Many preachers have discovered the benefits of a sermon planning retreat. I have too! Some preachers may not be convinced of the necessity of such a retreat or, assuming they’re willing, others may not know where to start in planning for the retreat. In order to convince the unconvinced and assist the willing, we will explore the rationale, requisites, resources, and regimen for the sermon planning retreat.
Rationale
-Connection: Every pastor who preaches needs some time alone with God, to connect with him. This often entails getting away from the hustle and bustle of the church office in order to prayerfully consider the texts and topics through which God may want to speak to the congregation. Setting aside an entire day to say to God, “speak for your servant is listening” rekindles the preacher’s relational connection to Christ and refreshes the soul of the preacher. More to the point, the pastor who frequently retreats to be alone with God for soul refreshment and ministry planning is less likely to burnout and fail morally than the pastor who is constantly running, going, and doing.
-Calmness: The rigors of preaching weekly or, for some, several times each week is enough to cause anxiety and ulcers even for the toughest of preachers. The stress of birthing the sermonic baby week after week can get the best of us. We deliver our baby on Sunday, hoping that everyone in attendance thinks the “kid” is cute, and by Monday we frantically search for another biblical text or topic that will impregnate us in time for labor and delivery the following Sunday. A sermon planning retreat extends the conception and pregnancy period. It allows the sermon some time to grow within us. Furthermore, when we preachers know what topics/texts we will address over the next few months, a measure of calmness replaces some of the anxiety.
-Coordination: One of the added benefits of a sermon planning retreat is being able to effectively and adequately promote upcoming sermons and sermon series’. Knowing what sermons are coming allows you and the church time to coordinate with other ministries, events, and programs within your church and community. You can coordinate your sermon plan with pastoral care. You will likely find yourself in pastoral care conversations in which you let people know that an upcoming sermon will be addressing some of the issues they’re facing. Another benefit of sermon planning is that it has the potential to enhance the worship vitality of the congregation. Your worship planning team will love you for giving them several months of time to creatively coordinate worship service elements around the theme of the sermon.
Requisites:
-Commitment: Schedule a sermon planning retreat on your calendar every four months to begin prayerfully planning for sermons and series that are at least two months out. So, for example, if you are going to plan for sermons beginning in September, your quarterly sermon planning retreat should take place in late June/early July. This will allow each sermon idea or series at least two months to germinate and penetrate your soul and mind. Schedule these four quarterly retreats at the beginning of every year and commit to taking them during work days, not days off. Perhaps you can schedule this full day retreat on a week when you have invited someone else to preach. If you don’t do this, you will find your mind wandering from the quarterly preaching plan and toward the coming Sunday’s sermon.
-Cave: Once you commit to some dates for the sermon planning retreat every quarter, you can hunt for a cave. This is not a literal cave, of course, but a place where you can hide away and not easily be found. Only your spouse, key lay leader, or one other staff member should know where to reach you in case of an emergency. Other than that, keep the location a secret. Find a cave that is relatively free from distractions we cannot control (noisy crowds, extreme heat or cold) or diversions we cannot resist (TV, excellent cell phone reception, email). Book your cave at least one month in advance.
-Contrition: It almost goes without say, but I’m a preacher so I’ll say it anyway- take with you an open humble heart that is ready to encounter and hear from God. God tends to speak most when we put ourselves in a posture to listen. I don’t think I ever came away from one of these retreats without receiving important impressions that resulted from my encounter with God. I didn’t always come away pleased with the progress I made on my preaching plan, but I always came away refreshed by God’s presence. Contrition comes from recognizing that more important than the work of the Lord is the Lord of the work. A sermon planning retreat, I hope, produces a plan for your upcoming sermons. But, at the end of the day, the best preachers are those who encounter and walk with God. A good sermon plan without intimacy with God will do very little for the preacher and the congregation.
Resources:
-Calendars: There are three calendars you will want to bring to the retreat. First, you will want to consult the Christian calendar when planning sermons and series’. Lent, the season leading up to Easter, and Advent, the season preceding Christmas, are two highpoints that present golden opportunities for sermon series appropriate to the themes of these liturgical seasons. Other holy days might be including in your preaching plan such as Palm Sunday, Good Friday, and Pentecost Sunday. Be sure to bring your local church calendar too so that you can connect sermons and big events in the life of the church to each other. Occasions such as Baptism, Communion, and Membership might warrant particular sermon texts and topics. In addition to the Christian and Local Church calendars, you will want a calendar that shows the dates of secular holidays. New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, and Thanksgiving are secular holidays that open up various preaching possibilities. Perhaps you will want to list holy days, holidays, and church events for the upcoming quarter on one calendar before the retreat so that you don’t waste time doing this during the planning retreat.
