Category: Missional Church

Andy Stanley: Communicating for Change?

Posted on August 1, 2008

In Communicating for Change, Andy Stanley gives us three possible goals for preaching:

  1. Teach the Bible to people.
  2. Teach people the Bible.
  3. Teach people how to live a life that reflects the values, principles, and truths of the Bible.

The third is Andy’s preferred goal, and he leaves room for you to differ with him. So I’m going to differ. He writes:

“We have enough hearers…We need doers, appliers. That means we need sermons that are loaded with application and preaching that is communicated with inspiration.” (99) “

Loaded with application? I agree that we all need to apply God’s Word and that preachers should aid the church in applying the ancient truths of the Bible to contemporary challenges, but I’m not sure that loading our sermons with application is the key. Often, our hearers know “what” to do, but aren’t convinced that they should do it. For instance, they know they shouldn’t envy their neighbor’s stuff, but their heart’s aren’t convinced that God offers anything better than their neighbor’s stuff. Their mind has bought the lie that envy is more satisfying that contentment. The trick is that they would never say it like that. So we ge to say it to them with broken-hearted love and Spirit-enabled power. The goal of preaching, I believe, is to convince the heart to cherish God and his Word so much that Spirit-enabled obedience is the result. I do not believe that the main goal of preaching is to load people up with “what” to do, with application. I do agree that “our goal should be life change,” provided a couple other things are in place.

First, we should preach, not for lives to change just when they leave the sermon and apply them afterwards, but for lives to change while you are preaching. The ancient concept of Spirit-empowered preaching that affects a person’s soul while listening has been lost in modern pulpits. Williams Perkins referred to this kind of preaching as “the art of prophesying.” Jonathan Edwards says it like this:

“The main benefit obtained by preaching is by an impression made upon the mind at the time, and not by an effect that arises afterwards by a remembrance of what was delivered.“

Tim Keller refers to it as “preaching that changes on the spot.” And here’s the first point, preach in the Spirit. Don’t preach the technique or simply for post-sermon application. Plead for the Spirit to change you in preparation, to preach to you in rehearsal, and to transform your people’s hearts, affections, loyalties during the sermon. Preaching is about Spirit-motivated change, not application-driven change. Note that Stanley’s goal is to “teach people how.” I suggest that we preach for change in the Spirit now. This puts the onus on God, not on your material, humor, delivery, or change goals. The Scriptures are filled with commands to preach, teach, live, speak, counsel, pray in the Spirit, but that prepositional phrase is a hidden endnote for most of us. We don’t look it up, consider it, or aim for it. We pay attention to the verbs, not the prepositions. As a result, we preach application, not Spirit-anointed messages.

Second, we should preach for change by preaching in the Spirit and to the heart. As many have noted, the heart is the control center of our every action. Edwards illustrates helpfully here. He asks if a man who surrenders his wallet while held at gunpoint is actually doing what he wants to do. Does he really want to part with cash? Ultimately, Edwards answers, yes. Even though the man was at gunpoint, he did what he desired to to most–live! C.S. Lewis remarked that we are all creatures of pleasure; we do what we desire most, we act from the heart. Therefore, if the heart is the control center of every decision, then preachers do well—best—to preach, not to the the will (application) or the mind (doctrine), but to the heart. To remind the heart of the one Person that can meet, correct, and surpass every legitimate and illegitimate desire. To remind the heart that it finds its true joy and rest in no one other than God.

And guess what? If your goal in preaching is convince the heart to cherish God and his Word so much that Spirit-enabled obedience is the result, then you don’t have to craft perfect sermons, impeccable rhetoric, mind-blowing illustrations, application for every demographic. Your greatest goal, then, becomes pleading for the Spirit to fall on you as you prepare and on your people as you preach. For God to change your heart now, not how to apply for change.

How does Andy’s goal compare to your goal in preaching? I don’t think I am on board with Andy, but I’m still reading and reflecting. He does make the good point that, whatever your goal in preaching, your approach to communicating must reflect it. And I need to work on that. He also mentions the importance of the “preacher’s burden,” “the one thing you must communicate.” Unfortunatley, this is not developed as Spirit-enpowered, heart-focused preaching.

Dunbar on Missional Antibodies

Posted on July 31, 2008

In his latest missional journal, David Dunbar addresses “Missional Antibodies.” After a discussion of shifts in leadership practice and theory, he pulls in Roxburgh’s perspective:
Alan Roxburgh discusses the anxiety over marginalization that has led pastors in late modernity to “the continual search for ways to reconfigure pastoral identity.”   This has resulted in three common images, all of which he argues, remain within the paradigm of modernity.

