Well, it's been a while since my last post. For the past month, my life has been consumed with the task of doing a sermon series at my Church on Sunday mornings. Given that I am a layperson with a full-time job and other ministry responsibilities (and it was my wife's bday and Valentine's day), it was a busy month. I'll share a few thoughts on my experience on this blog, but here's at least one thought related to expositional preaching.
I've been very blessed to be able to work on the gift of preaching for quite some time. Even before our current pastor came to our Church, I had had some opportunities to proclaim the Word of God from the pulpit. One weekend, I was scheduled to preach. For some reason, I had chosen 1 Samuel 3 to be my text. It was the passage where Samuel is called by God to prophesy to Eli concerning God's punishment on Eli's household. A few weeks before I preached, I was certain that my sermon was going to be on God's Sovereignty in calling sinners for Himself (the sinner being Samuel). I told a friend, who told other people I was going to zealously declare the five points of Calvinism, and some of them dropped by to watch this display (I'm sure that's not the only reason they came). However, by the time I had written my sermon, I was convinced that was not the best way to handle the text. They were somewhat disappointed, though I'm pretty sure they were not "Calvinists". They just wanted to see a Calvinist do their strange Calvinist thing.
Anyways, my sermon ended up being about the kind of servants that God wants for Himself. You may perhaps think this equally missed the point of the text. I'm sure I'd do things differently if I were to preach that text today. Perhaps get into explaining how the priesthood and Samuel's reform fit into the story of Jesus. Nevertheless, the point is that a commitment to expositional preaching, however poorly executed, delivered me from a mob of synergists.
I continue to have this commitment. When you preach expositionally (in other words, the point of the text is the point of your sermon), you shift more and more authority from yourself and your opinions to the Word of God.
You can read others defend this conviction elsewhere (in far more convincing ways), but I do want to share my experience. I preached through Galatians and did it in five sermons. I simply would not have covered the topics I preached on if I was left to my own ideas and opinions. Going in, I was actually lamenting an over-emphasis on grace in contemporary Evangelicalism. I still think that is, to a certain extent, a problem. Yet Galatians bound me to its point: that having begun by the Spirit, we are not perfected by the flesh and if righteousness could come through the law, then Christ died for no purpose, and, on the basis of those truths, we should do good to all, especially those of the household of God. And as I tied myself to the text, I saw God speak through it to other areas of my life.
I've heard people comment on how strict and lifeless expositional preaching can be. But I see it as simply the best way to allow the Word of God to minister first to the preacher himself and then to others with as little interference as possible from the preacher and his own personal Theological hobby horses. That became more and more apparent as time went by. When I preach every two months, I usually end up gathering a few things I want to throw in when I get into the pulpit, no matter what the text is. A few weeks in, I had nothing left to talk about except the text in front of me*. That's probably how it should be.
*That's a bit of an exaggeration. I don't knowingly throw in things that aren't related to the text. And I do know more things about God and the Bible then I talked about. Not a whole lot more, but more nonetheless. Hopefully you get the general idea.
Monday, February 24, 2014
Monday, February 3, 2014
The Local Church and The Parachurch in Identifying and Sending Gospel Workers
[Adapted from a paper I wrote]
1 Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who
was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and
Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. - Acts 13:1-3
Between 2003-2007, I pursued (and finished) my B.A. at University. At the same time, I grew increasingly involved in a parachurch organization on my University campus*. After University, I spent two years as an international intern in East Asia doing campus ministry. I gained significant exposure to this organization’s methodology in Canada, the United States, and in Asia. While I appreciate much of the focus on evangelism and discipleship that was present in the campus ministry during those years, I see notable differences between Paul’s ministry and that of this parachurch organization. This is particularly noticeable when it comes to the relationship between the local Church and missions.
In the Book of Acts, we see that the leaders in Antioch were not simply spectators in God’s selecting Barnabus and Paul, but were active participants in the Holy Spirit-led selection process. From my experiences, the local Churches were not only almost absent in the process, but unaware that such a process was happening at all. They simply didn't know that the campus ministry had such a very focused recruitment system.
Given that they only had four years, recruitment was intentional and rigorous. As a student leader, I was given a clear model of ministry for the school year: find Christian students, train them in evangelism and discipleship, sign them up for a Summer of further training either overseas or in-country, and end the year with a challenge to further student ministry in the following school year.