-Chow: Unless you’re fasting, it is wise to eat a full breakfast before the retreat and bring some snacks with you to keep you alert and energized. Two bananas, a thermos of coffee, and several water bottles do the trick for me. A few sugary sweets can help get the creative juices flowing too.
-Contents: This almost goes without say, but you will want to take a Bible with you, maybe even several versions. In addition, you will want to bring a writing pad, laptop, or some other device upon which you can record ideas for series and sermons. Music that inspires you to worship God can foster creativity. Perhaps you already have a file of ideas you’ve been collecting for sermons and series. If you don’t have this file, you will want to create this on your computer and begin to record the ideas that come to you between retreats. If such a file or document exists, bring it with you on the retreat.
Regimen:
As you consider how to structure your sermon planning retreat consider the following progression:
-Communion: My aim at the beginning of the retreat is to simply enjoy communion with God. This is easier said than done. I need time to get beyond the stress and distractions of life and ministry to center my mind and heart on God. One of the ways I do this is to throw on some tranquil instrumental music and read aloud from the Psalms or words of Christ from the Gospels. The Scripture reading usually leads to spontaneous prayers of adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication (ACTS). It usually takes me about 60-90 minutes to throw off distraction and genuinely experience communion with God.
-Context: Once I connect with God, I spend some time reflecting upon and praying for the people in my congregational context. A congregational directory assists me with this. I want the quarterly sermon to intersect with the deepest needs and questions of the people I serve. Therefore, it’s imperative that I spend an hour prayerfully reflecting on the congregation, as well as the local, national, and global contexts that shape their lives. What is going on in the life of the church that shapes the congregation? What cultural trends are impacting the people? What current events are on the minds of the people? What texts and topics, doctrines and themes, need to be addressed to help the congregation more faithfully love, follow, and serve Christ? You may want to distribute surveys to the people in your church that invite responses to some of the questions above. You can take the compiled data from your congregational survey with you on the retreat. Discernment and prayer regarding congregational needs may take 60-90 minutes.
-Commence: You have spent time communing with God and prayerfully considering your congregational context. During that time, God was surely giving you impressions and ideas regarding your preaching plan. It is now time to begin sketching out some specifics regarding sermons and series. Go ahead and grab the calendar you brought with you. If you are going to do any series, plug them into the calendar first. Then, if you have any stand alone sermons, put them on the calendar. Hopefully, you have four months worth of sermon starters. For each sermon, list a working title, text(s), and a theme sentence which begins to capture what the sermon is about. Add a little more detail to the first two months of the quarterly sermons. Consider listing Christian doctrines, congregational needs, image/illustrations/metaphors, and possible applications that seem to flow out of and connect with the texts and topics of your sermons and series’. This exercise will take the remainder of the 4-6 hours you’ve scheduled for the retreat.
It is time to get started. Schedule your quarterly sermon planning retreats on days you already work. Recruit someone to preach on the Sundays following your retreats so that you’re not distracted by the impending sermon and lose sight of the forest for the trees. Approach these retreats not only as opportunities to plan your sermons but to encounter God in ways that increase your love for him and for the people to whom you preach. Go for it!
Monday, March 14, 2011
Monday, February 28, 2011
My Thoughts on Preaching Another Preacher's Sermon
As a teacher of preaching for nearly a decade, I have observed that one question inevitably surfaces in every class: Do you think it is okay to preach another preacher’s sermon? I cringe a bit, even though I have come to expect the question. The reasons for my cringing are several. For starters, I know my response is bound to offend or, worse, humiliate someone in the class. Secondly, this issue is too multifaceted and complex for some of the overly simplistic and arrogantly opinionated answers I am tempted to shoot back at my students. Here is, I hope, a reasoned response to the question: Do you think it is okay to preach another preacher’s sermon?
• The best sermons are birthed through preachers who, like good ol’ Jacob of Genesis, wrestle with the angel for a sermon from the biblical text. In other words, the most profound and passionate sermons develop in preachers who have been engaged by God through a biblical text in a way that causes the former to come away personally transformed, limping with Jacob. This cannot happen for the preacher who simply downloads, prints, and preaches another preacher’s sermon. Developing a sermon that is conceived in you by the Holy Spirit through your engagement with the God of the biblical text not only makes for powerful preaching, it makes for powerful preachers.
• Many of us have grown weary, by now, of the word “authenticity.” However, the fact is authenticity matters. God wants to incarnate Christ through each preacher’s authentic voice. The way that Christ is revealed to us through the distinct voices of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, he wants to come to your people through your authentic voice. As a local church pastor, you know your church and community context better than any preacher featured on Sermoncentral.com, Pastors.com or Wesleyansermons.com. God wants to speak to your people through your authentic voice, which is why he called you to the church in the first place. God would rather speak to your people through a sermon from your soul than a downloadable sermon from Rick Warren to his people.
