Having our pastors proclaim the truth clearly and passionately doesn’t seem to be good enough today. We want them to be cool. Entertainment in church is as important as what is being taught, maybe even more important. This attitude in congregations puts pastors under tremendous pressure to compete. If I want my church to grow, if I don’t want my people to go to Mr. Big Personality’s church down the street, then I need to up my game as far as coolness goes. I need to be funny, quote modern rock songs, be up-to-date with recent television shows and movies and be very “now” with my fashion.
The problem is this pressure often results in a dumbing down of Christianity. If a joke has to be tacked on to every subject, no matter how serious it is, the appropriate gravity of the moment can be stolen. Unfortunately this is not a rare occurrence. Today I received an email from a friend who recently visited a church in the process of looking for a new pastor. Their search hadn’t been going so well. The last three preachers they invited had read a scripture, told a couple of jokes and a few stories and felt that was enough. This congregation wants more, but many don’t.
Other times, the commands of the Bible are turned into options so that nobody is offended. As Fred Craddock (Professor of Preaching and New Testament, Emeritus, at Candler School of Theology) so eloquently put it, “The exclamation points of the Bible are curled into question marks.” It is not uncommon to hear a pastor scrambling, trying to explain away a clear command rather than just simply teaching it. In the end, the passage that was meant to transform is so weakened that nobody feels any need to change, all because the pastor desired popularity above faithfulness to God’s Word.
Is this the model that Jesus, the greatest teacher of all time, left us? No! He told the truth in love, without fear of offending the people. Why? He knew that only truth can set the hearers free. Free from God’s wrath, free from sin, free from the joylessness of a self-centered life.
I’ve heard many styles of preaching and have decided that I want preaching that is more like Jesus and less like a late night talk show host. I want to be confronted by a courageous man who, from a heart of love, simply tells me what the Scriptures say, even when it’s uncomfortable. I want to be called to move toward a life that is beyond anything I could ever experience in my own strength, that abundant life found in surrender to Christ and dependence upon Him. I want to be comforted by God’s promises and encouraged to take those promises from the pages of Scripture and put them into practice.
I want to be inspired by messages that so exalt Christ, my heart becomes willing to release its grip on the world and cling to Him as my treasure.
That’s what I want. Men who dip into the book so filled with God and His glory and bring out those God-drenched truths so I can understand and respond. That’s who I think is cool.
Hope all goes well for you guys.
Here are a few ideas from someone who has been in a lot of churches here in The OC… it’s not that anyone wants their ministry team to be “cool”, it’s just that they don’t want them to be “lame”. So, don’t be a cookie cutter of some denomination or affiliation of churches. Kick down your definitions of theology and groom a culture of seekers and adventurers who push the boundaries. Open the weekly sunday morning forum up to risk and let the Holy Spirit teach through the community and make it a conversation, not just another monologue (you will get that at every evangelical gathering). Every week, risk, and dare to ask people publicly as a group, “what do you think?” and “how does that sit with you?” and resist the temptation to resolve things quickly and neatly. Jesus lets things age to maturity and sometimes that will be uncomfortable.
Encourage transparency and out of the box thinking, even if it seems heretical. Applaud folks for asking, “why?” and admitting they don’t agree with your teaching. Better that they be in process and honestly struggle with and for a dynamic and real faith in Jesus than something rote and easy to parrot but impossible to live out.
Get messy, leave room for exploration and unorthodox descriptions of the visions the explorers bring back.
Most of all, don’t settle, and never lose your sense of adventure, even if someone questions your very core of identity, which is usually your understanding of the bible, because being followers of Jesus is about being more than a book, even if that’s a great book… that book is words printed on paper. “The Word” isn’t the bible, He’s the 2nd person of the godhead, Who is alive and prone to shake up our neat little boxes and expectations.
Forget cool, forget “leadership” be a visionary who inspires and you’ll find folks following Jesus and not you, which is the true job description.
Peace,
( | o )====:::
NOTE: This is my wife writing. Thus all the “we’s”.
Thanks for commenting ( | o )====:::. We are not afraid of people who are inquisitive and who like to ask questions. We do not feel we all need to agree over peripheral issues either. But there are some non negotiables. When you said
” Kick down your definitions of theology”…….
My response is: Our own definitions of theology need to be kicked down! But not biblical definitions of theology. When we start to question the validity and inspiration of Scripture we are on slippery ground. It is the whole basis of our belief and should be guarded not kicked down.
