Religion

Thin-Blooded Preaching – Part Deux

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

So to the rest of Michael Quicke’s list of what constitutes thin-blooded, leadership-less preaching:

6. Low Compliance – While hoping for positive comments, this kind of preaching really doesn’t expect people to be or do anything substantially different as a result of the preaching.

7. Absence of Process Issues – This is where the preacher steers clear of applying the text to the process of congregational transformation, instead leaving all process issues to the organizational announcements.

8. Solo Role – Following on from the previous item, this is where the sermon ends up in a separate role from the organizational complexities of church life, functioning as a devotional stand-alone on the side.

9. Cowardice – “Maintaining rather than initiating. . . . Safe pairs of hands operating within stable structures rather than big souls daring to live on the leading edge of God’s new structures.”  And to quote a bit more, “Thin-blooded preachers have become understudies on the margins of leadership. Such preaching utterly fails to lead.” 

10. Missionally Defective – That is to say that it fails to lead God’s people in the mission to which they are called in this world.  Preaching becomes about individual conversion, or personal growth, but fails to really engage the interface between the church andthe culture.

“So full-blooded preaching, then, is corporate, holistic, trinitarian, specific in applicaton, realistic about conflict, urges commitment, does justice to process issues, collaborates, is courageous, and is missionally effective.”  The rest of the book pursues that, and I’m looking forward to reading it!

What Makes For Thin-Blooded Preaching?

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

After a whole series of careful caveats, Michael Quicke defines what he means by thin-blooded preaching in 360-Degree Leadership.  I’ll share brief introductions to each thought, but really recommend buying the book and thinking through his argument first-hand.

1. Individualistic – It is easier to preach to individuals, than to address the complexities of corporate church life, and the calling of the Body of Christ in the world.

2. Aimed at head or heart but rarely both together – On the one hand there is preaching that lodges great slabs of words into heads to occupy listeners with note taking – “Cerebral preachers love to use ‘The Blessed Treasury of Wonderful Bible Verses that will accompany your sermon text and fill up the space to stop you pursuing its specific consequences.'”  Equally he critiques the feel-good preaching that by-passes Scripture in order to only touch the emotions.

3. Spineless Theology – Not theology in general, but the theology of preaching that is essentially unitarian and essentially denies the existence of an actively involved Christ or Holy Spirit, making sermon preparation and delivery an almost entirely human endeavour.

4. Generic Applications – That is, the lightweight fare of homely examples and cheerful little stories that is nonspecific and nonconfrontational.  Pithy anecdotal material that could have been preached unchanged half a century ago, therefore indicating that it isn’t really about gospel transformation of community today.

5. Avoids Conflict – only nurturing and shepherding without exhorting.  This kind of preaching may boldly denounce generic sins, but timidly avoid at all costs the simmering tensions in the church such as crippling tension over worship, or disputes between families.

That is quite enough for one post.  Like me you probably “amen-ed” at least a few of those, but they are all worth pondering as you prayerfully considering your preaching and the preaching-leadership of your church.  I’ll share the other five tomorrow.

Thin-Blooded Preaching

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

I just started into 360-Degree Leadership by Michael Quicke.  It has been on my shelf for about three years, but until now I haven’t opened it.  Oops.  This book is worth reading.

I’ll write more soon, but how about a very brief post today to get things going . . . Quicke thinks, and I believe, proves, that leadership and preaching have grown apart.  Leadership and preaching are often viewed as distinct elements of ministry, but in reality they go together.  What happens when a preacher preaches without full awareness of their leadership capacity?  Thin-blooded preaching.

Thin-blooded preaching.  What a description!  Before I share the features that Quicke offers for this kind of leadership-less preaching, why not ponder the concept.  What might it look like if you were preaching without leading?  What happens to leadership in the church without preaching?  Well, that’s another matter . . . so much to ponder!

The Big Idea of Big Idea Preaching

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

In an email interaction with a good friend, John Bell, I was intrigued to read of his statement of the Big Idea of the Big Idea approach to preaching.  See what you think:

“Effective preaching makes clear and compelling the one thing that the text makes most central.”

This impresses me on a couple of levels.  First, why didn’t I even think of working out the big idea for the whole approach?  Second, having done this, it prompts further thought on the nature of biblical preaching.  It is this kind of thought that drives us deeper into the profundity of the preaching ministry.