• Wesleyansermons.com, a new resource for pastors which I steer, provides a sermon outline to go with the featured audio sermon of the week. We did this to help you follow the flow of the featured sermon. The outline is there to help us reflect upon how to preach not what to preach. We have made these sermon outlines so brief that they absolutely cannot be preached without prayerful intimacy with God, diligent study of the text, and faithful sensitivity to your particular church context.
• The Wesleyan Church has many pastors who are bi-vocational. Many of these pastors work full-time outside of the church and part-time (read “full-time”) in the church. We applaud these hardworking shepherds. Wesleyansermons.com seeks to provide just a tiny sermonic seed to get bi-vocational pastors, as well as full-timers, started on their way toward the blood, sweat, and tears of sermon development and delivery.
• So, I do not advise, encourage, support, or endorse the preaching of another preacher’s sermon, though I am in support of allowing another preacher’s sermonic seed to get us started in the homiletic process. One more thing, always give credit in your sermon to whom credit is due. In other words, if you use more than just a tiny sermonic seed from another preacher avoid plagiarism and give credit.
Preaching Christ with you,
Lenny
• The best sermons are birthed through preachers who, like good ol’ Jacob of Genesis, wrestle with the angel for a sermon from the biblical text. In other words, the most profound and passionate sermons develop in preachers who have been engaged by God through a biblical text in a way that causes the former to come away personally transformed, limping with Jacob. This cannot happen for the preacher who simply downloads, prints, and preaches another preacher’s sermon. Developing a sermon that is conceived in you by the Holy Spirit through your engagement with the God of the biblical text not only makes for powerful preaching, it makes for powerful preachers.
• Many of us have grown weary, by now, of the word “authenticity.” However, the fact is authenticity matters. God wants to incarnate Christ through each preacher’s authentic voice. The way that Christ is revealed to us through the distinct voices of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, he wants to come to your people through your authentic voice. As a local church pastor, you know your church and community context better than any preacher featured on Sermoncentral.com, Pastors.com or Wesleyansermons.com. God wants to speak to your people through your authentic voice, which is why he called you to the church in the first place. God would rather speak to your people through a sermon from your soul than a downloadable sermon from Rick Warren to his people.
• Wesleyansermons.com, a new resource for pastors which I steer, provides a sermon outline to go with the featured audio sermon of the week. We did this to help you follow the flow of the featured sermon. The outline is there to help us reflect upon how to preach not what to preach. We have made these sermon outlines so brief that they absolutely cannot be preached without prayerful intimacy with God, diligent study of the text, and faithful sensitivity to your particular church context.
• The Wesleyan Church has many pastors who are bi-vocational. Many of these pastors work full-time outside of the church and part-time (read “full-time”) in the church. We applaud these hardworking shepherds. Wesleyansermons.com seeks to provide just a tiny sermonic seed to get bi-vocational pastors, as well as full-timers, started on their way toward the blood, sweat, and tears of sermon development and delivery.
• So, I do not advise, encourage, support, or endorse the preaching of another preacher’s sermon, though I am in support of allowing another preacher’s sermonic seed to get us started in the homiletic process. One more thing, always give credit in your sermon to whom credit is due. In other words, if you use more than just a tiny sermonic seed from another preacher avoid plagiarism and give credit.
Preaching Christ with you,
Lenny
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Toward Becoming a Missional Church
Lots of church leaders are talking, sometimes even arguing, these days about what it means to be a “missional church.” Is this just a clever phrase thrown into conversation by young leaders who don’t want to associate with the Boomer generation of leaders who, presumably, are more focused on attracting a crowd to weekend services than creating a missional movement toward the community? Is “missional church” a code name that means cool, clever, cutting edge, trendy, and emergent? The missional church movement, to the contrary, is not tied to any one generation since it is nearly 2000 years old. What is more, becoming a missional church has nothing to do with being cool or clever but everything to do with being courageous and committed.
There is nothing glamorous about the missional church movement. The impact of such churches may never show up on a statistical report because most churches track only those attendees who come into the church building and not those who go out in service to the community. Becoming a missional church means giving financial and volunteer resources away to the community, even if it means a lean budget for church-based programs. Furthermore, a church that begins to look outward to serve the needs of people beyond the walls of the church will experience an increased level of stress and strain. No, this move toward mission is not glamorous at all. Why, then, would any church decide to go missional? Because the word defines the character of the Father who sends the Son and the Spirit in order to send the Church out into the world to be ‘glocal’ (global and local) missionaries.
