What kind of lighting will work best with the opening song set? What sound equipment do we need to pull off the service this weekend? What videos will most effectively capture the attention of the people? What songs can this worship team play with gusto? How much time should we designate for each element in the service? These 5 questions, of course, are necessary considerations for the person or team planning the worship service. However, these concerns are secondary to more significant considerations for the planning of the worship service. Here are the big picture questions that, if answered, can guide the development of the more detailed and practical components of the service toward God-glorifying worship.
Theology: What will this worship experience reveal about God? There are so many things that can be said about God that perhaps we don’t know where to begin or what to say at all. We must, of course, find a way to say something substantial about God in the context of worship. If the worship service reveals nothing about God, no matter how emotionally therapeutic and engaging, it essentially fails to be a Christian worship service.
Bible: What major part(s) of the biblical story will this worship service rehearse? The Bible contains one complete meta-narrative that moves from creation to corruption to salvation to mission to restoration. Identify the major chunk of the biblical story the service will emphasize. Perhaps it will audaciously touch on all moves in the story.
Anthropology: What realities of the human condition will this worship experience highlight and address? The service might focus on human angst, joy, suffering, peace, hope, sin, or disappointment. The local, national, and global human contexts should influence, to some extent, the vision of Christ the service holds up. We usually call this relevance.
Tradition: What orthodox and historical church traditions and practices will guide us in this worship service? It is vital for those of us who lead worship to keep in mind that Christian worship has been going on long before any of us arrived on the scene, for nearly two thousand years actually. There are rich liturgical traditions and practices that have stood the test of time and can enrich contemporary Christian worship.
Theme and Flow: What is the best way to position the parts of the service so that the theological theme is clear and flows from the gathering of God’s people toward the sending of God’s people? The gathered people of God benefit from a worship rhythm that ushers them intentionally toward an encounter with God that reveals a transformational theological theme.
If you are the pastor of local church or the leader of your church’s worship team, the 5 questions above are worthy of your most prayerful, thoughtful, and creative attention. Of course, there will always be those important practical issues to address as well. But all of the best practices and methods without the thoughtful underpinnings that surface from wrestling with the questions above will fall far short of the potential of Christian worship.
© Lenny Luchetti
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Wesley Seminary: Breakfast with My Spiritual Formation Class
This morning, Amy and I hosted my Spiritual Formation class from Wesley Seminary. Thanks to my beautiful wife, the host with the most, for providing a fabulous breakfast. Thanks also to my students who, along with students from other courses, made my first year of teaching such a joy. These Master of Divinity students are serving as youth pastors, senior pastors, and assistant pastors. These men and women are between the ages of 23 and 58. Some have been in ministry less than 5 years and others more than 15 years. They are a delightful bunch who recognize that just as important as skills in ministry is a heart of passionate love for God and the church.Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Wesley Seminary: The Conclusion of Our First Onsite Preaching Course
Well, I just finished 16 enjoyable weeks with our onsite Master of Divinity students in the preaching course. After listening to 18 sermons (2 from each) from these student pastors, I am optimistic about the future of Christian preaching. They are passionate about God, His word, and the churches they serve as pastor. To be honest, they are also one of the wackiest groups I have ever taught. Of course, you have to be a little wacky to believe that the almighty God might decide to show up through the preacher's sacrament of words to accomplish the impossible in the lives of people.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Preaching: 5 Tips for Building Rapport
5 Tips for Building Rapport
Aristotle, the Greek philosopher of the 4th century BC, wrote a ground-breaking work on communication theory called Rhetoric. In this book, he notes that it’s not just the logos, (content) of the speech but the ethos (character) and pathos (empathy) of the speaker that determines the level of audience receptivity to the speech. Aristotle highlights for speakers the importance of building rapport with the people to whom we speak. In a day when suspicions run high toward leaders in business, politics, and the church, rapport between the preacher and listeners has never been more necessary.
Whether you are the unfamiliar guest speaker at a community service event or the well-known pastor in a local church setting, there are a few practical ways you can build rapport with any group that you address.
• Commend the Crowd: Parenting experts, perhaps an oxymoron, suggest that parents should be as quick to tell our kids what they are doing right as we are to correct what they are doing wrong. These experts say that commending our kids builds them up and opens them up to receive correction when we give it. The same is true for preachers when addressing a crowd or congregation. We should be as quick to commend as we are to challenge people with our message. If you are the guest speaker for an event this is especially important. Let the people know you appreciate, for example, their hospitality toward you, or the work they are doing in the community, or what they clearly value. If you are the pastor of a local church, find some good things to say about your congregation that relates to the message you are preaching. Remember to be honest (see below), creative, and insightful when commending a crowd.
