Religion

Sensible Solo Sermon Selection

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

There are times when we can select a single passage to preach, a stand-alone sermon.  Some people only ever preach this way.  Others rarely preach this way.  So how do we select the passage?  Well, it’s a good idea to pick a passage you want to study and preach.  It’s a good idea to pick a passage that appears straightforward in terms of relevance and application (all Scripture is useful, but let’s face it, some take much more work to “land” on this side of the gap!)  Here are a couple of other things to bear in mind:

The time required for preparation should not be underestimated – If the time available is likely to be limited, then it is usually worth building on a foundation already laid, i.e. preach from a book you’ve studied well and fairly recently.  Before jumping into a Bible book you haven’t studied much, make sure you have the time to study the whole, as well as the particular part.  Make sure there is time to get the resources you might need (commentaries, for example).  Make sure there is time to go through that process of wrestling with the details in order to arrive at the idea of the text.

The macro-context should not be underestimated – In order for your “chunk” of text to make sense, you will usually need to give some explanation of the broader context.  Without the benefit of a series in that book, it may take longer to set the scene than you thought.  Often a brief contextual set-up is sufficient, but not always.  Some texts may be better left to a series so that the reinforcing of key themes can occur “naturally.”

The time required for explanation should not be underestimated – For instance, telling a biblical story can take a lot of effort and sometimes it can take a lot of time.  Be aware of how long you have to preach and how long it will take to tell the story, or explain the content sufficiently.

There are plenty of other factors to take into account when selecting a passage for a stand-alone sermon, but these three shouldn’t be ignored.

Preaching Tired

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

A good friend and commenter on this site sent me a list of about twenty lessons he’d noted after preaching a sermon recently.  I am indebted to Tim for the prompts for yesterday’s post, today’s, and probably a few more to come!

Here’s one of those “lessons learnt” – stress and tiredness do affect your preaching.

Sometimes the problem is that we get stressed about being stressed, or stressed about being tired.  Again, if my night was interrupted because of sickness in the family, then God understands and can provide supernatural strength to compensate.   (Thankfully, as well as an awesome God, I also have a wonderful wife who often handles everything the night before I preach!)

However, it is still worth evaluating the sources of stress and tiredness in our schedule.  Perhaps it is worth guarding the evening before we preach – guarding it from late night socializing or hospitality?  Perhaps it is worth adding exercise to increase the stress-threshold and aid in healthy sleep?  Perhaps it is worth taking a holistic approach to scheduling our future preaching – not just making sure we avoid committing to too many sermons, but also thinking about what the sermons will be, and what our other commitments and challenges will be at the time?

Stress and tiredness do affect our preaching, thanks Tim for the prompt!

Last Minute Sermon Preparation

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I have a personal principle on this issue.  If I genuinely have had to prepare at the last minute, then I ask God for help and know that He understands.  But then there is a second part to it too – if I have procrastinated and end up preparing at the last minute, then I confess that, ask for forgiveness and still ask God for help.

The first part of the principle has been forged in the relatively gentle furnace of family life and missions organization participation!  Sometimes life happens and there is no way to prepare as you would like.  God understands this.  Last minute preparation is not ideal, but it is possible and it is still better to prepare as much as you can, rather than not prepare at all.

The second part of the principle is there because I am human.  I admire people with perfect track records in the area of self-discipline (but I also doubt them!)  Rather than make up excuses and try to convince myself that I genuinely could not prepare fully due to life circumstances, I would rather be honest and admit when I have allowed other things, often very good things, to distract me from what was needed as a ministry deadline loomed.  I may have lacked self-discipline, I may even have succumbed to some tempting distraction, but I don’t want to succumb to another temptation and seek to justify my procrastination.  Hence, I sometimes have to repent and ask for forgiveness and then prepare at the last minute.

May we all be Holy Spirit disciplined in our preparation for ministry and maximize every opportunity to preach the Word.  But may we also accept the reality of the grace we preach to others when we sometimes fail to prepare as we should.  Not an abuser of grace, nor a rejecter of grace!

Gifted to Preach

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

It’s an important question, but not a simple one.  I hope we would all agree that preaching has much more to do with gift than degree.  But which gift?  Obviously the gift of teaching is the typical one people point out, or perhaps a carefully defined (or re-defined) gift of prophecy.  But what about the gift of evangelist, or a leadership gift, or exhortational / encouragement gifts?  It seems that many of the gifts can help in pulpit ministry.  Nevertheless, not everyone is able to, nor should, preach.

Those that have that something – divine gifting, calling, unction, whatever – they should then be responsible stewards of what they have been given.  That is where the training comes in.  The degree or qualification may not matter, but the training does.  However we get it, we should look to fan into flame whatever gifting we have by a combination of both experience and training.  Certification may not be a big deal, but true education is, however we get it.

Incidentally, perhaps one of the benefits of formal preaching training is that it helps some people learn that they should not be preaching!  What church listeners may be too polite to point out, feedback sheets, wise instructors and video recordings can make clear.

So let us be sure that we never rely on gifting without being responsible stewards of all that God has given us for ministry (this means reading, getting training, being a learner, looking for mentors, etc.)  Equally, let us never rely on education or academic qualification (this means being fervent in prayer, humble in attitude, reliant on God, etc.)  We preach as stewards.  It is His ministry.

Preaching in Saul’s Armor?

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Brian McLaren finishes his chapter on leadership in Adventures in Missing the Point with an analogy from David and Goliath.  He feels that too many ministers are trying to do ministry dressed up in Saul’s XXL armor, when in fact they are size M or even size S people.  We need to do our ministry, we need to preach our sermons, as ourselves, not as some supposed spiritual superhero.

I recently wrote about preaching to ordinary people.  It should go without saying that we preach as ordinary people.  But perhaps the legacy of pulpit personas and Sunday morning image presentation makes it necessary to make the point.  We preach as ordinary people.  Perhaps size M, perhaps size S, probably not an XXL.  Strangely enough, we know how the story ended with non-XXL David being himself in the task ahead of him, knowing that God was Himself in that same task.

(Incidentally, McLaren and Campolo either write the chapter or respond to the other’s writing.  While not agreeing with either on every detail, I can’t help but mention how much I have resonated with Campolo’s careful critiques of McLaren’s sometimes cavalier criticisms.)

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.