Think about it. The Trinitarian God did not stay in His holy huddle of three waiting for us to come to Him. The Father sent the Son onto our turf. The Son “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Not too long after that, the Father sends out the Spirit to a bunch of fearful Christian Jews who are congregated in another kind of huddle, disconnected from and fearful of people outside of the Christian faith. But when the Spirit comes the Church goes. In other words, from Acts 2 and on, the Early Church gets missional. They start serving the poor, feeding the hungry, liberating captives, and healing the hurting in the name of Jesus. The missional church movement is not some new and original trend; it’s as old as that first Pentecost.
Like the Early Church in Acts, the Wesleyan Church has its roots in the missional movement. John Wesley, like most of his contemporaries, spent lots of time in the church building, so much so that he was disconnected from the desperate needs of people in his community. However, when the Spirit came to “warm” his heart, Wesley went out. He got missional! He began to go out to the poor drunk masses of English society who weren’t welcome in the church, which was run predominantly by the rich Anglican elite. Wesley took the stuff that makes the church, the “church,” to the streets. He got caught up in the missio dei, the “mission of God” in the world, and partnered with God to do what God has always been doing. “The word became flesh and dwelt among us” and any church that is truly “Christian” will incarnate the good news of Christ by venturing out of our safe and predictable holy huddle to dwell among broken people on their turf. “There is no holiness but social holiness,” wrote Wesley.
If you are still reading then you just might be crazy enough to roll up your sleeves and get missional. This is good! Now it’s time to consider some of the practical applications of our theological convictions. While your unique community context will determine the specifics, here are some starter steps toward becoming a missional church:
Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is: Commit to spending at least as much money on the practical needs of people in your community as you do on your worship service. Monitors and new microphones are important. Cutting edge technology can, in my estimation, enhance the quality of a worship experience. However, a missional church decides that when push comes to shove they will pay the electric bill so that a family of five can have heat in January even if it means postponing the purchase of that much needed monitor. Other missional expenditures might include a food pantry, a clothing drive for the homeless, and an ongoing benevolence fund for people with financial emergencies.
Volunteer Outside of the Church: Every church deals with the challenge of begging, I mean recruiting, enough volunteers to serve in church-based programs (usually children’s ministry!). So, the following advice may seem counter-intuitive. Volunteer a portion of your time through community service organizations that are meeting the real needs of people in the community. Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America, Habitat for Humanity, Women’s Resources, and Soup Kitchens are just a few of the volunteer possibilities that may exist in your community. Get involved in global issues too such as fighting human trafficking in Thailand, offering disaster relief in Haiti, and providing clean water in Zambia. Our sacrificial service in the name of Jesus will proclaim that Jesus is Lord beyond our words. Church leaders, remember to celebrate the service of those who volunteer outside of the church as much as you appreciate those who serve in church-based ministries.
Become a Hospitable Hospital: A low-cost, low-energy step toward becoming a missional church is opening your doors to share space with people meeting community needs. Many service organizations are experiencing a funding crunch due, in part, to our nation’s economic struggles and political policy revisions. Why not invite these organizations to utilize your church building…for free! Invite recovery groups (Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, Grief Recovery) and support groups (Cancer Survivors, Victims of Domestic Violence, Easter Seals) to utilize your church building. This, too, may seem counter-intuitive but it will go a long way in communicating that your church cares for the community. What is more, as people who don’t attend your church show up for a recovery or support group they just might become so comfortable in the building that they venture into your weekend worship service.
Share Resources:The bottom line is that missional churches share their resources (money, people, facility) to meet the real needs of real people in the name of the real Jesus. The church I most recently served grew significantly, in terms of attendance, but that was not the goal. The goal was to be the church in the world by embodying the values of an eternal King who came onto our turf as a peasant Jew. People were attracted to our church not because of some marketing strategy, concert, or elaborate facility. God can use strategies, concerts, and facilities for His glorious purposes. The church I served, however, experienced increased vitality, momentum, and growth simply because we decided to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless, and liberate the addicted and afflicted in the name of Jesus. So can your church!
There is nothing glamorous about the missional church movement. The impact of such churches may never show up on a statistical report because most churches track only those attendees who come into the church building and not those who go out in service to the community. Becoming a missional church means giving financial and volunteer resources away to the community, even if it means a lean budget for church-based programs. Furthermore, a church that begins to look outward to serve the needs of people beyond the walls of the church will experience an increased level of stress and strain. No, this move toward mission is not glamorous at all. Why, then, would any church decide to go missional? Because the word defines the character of the Father who sends the Son and the Spirit in order to send the Church out into the world to be ‘glocal’ (global and local) missionaries.