• Use Self-Deprecating Humor: One of the ironies of public speaking is that, more often than not, the less seriously we preachers take ourselves (within reason) the more intently the congregation listens to our message. The Apostle Paul was quick to admit his weaknesses, even humorously criticizing his lack of eloquence and poor eyesight, in order that the message of the cross of Christ might have prominence. The people to whom we preach are measuring our level of egotism. If they sniff out pride in us, it will most certainly diminish their level of receptivity to the message we proclaim. Self-deprecating humor, done naturally, wisely, and sparingly, gives the impression that we preachers see ourselves not as one above the people but as one among the people of God. Be careful not to overdo it. There is a line that can be crossed using self-deprecating humor that will actually diminish congregational receptivity to your message just as much as prideful egotism does. Our use of humor should not come from a position of insecurity but one of security in Christ.
• Be Brutally Honest: While the Gospel of Jesus Christ is good news, it is bad news first. Before people even reach out for Christ they must face the bad news that we are sinful, broken, and needy and that life is often unfair, lonely, and empty. Unless a preacher voices the painful realities of life that humans know and endure, the hope stemming from the good news that God sent His son Jesus to redeem what was dead and to restore what we lost won’t be received with as much impact. If our preaching tends to sugar-coat the angst and suffering of the human condition, most people will quit listening to our message. They will conclude, “this preacher is living in la-la land and has no idea what it is like to live in the real world…my world.” Preachers are most guilty of this in funeral messages when we are so anxious to console the grieving that we never name death for what it is and say “death stinks!” Of course, the preacher must be just as honest about the good news too, even when the realities of the human condition attempt to veil the hope of the Gospel.
• Demonstrate Passionate Conviction: One of the most essential ways to build rapport with the people to whom you preach is to communicate as if you really believe you have something important and life-giving to say. As our intimate connection to Christ increases, the more passionate love for people and for God surfaces in us. Some preachers can fake passion well; maybe they even write on their sermon notes “scream loud now,” or “pause and cry,” or, my favorite, “strain your voice and whisper so people think you have passion.” I confess there have been times when I got up to preach and felt my lack of passionate conviction about the sermon I developed. Those sermons, as you may know, are hard to preach and perhaps shouldn’t be. I have observed that the messages that incarnate good news worth living and dying for naturally creates the passionate conviction that builds rapport between the preacher and the congregation. Simply put, passion is stirred in the preacher when the sermon has obvious potential to both glorify God and liberate people in significant ways.
• Scratch Their Itch: Harry Emerson Fosdick, pastor of New York 's Riverside Church, once said “No one comes to church to find out what happened to the Jebusites.” Fosdick was humorously advising preachers to steer clear of our pet issues in order to address the deep questions that the people in the pews (or chairs) are asking. Preachers are often guilty of scratching in places people aren’t itching. When I ask my wife to scratch my back, she doesn’t scratch my belly. Yet, we preachers have a tendency to scratch where people aren’t itching. We commit this crime in two ways. First, we raise questions in the sermon introduction that people aren’t asking. Our rapport is diminished as people start day dreaming about stuff that really matters to them, like what they’ll eat after church. The second way the preacher commits this crime is by promising, usually in the sermon introduction, to scratch a certain human itch and then failing to actually do the scratching. This second form of the crime is worse than the first because it leads to a greater sense of disappointment in listeners whose expectations are built up and then let down. So, a word to wise preachers- make sure your sermon raises and addresses a significant human itch.
REFLECTION:
Which one of the tips above comes most naturally to you?
Which one of these tips is most challenging for you? Why?
What are some other tips for building rapport that you might list?
Aristotle, the Greek philosopher of the 4th century BC, wrote a ground-breaking work on communication theory called Rhetoric. In this book, he notes that it’s not just the logos, (content) of the speech but the ethos (character) and pathos (empathy) of the speaker that determines the level of audience receptivity to the speech. Aristotle highlights for speakers the importance of building rapport with the people to whom we speak. In a day when suspicions run high toward leaders in business, politics, and the church, rapport between the preacher and listeners has never been more necessary.
Whether you are the unfamiliar guest speaker at a community service event or the well-known pastor in a local church setting, there are a few practical ways you can build rapport with any group that you address.
