbes, Works 5:480-2)