So taking John’s statement as a starting point, where might our thoughts go?  Regarding the role of the text in preaching: this definition presupposes, rightly in my opinion, that a unit of thought has a unity of central idea.  This statement underlines the importance of making much of what the text makes central.  Regarding the role of the preacher, it is clear that the task involves both understanding the text, and being able to communicate that understanding in a clear and compelling way.  Speaking of compelling – is that not a subtle way to communicate application, as the force of the text is released to do its work on those that hear?

I know that some take exception to the word “effective,” as if it guarantees a godless pursuit of human professionalism.  I suspect the logical leaps in that critique are worthy of being traced out.  Nevertheless, I wonder how best to make clear in this definition that biblical preaching is not merely a matter of textual study, distillation and communication, but is also always a ministry God does?  Perhaps it could be modified in this way, “God empowers effective preaching that makes clear and compelling the one thing that His inspired text makes most central.” Others would probably choose to pursue a Christocentric critique, rather than a Theocentric one.

Knowing John as I do, I know he wouldn’t desire to leave God out of the definition.  How would you tweak the definition?  The end result is not as important as the process, but that is priceless when the subject is something of this significance!

“Effective preaching makes clear and compelling the one thing that the text makes most central.”

What Do New Preachers Need?

/ Peter Mead / 5 Comments

If we take the biblical burden of mentoring seriously, we should be looking not only to our own ministry, but also to the needs of the next generation of preachers.  What do new preachers want?

1. Practical Instruction. Too many new preachers are left floundering in a confusing lack of simple instruction.  It really helps to have some basic training to get the building blocks in place.  Subtleties and variations can come later, but getting the basics in place are vital.

2. A safe environment in which to try and to fail. One of the real blessings of good Bible school training is the opportunity to preach and to fail (which doesn’t automatically mean failing the class, of course).  Alternatively a small meeting, or a welcoming small church … in fact, anywhere with abundant grace in the place.

3. A clear understanding of the distinction between mentoring and cloning. Too many people misunderstand mentoring and end up in a faulty cloning situation.  Either the mentor tries to force the next generation into an old mold, or the new preacher ends up copying someone that isn’t them.  Mentoring is about resourcing, equipping, training and launching the person being mentored . . .

A Gift for Your Preacher

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Perhaps you’ve stumbled across this post.  Perhaps your pastor or a regular preacher in your church has “accidentally” linked to it (if so, forgive them, they must have linked here unawares!)

What can you give a pastor, minister, elder, preacher?  I want to make one suggestion with various options built-in.  You can give them time.

1. Freedom from guilt as they guard their day-off and time with their family. If they aren’t available, pray that God will bless that time, but don’t make them feel bad about taking it.  If you can’t schedule a meeting with them at a time you requested and then discover their “appointment” was actually with their children, don’t complain, they are setting an example in God-pleasing priorities!

2. Provide for a retreat or training course. The church will reap the benefits of this, but still it will be a blessing to the person enabled and encouraged to attend.  For someone who preaches every Sunday it would be a real blessing to be encouraged to go away for a few days (even if it is over a weekend!)  Sometimes a cabin to be alone, other times a conference with other preachers, perhaps even a family holiday long enough to decompress and enjoy being together!

3. Why not push the boat out and start discussing a sabbatical. It might take a couple of years to prepare for a sabbatical, but it would be worth it.  If the person has served faithfully for several years, why not start discussions about the possibility of a sabbatical?  Perhaps they could travel for a few months and experience a ministry or missions setting that is on their heart?  Perhaps they could be freed up for a while in order to write that book they’re itching to write?  Perhaps they would like to take five months to participate in a study program like Cor Deo –click here. Again, the church will benefit massively from this apparent sacrifice, on numerous levels, but it will take significant planning to enable the person to feel free to genuinely be away from everything for this time of renewal and refreshment.

Ingredients for Creativity

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

If you want to increase creativity in your preaching, what is needed?

1. Time. If you are squeezed for time then it will not be possible to add the extra work needed (and the thinking capacity needed) for adding creativity to your preaching.

2. Freedom and trust. It is important to know the congregation to whom you preach.  Many will not easily accept more creative approaches to preaching unless there is first a building up of trust and a shared commitment to the core elements of true preaching (i.e. that a particular form is not the definition of faithfulness to the ministry!)

3. Better reading of the text. We need to grow in our ability to thoroughly engage with texts and recognize their genre, their features, their mood, their narrative context, etc.  Better Bible study can help develop more creative preaching.