Think about it. The Trinitarian God did not stay in His holy huddle of three waiting for us to come to Him. The Father sent the Son onto our turf. The Son “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Not too long after that, the Father sends out the Spirit to a bunch of fearful Christian Jews who are congregated in another kind of huddle, disconnected from and fearful of people outside of the Christian faith. But when the Spirit comes the Church goes. In other words, from Acts 2 and on, the Early Church gets missional. They start serving the poor, feeding the hungry, liberating captives, and healing the hurting in the name of Jesus. The missional church movement is not some new and original trend; it’s as old as that first Pentecost.
Like the Early Church in Acts, the Wesleyan Church has its roots in the missional movement. John Wesley, like most of his contemporaries, spent lots of time in the church building, so much so that he was disconnected from the desperate needs of people in his community. However, when the Spirit came to “warm” his heart, Wesley went out. He got missional! He began to go out to the poor drunk masses of English society who weren’t welcome in the church, which was run predominantly by the rich Anglican elite. Wesley took the stuff that makes the church, the “church,” to the streets. He got caught up in the missio dei, the “mission of God” in the world, and partnered with God to do what God has always been doing. “The word became flesh and dwelt among us” and any church that is truly “Christian” will incarnate the good news of Christ by venturing out of our safe and predictable holy huddle to dwell among broken people on their turf. “There is no holiness but social holiness,” wrote Wesley.
If you are still reading then you just might be crazy enough to roll up your sleeves and get missional. This is good! Now it’s time to consider some of the practical applications of our theological convictions. While your unique community context will determine the specifics, here are some starter steps toward becoming a missional church:
Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is: Commit to spending at least as much money on the practical needs of people in your community as you do on your worship service. Monitors and new microphones are important. Cutting edge technology can, in my estimation, enhance the quality of a worship experience. However, a missional church decides that when push comes to shove they will pay the electric bill so that a family of five can have heat in January even if it means postponing the purchase of that much needed monitor. Other missional expenditures might include a food pantry, a clothing drive for the homeless, and an ongoing benevolence fund for people with financial emergencies.
Volunteer Outside of the Church: Every church deals with the challenge of begging, I mean recruiting, enough volunteers to serve in church-based programs (usually children’s ministry!). So, the following advice may seem counter-intuitive. Volunteer a portion of your time through community service organizations that are meeting the real needs of people in the community. Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America, Habitat for Humanity, Women’s Resources, and Soup Kitchens are just a few of the volunteer possibilities that may exist in your community. Get involved in global issues too such as fighting human trafficking in Thailand, offering disaster relief in Haiti, and providing clean water in Zambia. Our sacrificial service in the name of Jesus will proclaim that Jesus is Lord beyond our words. Church leaders, remember to celebrate the service of those who volunteer outside of the church as much as you appreciate those who serve in church-based ministries.
Become a Hospitable Hospital: A low-cost, low-energy step toward becoming a missional church is opening your doors to share space with people meeting community needs. Many service organizations are experiencing a funding crunch due, in part, to our nation’s economic struggles and political policy revisions. Why not invite these organizations to utilize your church building…for free! Invite recovery groups (Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, Grief Recovery) and support groups (Cancer Survivors, Victims of Domestic Violence, Easter Seals) to utilize your church building. This, too, may seem counter-intuitive but it will go a long way in communicating that your church cares for the community. What is more, as people who don’t attend your church show up for a recovery or support group they just might become so comfortable in the building that they venture into your weekend worship service.
Share Resources:The bottom line is that missional churches share their resources (money, people, facility) to meet the real needs of real people in the name of the real Jesus. The church I most recently served grew significantly, in terms of attendance, but that was not the goal. The goal was to be the church in the world by embodying the values of an eternal King who came onto our turf as a peasant Jew. People were attracted to our church not because of some marketing strategy, concert, or elaborate facility. God can use strategies, concerts, and facilities for His glorious purposes. The church I served, however, experienced increased vitality, momentum, and growth simply because we decided to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless, and liberate the addicted and afflicted in the name of Jesus. So can your church!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Words are Weighty
A few years ago, when I was serving as the Lead Pastor of a local church, I experienced a strange compulsion. This compulsion surfaced just after the celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which you and I celebrated a few weeks back. Along with many admirers of King, I have a deep appreciation for the power and profundity of his Dream Speech. Influenced by his words, I wrote out a dream for the local church I was leading at the time and called it Our Dream Church.
King, great preacher that he was, knew that words have the power to convey a compelling vision that dives deep into the human soul and stays lodged there. Carefully crafted, prayerfully wrought words have the potential to change hearts, develop communities, and transform the world. This is why we preach the Gospel.
I shared the Our Dream Church speech below in a sermon to my local church several years ago. God, I believe, used these plain old ordinary words to tear down and rebuild our values so that they aligned more with the kingdom of God than the kingdom of the world. In time, this dream became a reality in the life of our church.