1.   the therapeutic – pastor as counselor
2.   the technical-rational – pastor as CEO/manager/entrepreneur
3.   the creator of community – pastor as facilitator of body-life [4]

Less is more

These critiques highlight two important issues that need to be addressed by leaders in the missional church.  The first is the tendency toward elitism in current models of leadership.  The pastor as scholar/teacher and as technician/professional reinforces a strong top-down understanding of spiritual authority and ministry.  The expectation is that ministry leaders can (or should) know it all and do it all. This of course puts more pressure on pastors to “prove” themselves in a culture of rising leadership expectations.

Read Dunbar’s whole article here.

Four Thoughts On Worship

Posted on July 30, 2008

Last night I led our Worship Team in a short devotional based on 1 Peter 4:7-11. I shared four main thoughts:

God-glorifying Worship is Christ-centered Worship
According to Peter, our gifts, our service, our love, our prayers, our hospitality all exist in “order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.” To glorify something is not to make it bigger than it is, but rather to demonstrate it’s inherent centrality. It is the difference between magnifying through a Telescope and a Microscope. How do we magnify God? Through Jesus Christ. We do this in two key ways: Creation and Redemption. As artists and technicians we can approach God because he made us in Jesus (Col 1; Heb 1). We can worship God as artists and technicians because Jesus has bought our spot with his blood. We do not merit God’s presence in any way; it is a gift of himself to us. All things in through and for Jesus. Creation & Redemption. We worship because we were made and remade through him. His once for all sacrifice secures our spot as worshippers.

You are Not Your Gift
A Gift is a gift; it isn’t you or yours. The gift is a stewardship, something given for the good, the service of others. Its not really yours…if anything its theirs; it belongs to the Church. Your spiritual and musical talent is something given to you by God. You didn’t earn it. It is a stewardship. You are honing your gift, employing it in the service of the church, just as people with the gift of service are serving you in set-up. The gift is for the good of the church. The gift isn’t you, though it is your expression. I am not my sermons, though my preaching is an expression of me. I am constantly working on not seeking praise but seeking criticism so that I can serve our church better with God’s word. It is a gift given for service, for the good of others, for worship. You are not your gift. Your significance does not fluctuate with how well you set up, play an instrument or run sound. Your gift is not about you. Lead from your significance in Jesus not for your significance. Lead in the Strength that God supplies. This word “supplies” is used of a choral leader, of abundantly furnishing a chorus for a drama. God is rich in strength to supply others-serving, Christ-centered worship. These musical undertones remind us that worship comes from God in rich supply. God is more committed to his praise than we are and is disposed to lead us, fuel us in worship leading!

Love Covers a Multitude of Technical Difficulties
You guys seem to love one another, to really be striving for unity and mutual concern. Everyone helps out with set up and tear down. There seems to be very little grumbling or complaining. This is a wonderful expression of Jesus in you. Cultivate it! I have read of horror stories of division between the technical people and the musical people. Where people get really edgy and irritable that they have to turn their amp down or monitor up. You aren’t above this. So it’s important that you cultivate love for one another, show hospitality to one another without grumbling, keeping the centrality of Jesus in view in all things. We need to create a space in our Worship Teams that fosters kind, thoughtful ciritique and encouragement. If your identity is wrapped up with your music, then you will be slow to give encouragement and unreceptive to critique. The more your identity is wrapped up with Jesus, you will be able to consider your craft critically. You are all equal in Christ and different in function. Everyone doesn’t lead or set up. But you can all arrive at the same time and help unload equipment. In setting up and tearing down we need to practice hospitality. This means that those responsible for set up should serve without grumbling and those who play should play without grumbling. You are all equal in Jesus. To believe anything else is to believe a lie. Band should help unload. There is no higher tier of artist.

Worship Begins with Prayer

Worship starts with prayer, with confessing our inability to worship Christ on our own. With confessing that all things are in through and for Jesus, including worship. Worship is not something we manufacture; it is the giving of God himself to us. We have things backwards. Practice, practice, practice and pray for five minutes. Let’s be aware that worship is fueled by prayer. The end of all things is coming. Let’s pray for God’s presence not for musical perfection. Let’s pray that our church would be full-time worshippers, not Sunday service singers. Let’s pray that worship would result in mission, the making of more worshippers in this city.

Stetzer to Teach a Course on Missional Communities

Posted on July 29, 2008

Ed Stetzer will be teaching a course on missional communities at Trinity Divinity. Here is the syllabus. Here is the course description: 

Transformational ministries in today’s rapidly changing culture require churches that are “missional” from a biblical, theological, and cultural perspective. This course will help you better understand the cultural context in which you serve and teach you how to apply biblically faithful and culturally relevant missiological strategies to your ministry. Special attention will be given to North American cultural shifts, the missional/sending nature of the church, effective communication in various cultural contexts, and emerging ministry patterns in North America.