Oooooow! What could such a post be about? Confessions? Delicious!
Well, I’m not going to apologize for a particular sermon or anything like that. Rather, I wish to set a new standard for myself about a certain aspect of my preaching and our ministry in the church. And no, I’m not going to add some artificial time limit to my messages, so all of you who hate learning the Bible settle down!
Here’s what I want to commit to changing. Because our church is young and small I tend to preach to whoever is there on a given Sunday. This is easy because I actually know everyone pretty well. If I notice that visitors are present I tend to make it a point to explain my jargon and my ideas more. In other words, I preach Missionally only when “outsiders” are present. Maybe you noticed, but you probably didn’t. What is preaching missionally? It indicates no change in the content of the message, only in the the delivery of the content. It involves explaining common Biblical/theological expressions and concepts, as well as offering supporting evidence, reasoning, and defense for whatever is said. Preaching missionally, for example, means that I would not only speak of the need for repentance, but explain what it means, explain what sin is, and why God requires repentance.
So, in the past I have only done this when my eyes tell me I should. What is the negative effect? Well, some Missional thinkers say that the people in a church (that’s you) feel more and more comfortable bringing their friends and coworkers to a church that is committed a missional philosophy and demonstrates that philosophy in their regular worship services. Why? People only bring other’s to church if they feel that it will potentially help them win their friends to Christ. If week after week you hear sermons in Christianese you won’t bring your friends, neighbors, and coworkers because you will feel deep down that it won’t help. Thus you are left to try to win them on your own in the course of a busy work day without the aid of the Christian community. The same is true for community groups. Not good!
I want to prove to you that our soon-to-be renamed church is equipped to help you lead the people you care about to Jesus! In the mean time, show me a little faith and start bringing people in. We will work hard to be clear and wise in our ministry, but only Jesus and the Holy Spirit can save a person from their sin. Trust us, but more importantly trust Him.
It is a sad fact that many Christians do not feel like their own church is a good place to bring unbelievers! That ticks me off! Not that I get mad at church members, rather I get mad at leaders like me who make it hard for you to win the lost. Let’s change the way things are done. Let’s be part of a revolution. Let’s get on mission! I love the idea that our worship services and community groups can be full of rich worship and deep content, and at the same time make sense to “outsiders”. I wish there was a scream button in this blog, because I feel like yelling (in a good way).