You also said: “Open the weekly sunday morning forum up to risk and let the Holy Spirit teach through the community and make it a conversation, not just another monologue (you will get that at every evangelical gathering).
My response is: I believe the scriptures teach a leadership structure where there are Pastors/ teachers given as gifts to the church and we need to function within that structure. We need to teach/preach God’s Word passionately with authority because it is GOD’S WORD. Why deviate from the way Jesus did it? And more importantly, why violate scripture itself? I’m all for discussing scripture or a sermon in another forum. But for a Main service in the church we make NO APOLOGIES for proclaiming God’s Word in the form of a monologue where we need to LISTEN TO THE WORD OF THE LIVING GOD. It is afterwards when we are fellowshiping around our coffee that we all can openly exchange ideas about the sermon.
I can understand some of your concerns ( | o )====:::that you have experienced in many Evangelical churches. There seems to be a backlash from the whole Mega church scene. We are learning from our history. But as the pendulum swings to the other extreme, we need to guard against this tendency. We can’t throw out what is biblical just because it was abused in the hands of other men. I too agree that alot of what goes on today tends towards legalism, almost cultish ways of behavior trying to conform followers to “their” way of thinking instead of allowing people to be free thinkers. But if you give them a solid foundation of God’s truth, free thinking should NOT be dangerous. We need to be thinkers and not just let others do the thinking for us for sure! But our thinking should be limited within the boundaries of scripture. where we can trust that it is the truth.
You also said “ being followers of Jesus is about being more than a book, even if that’s a great book… that book is words printed on paper. “The Word” isn’t the bible, He’s the 2nd person of the godhead, Who is alive and prone to shake up our neat little boxes and expectations.”
I agree with you but not at the expense of laying aside that inspired Book. Because the Word defines who our God is and what He has to say to men. We need to couple the two. Our living relationship with God and His Word to us in printed form.
“I have exalted thy Word above Thy Name”.
What I think we need today is authentic Christianity.
“I want to be confronted by a courageous man who from a heart of love, simply tell me what the Scriptures say, even when its uncomfortable….That’s what I want. Men who dip into the book so filled with God and His glory and bring those God drenched truths out in ways that I can understand and respond to.”
Bill and Carri, I so agree! Tim and I have just been reading Mark Dever’s 9 Marks of a Healthy Church, and I love his chapter on expositional preaching where he points out that God’s people have always been created by His Word! God forbid that we get in the way of that voice, belittle it or smother it. When He speaks, dead bones live!
Littleservant.
“God forbid that we get in the way of that voice, belittle it or smother it. When He speaks, dead bones live!” My point exactly. I have sat in many messages where the Word of God was smothered by one joke after another, by theatrics that are way over the top, by lack of study and countless other reasons.
This has been on my heart for awhile. I think it is a valid concern. There are many pastors who don’t put in the prayer or study time that is necessary. Instead they rely on their personality and ability to entertain. That kind of ministry will never be powerful enough to subdue the flesh.
Thank you Bill and Carri. You may not have the biggest church but you will definetly have a well feed church. It is God Himself who will create a passion for His glory in people who truly know Him and there is no better way to know Him than through His written Word!
God bless your ministry as you teach His Word and know that we are praying for you daily…
First, as a point of form, if you’re going to have a blog and a person posts under a name other than the one in their email, the way it works is to respect the person posting by using the screen name.
Please revise your reply to me using my screen name
( | o )====:::
so I can speak freely and we can converse freely, or please remove my initial post and your reply.
Based on your response I’m wishing you the best in practicing what everyone else practices and does in the same way, getting the same results.
God never says that He exalts his spoken words and communications recorded in a book as being above His personhood. What I and experience in most churches is a form of bible worship.
Regarding your other comments about sunday am, if Jesus is our model for teaching and learning then look at the percentage of time He spent with His followers. Very little time was lecturing a crowd. Most of His time was interactive because God uses many ways of communicating beyond lectures, and He especially would play off of what someone said while they were in community.
Anyhow, I’ll check back to see if your reply is changed to honor my screen name request or if you prefer to simply delete my posts and your replies.
Thanks,
( | o )====:::
Sorry about that. I’m new at this and thank you for pointing out proper etiquette.
I have removed your name from the post.