There was also an overarching model for a student’s four-year University career. The first two years, possible student leaders would be identified and given responsibilities. In the last two years, students showing giftedness in evangelism and discipleship would regularly hear a vision for the central role of campus movements in “changing the world” and actively recruited to join staff with the organization. This process was done at all levels: one-on-one mentorship, small group recruitment, weekly meetings, fall and winter conferences, and Summer short-term mission projects, all of which were designed with the express purpose (though, to be careful, not the sole purpose) of providing training and recruitment opportunities for the work of fulfilling the Great Commission through developing campus movements of evangelism and discipleship around the world.
To their credit, the campus ministry had a discernment process. Not everyone who stepped forward was guaranteed a job after University. However, the discrepancy between their sending process and the one that resulted in Paul and Barnabus's missionary work was that the local Church’s role in the former was almost negligible. The local Church's role consisted of filling out Pastor Reference Forms for short-term missions and providing financial and prayer support.
What to do?
I would suggest as a big step for both ends - encourage your students to get baptized and become members of local Churches (as necessary, I don't believe in re-baptism)! I'd really like to see my local Church have a baptism class and a membership class going on every week during the school year. I'm zealous that our students leave with a huge sense that the local Church is God's plan for fulfilling the Great Commission and displaying the power of the Gospel in the community of the saints.
*I have withheld the name of the organization. This is not because I think identifying them would be a sin, but because my intention is not to engage in discernment ministry. Such ministries are necessary and helpful to the Body of Christ, but it is not the purpose of this blog.
1 Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who
was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and
Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. - Acts 13:1-3
Between 2003-2007, I pursued (and finished) my B.A. at University. At the same time, I grew increasingly involved in a parachurch organization on my University campus*. After University, I spent two years as an international intern in East Asia doing campus ministry. I gained significant exposure to this organization’s methodology in Canada, the United States, and in Asia. While I appreciate much of the focus on evangelism and discipleship that was present in the campus ministry during those years, I see notable differences between Paul’s ministry and that of this parachurch organization. This is particularly noticeable when it comes to the relationship between the local Church and missions.
In the Book of Acts, we see that the leaders in Antioch were not simply spectators in God’s selecting Barnabus and Paul, but were active participants in the Holy Spirit-led selection process. From my experiences, the local Churches were not only almost absent in the process, but unaware that such a process was happening at all. They simply didn't know that the campus ministry had such a very focused recruitment system.
Given that they only had four years, recruitment was intentional and rigorous. As a student leader, I was given a clear model of ministry for the school year: find Christian students, train them in evangelism and discipleship, sign them up for a Summer of further training either overseas or in-country, and end the year with a challenge to further student ministry in the following school year.
There was also an overarching model for a student’s four-year University career. The first two years, possible student leaders would be identified and given responsibilities. In the last two years, students showing giftedness in evangelism and discipleship would regularly hear a vision for the central role of campus movements in “changing the world” and actively recruited to join staff with the organization. This process was done at all levels: one-on-one mentorship, small group recruitment, weekly meetings, fall and winter conferences, and Summer short-term mission projects, all of which were designed with the express purpose (though, to be careful, not the sole purpose) of providing training and recruitment opportunities for the work of fulfilling the Great Commission through developing campus movements of evangelism and discipleship around the world.
To their credit, the campus ministry had a discernment process. Not everyone who stepped forward was guaranteed a job after University. However, the discrepancy between their sending process and the one that resulted in Paul and Barnabus's missionary work was that the local Church’s role in the former was almost negligible. The local Church's role consisted of filling out Pastor Reference Forms for short-term missions and providing financial and prayer support.
What to do?
I would suggest as a big step for both ends - encourage your students to get baptized and become members of local Churches (as necessary, I don't believe in re-baptism)! I'd really like to see my local Church have a baptism class and a membership class going on every week during the school year. I'm zealous that our students leave with a huge sense that the local Church is God's plan for fulfilling the Great Commission and displaying the power of the Gospel in the community of the saints.
*I have withheld the name of the organization. This is not because I think identifying them would be a sin, but because my intention is not to engage in discernment ministry. Such ministries are necessary and helpful to the Body of Christ, but it is not the purpose of this blog.
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