• Commend the Crowd: Parenting experts, perhaps an oxymoron, suggest that parents should be as quick to tell our kids what they are doing right as we are to correct what they are doing wrong. These experts say that commending our kids builds them up and opens them up to receive correction when we give it. The same is true for preachers when addressing a crowd or congregation. We should be as quick to commend as we are to challenge people with our message. If you are the guest speaker for an event this is especially important. Let the people know you appreciate, for example, their hospitality toward you, or the work they are doing in the community, or what they clearly value. If you are the pastor of a local church, find some good things to say about your congregation that relates to the message you are preaching. Remember to be honest (see below), creative, and insightful when commending a crowd.
• Use Self-Deprecating Humor: One of the ironies of public speaking is that, more often than not, the less seriously we preachers take ourselves (within reason) the more intently the congregation listens to our message. The Apostle Paul was quick to admit his weaknesses, even humorously criticizing his lack of eloquence and poor eyesight, in order that the message of the cross of Christ might have prominence. The people to whom we preach are measuring our level of egotism. If they sniff out pride in us, it will most certainly diminish their level of receptivity to the message we proclaim. Self-deprecating humor, done naturally, wisely, and sparingly, gives the impression that we preachers see ourselves not as one above the people but as one among the people of God. Be careful not to overdo it. There is a line that can be crossed using self-deprecating humor that will actually diminish congregational receptivity to your message just as much as prideful egotism does. Our use of humor should not come from a position of insecurity but one of security in Christ.
• Be Brutally Honest: While the Gospel of Jesus Christ is good news, it is bad news first. Before people even reach out for Christ they must face the bad news that we are sinful, broken, and needy and that life is often unfair, lonely, and empty. Unless a preacher voices the painful realities of life that humans know and endure, the hope stemming from the good news that God sent His son Jesus to redeem what was dead and to restore what we lost won’t be received with as much impact. If our preaching tends to sugar-coat the angst and suffering of the human condition, most people will quit listening to our message. They will conclude, “this preacher is living in la-la land and has no idea what it is like to live in the real world…my world.” Preachers are most guilty of this in funeral messages when we are so anxious to console the grieving that we never name death for what it is and say “death stinks!” Of course, the preacher must be just as honest about the good news too, even when the realities of the human condition attempt to veil the hope of the Gospel.
• Demonstrate Passionate Conviction: One of the most essential ways to build rapport with the people to whom you preach is to communicate as if you really believe you have something important and life-giving to say. As our intimate connection to Christ increases, the more passionate love for people and for God surfaces in us. Some preachers can fake passion well; maybe they even write on their sermon notes “scream loud now,” or “pause and cry,” or, my favorite, “strain your voice and whisper so people think you have passion.” I confess there have been times when I got up to preach and felt my lack of passionate conviction about the sermon I developed. Those sermons, as you may know, are hard to preach and perhaps shouldn’t be. I have observed that the messages that incarnate good news worth living and dying for naturally creates the passionate conviction that builds rapport between the preacher and the congregation. Simply put, passion is stirred in the preacher when the sermon has obvious potential to both glorify God and liberate people in significant ways.
• Scratch Their Itch: Harry Emerson Fosdick, pastor of New York 's Riverside Church, once said “No one comes to church to find out what happened to the Jebusites.” Fosdick was humorously advising preachers to steer clear of our pet issues in order to address the deep questions that the people in the pews (or chairs) are asking. Preachers are often guilty of scratching in places people aren’t itching. When I ask my wife to scratch my back, she doesn’t scratch my belly. Yet, we preachers have a tendency to scratch where people aren’t itching. We commit this crime in two ways. First, we raise questions in the sermon introduction that people aren’t asking. Our rapport is diminished as people start day dreaming about stuff that really matters to them, like what they’ll eat after church. The second way the preacher commits this crime is by promising, usually in the sermon introduction, to scratch a certain human itch and then failing to actually do the scratching. This second form of the crime is worse than the first because it leads to a greater sense of disappointment in listeners whose expectations are built up and then let down. So, a word to wise preachers- make sure your sermon raises and addresses a significant human itch.
REFLECTION:
Which one of the tips above comes most naturally to you?
Which one of these tips is most challenging for you? Why?
What are some other tips for building rapport that you might list?
Monday, March 14, 2011
The Sermon Planning Retreat
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!
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, 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!
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