Appreciated.
regarding the responses, check to see how much the assumptions are based in american evangelicalism. Style is not sacred. Cultivating the gift of teaching is beyond the assumption that teaching from the Holy Spirit comes from one person or voice. The most profound learning comes from the “random” effect of people’s insights and responses to a course of discussion.
I’d offer this, “proclaiming the good news” happens outside the gathering, daily, in the streets. The gathering is a coming together of community that has transcended the publication of a given book or establishment of any movements or traditions.
…and I am guessing most readers will not agree, most will dismiss what i’ve shared as unbiblical. no problem. it’s all good, and i wish you well in however you proceed
Hey Bill,
Great post, I could not agree more!! May God raise up out of the ash heap of the evangelical church, men who are willing to stand and declare the truth of God’s Word, boldly, without apology or compromise to the glory of Christ!
And for ( | o )====:::, try thinking Biblically and for yourself as opposed to following the lastest fad…Jesus himself said He came to preach. Your argument doesn’t hold water.
Matt. 11:1 When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.
Mark 1:38 And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for fthat is why I came out.”
Mark 1:39 And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.
Mark 3:14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach
Luke 4:43 but he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.
pastorjim,
i am thinking quite biblically
Amen Pastor Jim,
I think when we start hacking down the mode of teaching, the next thing to be hacked down is the teaching and teacher itself! The teaching from the pulpit is the most sacred part of Church. But today it has become a joke literally, with men’s personalities, humor, speaking style and even clothes being the centerpiece. We’ve made leaders the rock stars and we follow personalities. We like being entertained as if we were home watching our tv sets.
“The teaching from the pulpit is the most sacred part of Church.”
?
Isn’t the presence of Jesus the most sacred part of the gathering of the church, which is merely punctuated by physical groups who come together to celebrate the sacraments, speak of His marvelous deeds, sing and dance and witness sacred commitments, and solemnly recognize the departure of His dear ones into eternity?
( | o )====:::,
You are trying so hard to separate God’s Word from God Himself! Yes, it’s on a printed page but it’s God’s Words! When God speaks we need to give that the highest place of honor and reverence in our gatherings. So yes, I believe it to be the most sacred time. You cannot separate His Word from His presence either.
Here’s where you can find the verse I quoted above. Yes it does exist.
Ps. 138:2: “For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.”
Carri,
We’re just going to have to disagree on this point because if I were on a desert island without a bible I would still have Jesus, and if I lost my ability to form words or hear or read words I would still have Him. His presence existed before He ever uttered a word that would be recorded by the bible writers, and He will endure far beyond all recorded history including all the bibles ever to be printed, so i view it as His presence superseding and going before and beyond words.
Wishing you well,
( | o )====:::
And I too would still have Jesus on that Island without my Bible. But because we are human and CAN form words, hear words and understand them, God did give us a book so we could know Him through it. But it doesn’t stop there. When we know Him according to TRUTH, we then continue a relationship with Him without having to just read. Prayer is the way we talk to God, but the Bible is the main way He talks to us. But of course He also speaks to our hearts but the only way we can test that voice, to know if it’s true or not is through knowing the written Word first. but of course you must already know this, right?
I think you are having a reaction against a more heady approach to church. We need a balance of both head and heart. But never do we throw away one or the other.
The Apostle Paul thought the Word of God to be something quite special and told his disciple Timothy it’s importance in 2 Timothy 3:16-17…
16 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be made complete, thourghly equipped for every good work.”
Romans 10:14-15 make it quite clear the importance of preacing the Word of God as does Romans 1:16… The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation.
Thank you Bill for boldly proclaiming the truths contained in God’s written Word…
This says it better than I can:
AMEN!
May Mr. Piper influance many pastors to preach the Bible and live the Bible
Here is a quote I’m using in Sunday nights message. It’s from John Stott and is appropriate for this discussion.
“What should matter to the people is not the Pastor’s appearance, but whether Christ is speaking through him. And what should matter to the Pastor is not the people’s favor but whether Christ is formed in them. The church needs people who, in listening to their pastor, listen for the message of Christ, and pastors who in laboring among the people, look for the image of Christ. Only when a pastor and people thus keep their eyes on Christ will their mutual relations keep healthy, profitable, and pleasing to almighty God.” John Stott
great points, bill, thanks for the encouraging reminder…