While you may not resonate with Our Dream Church, I implore you to invite God to give you His dream for the church you serve and/or the life you live. I pray that as you head into a new year of life and ministry, God’s dream would crystallize in your heart. I pray also that you would have the audacity to put His dream to words and share it with your congregation, family, and friends, no matter how ridiculously far from reality those words may seem.
Words have power. Words shape lives. Words change communities. Words transform the world. This is why so many of us dare to share God’s dream through the words of a Sunday sermon. Here are some of the words God used to shape me and the church I once led:
King, great preacher that he was, knew that words have the power to convey a compelling vision that dives deep into the human soul and stays lodged there. Carefully crafted, prayerfully wrought words have the potential to change hearts, develop communities, and transform the world. This is why we preach the Gospel.
I shared the Our Dream Church speech below in a sermon to my local church several years ago. God, I believe, used these plain old ordinary words to tear down and rebuild our values so that they aligned more with the kingdom of God than the kingdom of the world. In time, this dream became a reality in the life of our church.
While you may not resonate with Our Dream Church, I implore you to invite God to give you His dream for the church you serve and/or the life you live. I pray that as you head into a new year of life and ministry, God’s dream would crystallize in your heart. I pray also that you would have the audacity to put His dream to words and share it with your congregation, family, and friends, no matter how ridiculously far from reality those words may seem.
Words have power. Words shape lives. Words change communities. Words transform the world. This is why so many of us dare to share God’s dream through the words of a Sunday sermon. Here are some of the words God used to shape me and the church I once led:
Our Dream Church
…We have a dream of a church that sees a human being not based upon the level of that person’s income or education but based upon their value in the eyes of God,
…A church that is unashamedly committed to Christ and because of that commitment is radically dedicated to loving all kinds of people with all kinds of issues in all kinds of ways,
…A church that is not consumed by petty deliberations about the color of the sanctuary carpet because she is too consumed by the mission of love Christ has called us to live,
…A church that sees overwhelming needs in our community and world and instead of turning away in fear and defeat runs right toward the needs by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, housing the homeless, and caring for the sick, the addicted, and the depressed,
…A church that helps seekers become servants of Christ, a church that is led not by perfect people but by people perfectly submitted to the Holy Spirit and guided by the Holy Book,
…We have a dream of a church that is not content to simply share a pew together but who are open to share life together, a church full of people who refuse to hold grudges because they’re too quick to forgive, who refuse to gossip because they’re too busy extending grace, who refuse to judge because they’re too busy loving,
…A church where people can worship by clapping their hands, stomping their feet, and raising their hands or being still, bowing their heads, and closing their mouths, a church that sees true religious devotion not as mere ritual but as love for the orphan and the widow, the successful and the struggling, the friend and the enemy,
…A church who measures the level of their success not by how many people show up on Sunday but by how many people are living out Christ’s mission on Monday,
…We have a dream of a church that refuses to put limits on what God can do because she has the fearless, reckless audacity to believe that God has the power to do absolutely anything!
…We have a dream of a church that sees a human being not based upon the level of that person’s income or education but based upon their value in the eyes of God,
…A church that is unashamedly committed to Christ and because of that commitment is radically dedicated to loving all kinds of people with all kinds of issues in all kinds of ways,
…A church that is not consumed by petty deliberations about the color of the sanctuary carpet because she is too consumed by the mission of love Christ has called us to live,
…A church that sees overwhelming needs in our community and world and instead of turning away in fear and defeat runs right toward the needs by feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, housing the homeless, and caring for the sick, the addicted, and the depressed,
…A church that helps seekers become servants of Christ, a church that is led not by perfect people but by people perfectly submitted to the Holy Spirit and guided by the Holy Book,
…We have a dream of a church that is not content to simply share a pew together but who are open to share life together, a church full of people who refuse to hold grudges because they’re too quick to forgive, who refuse to gossip because they’re too busy extending grace, who refuse to judge because they’re too busy loving,
…A church where people can worship by clapping their hands, stomping their feet, and raising their hands or being still, bowing their heads, and closing their mouths, a church that sees true religious devotion not as mere ritual but as love for the orphan and the widow, the successful and the struggling, the friend and the enemy,
…A church who measures the level of their success not by how many people show up on Sunday but by how many people are living out Christ’s mission on Monday,
…We have a dream of a church that refuses to put limits on what God can do because she has the fearless, reckless audacity to believe that God has the power to do absolutely anything!