4. Awareness of yourself as a preacher. We all need to know our own strengths and weaknesses in preaching.  Are you effective in description, in storytelling, in timing of key phrases, in disarming listeners, in role-playing, etc.?  Don’t get too creative in areas of weakness, but built on the strengths first.

5. Exposure to creative and different preachers. Don’t just copy what someone else has done, but if you are never exposed to other preachers, you will struggle to break out of the confines of your own style and tradition.

What would you add to this list?

Majority Preacher – Part 2

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Continuing Stephen Gaukroger’s helpful list of necessary considerations for those who want to sustain a long-term preaching ministry in the same setting where they are the main or only speaker:

5. Know thyself – It is important to know your own strengths and weaknesses.  If you’re invited to a big event, then let your prejudices hang out, that’s probably why they invited you.  But in your own church be committed to long-term exposition.  Letting prejudices hang out too much will eventually annoy and cause problems.

6. Develop critical friends (not fans or foes) – Real and constructive feedback from real people will really help.

7. Have regular intentional review of your content and style – Be sure to compare what you have preached on with other lists, the lectionary, theology textbooks, other preachers and other churches.  This will help you spot holes in your own preaching diet.

If you’re preaching almost every week in your church, what would you add to this list?  I’d add something along the lines of “make sure you get breaks, sabbaticals, study breaks, etc. in order to renew your passion and vision.”

A List of Styles

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

At the BibleFresh preaching event one speaker shared about preaching to the 20’s-30’s generation.  I think his name was Andy West (apologies Andy if I got your last name wrong).  His talk will probably be available online in due course at this site.

He shared four styles of preaching that he observes among effective preaching to the younger adult generation.  I’d like to offer the four styles he listed for your interest:

1. The Preacher Orator: “here is my argument!” – This is the expert speaker who will tend to fill venues with younger generation adults craving an authoritative word in an age where truth and depth are not common currency in everyday life.  People flock to hear Tim Keller, for example.  It is structured, linear, deep.

2. The Preacher Artist: “how would you feel…?” – This type of preacher paints pictures with words, engages through effective storytelling and is creatively imaginative.

3. The Preacher Conversationalist: “I’m like you…” – The preacher is an ordinary person who has honesty and integrity, connecting with the listeners.

4. The Preacher Facilitator: “Let’s go on a journey together.” – This preacher doesn’t so much dispense truth as help listeners to engage with the truth.

A few quick questions spring out of this:

A. Is this list complete, or are there other “styles” that are engaging effectively with the younger generation?

B. How much are we able to switch between styles as preachers in order to offer greater variety and appropriate engagement with our listeners?  (This is a critical question on numerous levels of preaching and with all generations.)

C. Should we be proactively exploring team approaches to preaching ministry that would more deliberately match the preacher to the subject and the listeners for each specific Sunday?

Struggling With Style and Substance

/ Peter Mead / 2 Comments

A lot of comments are made about preaching to the younger generation.  Lots can be said about the newest set of adults in our culture, and it is imperative that we get to know who we are trying to reach, or who we are preaching to on a Sunday . . .

But let’s not fall into the trap of thinking that the new generation are simply looking for new style.  It is so easy to think that preaching in a certain style will appeal to the younger generation.  It is true that generationally there is a shift in preferred styles of preaching, but the danger comes when we presume that style is the key, then lose sight of substance.

The younger generation do seem to place a high value on authenticity, integrity and vulnerability.  Yet there is no waning in the desire for substance.  Perhaps it could be argued that the younger generation today actually yearns for depth and substance perhaps more than previous generations who placed higher value on structure and form?

So let’s not try to be “relevant” in style without pursuing God in a deep personal walk, nor offer lightweight preaching simply to appeal in style.  This is not to say that we should preach old style – whatever that might be.  The priority has to be substance, but in our passion to connect, we should be considering all aspects of how to communicate effectively (which inevitably is changing over time and will always do so).

We should also be careful not to disparage popular speakers among the younger generation.  It is so easy to mock and dismiss the currently popular speakers across the spectrum.  Upon closer inspection it might be found that some of them are actually speaking with considerable depth and substance.  The problem is that many simply copy style and lose that substance, which exacerbates the impression of superficiality.

There aren’t simple solutions, but we have to take seriously how to connect with each new generation.