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Wesleyansermons.com
Greetings friends! I want to let you know about a new resource that the Wesleyan Denomination asked me to develop and direct. It's called Wesleyansermons.com and it is designed to encourage, equip, and empower pastors to proclaim Christ in a way that is faithful and effective. Every week, the site will feature a sermon from one of our Wesleyan pastors, along with a one-page outline of the sermon. There will also be a conversation in which I explore with the featured preacher how the sermon was developed and delivered. I will be writing articles every month on topics focused on preaching. If you want to check out the promotional video which explains more about this free resource for pastors, click on the following link which will take you right to the video: Wesleyansermons.com.
Let me know what you think of the site.
Lenny
Let me know what you think of the site.
Lenny
Monday, January 10, 2011
Holy and Unholy Homiletic Habits
Last week nearly 2000 leaders within the Wesleyan Denomination gathered for the, rightly named, Gathering in Jacksonville, FL. I had several profound encounters with God throughout the 3 day event. I enjoyed some helpful seminars as well. One of the seminars was entitled, Holiness Preaching in the 21st Century. I appreciated the insightful comments from the panelists. However, when I got the chance to ask a question of the panel, I didn't receive an extensive and satisfactory response. Most of the Q and A focused on holiness in the preacher and in the sermon content. So, as a teacher of preaching I wanted to explore with the group the importance of developing a holy process of sermon development. The question I asked the panel was, "What are some holy and unholy homiletic habits when it comes to developing the sermon?" One of the panelists addressed my question with a helpful insight, but I was hoping for more discussion than my question received.
So, I thought we could tackle the question here. What do you think? When it comes to developing the sermon, what are some unholy homiletic habits other than the obvious plagiarism and laziness? More importantly, what are some holy habits the preacher can and should practice in the sermon preparation process?
Looking forward to your comments,
Lenny
So, I thought we could tackle the question here. What do you think? When it comes to developing the sermon, what are some unholy homiletic habits other than the obvious plagiarism and laziness? More importantly, what are some holy habits the preacher can and should practice in the sermon preparation process?
Looking forward to your comments,
Lenny
Monday, December 13, 2010
Theology Matters
Theology is impractical, irrelevant, and inaccessible to real people with real problems who live in the real world. Studying the doctrine of the incarnation is not going to help me pay my bills and overcome my addictions. An exploration of the relationships within the Trinity can’t possible help me with marriage and parenting.
I have both heard and, admittedly, said statements like the ones above. Preachers often boast about how we avoid theology in order to proclaim “relevant messages that really connect.” The arrogant assumption is that theological doctrines, such as the Incarnation and Trinity, are less relevant and, therefore, less important than the concerns that surface in “our world.”
The reflective preacher realizes, however, that theology, “words about God,” will always be relevant. The doctrine of Christ’s Incarnation is God’s way of reminding the human race that we are relevant, at least to Him. Trinitarian theology highlights that God’s fundamental essence is loving relationality between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and, therefore, that the way we humans get to know and experience God is through, you guessed it, loving relationality. Could there be anything more relevant to our lives?
My recently adopted conviction is that the sermon, while it must certainly be directed toward the needs and struggles of the human race, should reveal something about the nature and will of God. If it does not, then the preacher simply becomes a therapist or self-help guru instead of a pastoral theologian who proclaims the Triune God and the Incarnate Christ to a hope-needy human race.
There are two habits that can help the preacher develop and deliver sermons that proclaim the eternally relevant God. These habits involve the asking of theological questions and the reading of theological works. Here are six theological questions that impact preaching, followed by six recommended theological books.
Six Theological Questions for Preacher:
• What does the overall story, or meta-narrative, of the Bible reveal about the nature of God?
• How can the sermon be faithful to what the biblical story reveals about God?
• What does God seem to be doing in and through the biblical text?
• How can the preacher align the sermon with the purposes of God through the text?
• Does the sermon say anything about the Father, the Son, and/or the Holy Spirit?
• Does the sermon present the Gospel by presenting both the problem of sin and the grace in Christ?
Six Theological Books for Preachers:
• On the Incarnation by Athanasius (4th Century): This work will compel the preacher to reflect upon the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ, without ignoring either. Who is Jesus, is the primary question with which the preacher will wrestle while reading this work.
• On Christian Doctrine by Augustine of Hippo (late 4th/early 5th Century): Book IV of this important work deals specifically with “The Christian Orator.” As you read this section of the book you may be surprised by its contemporary import.
• Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas (13th Century): You probably won’t be able to read entirely this massive work, but there are several sections in this Summa (“summary”) that are well worth the preachers time including “Treatise on Gratuitous Graces.”
• Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin (16th Century): Like the Summa, this is an exhaustive theological work. The preacher will want to jump around but be sure to read Book Four: Chapter 3 which is focused on “teachers and ministers.”
• A Plain Account of Christian Perfection by John Wesley (18th Century): Don’t let the title scare you away from this important read. Wesley emphasizes the two loves, love for God and love for people. The preacher who embodies these two loves will proclaim the Gospel with greater impact.
• Church Dogmatics by Karl Barth (20th Century): Barth is not the easiest theologian to read, but Chapter IV “The Proclamation of the Church” is a gem worth reading and rereading. This chapter will, at the very least, guide preachers in formulating theological thoughts concerning what they believe happens in the preaching of God’s Word.
Most of these theological resources can be accessed for free on the internet. As you read these works, be sure to reflect on them in light of the ministry of preaching. Additionally, recognize that all of the theologians above worked out their “words about God” in the context of pastoral ministry.
Theological wisdom can and should shape the mind and heart of the pastor for substantial preaching. When we read theologians who come from outside of our tradition we deepen our thoughts about God and appreciate our own particular theological tradition even more. Asking theological questions and reading theological classics does not only cultivate better preaching but, more importantly, better preachers.
EXERCISES:
As you prepare your next sermon, reflect on the six theological questions above and respond to each question with no more than two sentences.
Read one of the theologians above each week in chronological order until you have read them all. As you read, look for preaching wisdom from these classic works.
I have both heard and, admittedly, said statements like the ones above. Preachers often boast about how we avoid theology in order to proclaim “relevant messages that really connect.” The arrogant assumption is that theological doctrines, such as the Incarnation and Trinity, are less relevant and, therefore, less important than the concerns that surface in “our world.”
The reflective preacher realizes, however, that theology, “words about God,” will always be relevant. The doctrine of Christ’s Incarnation is God’s way of reminding the human race that we are relevant, at least to Him. Trinitarian theology highlights that God’s fundamental essence is loving relationality between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and, therefore, that the way we humans get to know and experience God is through, you guessed it, loving relationality. Could there be anything more relevant to our lives?
My recently adopted conviction is that the sermon, while it must certainly be directed toward the needs and struggles of the human race, should reveal something about the nature and will of God. If it does not, then the preacher simply becomes a therapist or self-help guru instead of a pastoral theologian who proclaims the Triune God and the Incarnate Christ to a hope-needy human race.
There are two habits that can help the preacher develop and deliver sermons that proclaim the eternally relevant God. These habits involve the asking of theological questions and the reading of theological works. Here are six theological questions that impact preaching, followed by six recommended theological books.
Six Theological Questions for Preacher:
• What does the overall story, or meta-narrative, of the Bible reveal about the nature of God?
• How can the sermon be faithful to what the biblical story reveals about God?
• What does God seem to be doing in and through the biblical text?
• How can the preacher align the sermon with the purposes of God through the text?
• Does the sermon say anything about the Father, the Son, and/or the Holy Spirit?
• Does the sermon present the Gospel by presenting both the problem of sin and the grace in Christ?
Six Theological Books for Preachers:
• On the Incarnation by Athanasius (4th Century): This work will compel the preacher to reflect upon the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ, without ignoring either. Who is Jesus, is the primary question with which the preacher will wrestle while reading this work.
• On Christian Doctrine by Augustine of Hippo (late 4th/early 5th Century): Book IV of this important work deals specifically with “The Christian Orator.” As you read this section of the book you may be surprised by its contemporary import.
• Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas (13th Century): You probably won’t be able to read entirely this massive work, but there are several sections in this Summa (“summary”) that are well worth the preachers time including “Treatise on Gratuitous Graces.”
• Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin (16th Century): Like the Summa, this is an exhaustive theological work. The preacher will want to jump around but be sure to read Book Four: Chapter 3 which is focused on “teachers and ministers.”
• A Plain Account of Christian Perfection by John Wesley (18th Century): Don’t let the title scare you away from this important read. Wesley emphasizes the two loves, love for God and love for people. The preacher who embodies these two loves will proclaim the Gospel with greater impact.
• Church Dogmatics by Karl Barth (20th Century): Barth is not the easiest theologian to read, but Chapter IV “The Proclamation of the Church” is a gem worth reading and rereading. This chapter will, at the very least, guide preachers in formulating theological thoughts concerning what they believe happens in the preaching of God’s Word.
Most of these theological resources can be accessed for free on the internet. As you read these works, be sure to reflect on them in light of the ministry of preaching. Additionally, recognize that all of the theologians above worked out their “words about God” in the context of pastoral ministry.
Theological wisdom can and should shape the mind and heart of the pastor for substantial preaching. When we read theologians who come from outside of our tradition we deepen our thoughts about God and appreciate our own particular theological tradition even more. Asking theological questions and reading theological classics does not only cultivate better preaching but, more importantly, better preachers.
EXERCISES:
As you prepare your next sermon, reflect on the six theological questions above and respond to each question with no more than two sentences.
Read one of the theologians above each week in chronological order until you have read them all. As you read, look for preaching wisdom from these classic works.
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