Proclaimer Blog
EMA ideas
Got a proposal through today for the EMA. I was sent a marketing email telling me that I could spruce up my event with DrumCafe who would put a drum on every seat.
Give everyone a drum and watch the room unite and transform into a spectacular drumming orchestra
Tempting, I know. Mr Lucas would, of course, lead the group.
Proclaimer Blog
EMA featured books #5
PT publishes two series of books – one is the well-known Teaching series (more about that another time). But we also have a secondary series which we call, informally at least, the Practical Preacher series. These are books that are useful for preachers and churches and which address issues particular to preachers and preaching. Our latest in this series is called Ministry Medical and is by Jonathan Griffiths, one of our teaching staff. The book is based on 2 Timothy and is, in essence, a checklist for those in word ministry. It sets out Paul's priorities and in 36 short chapters encourages us to measure ourselves against the Apostle and what he says to young pastor Timothy. It's the kind of book you might read a chapter of per week or even read together with leadership teams (I'm going to suggest ours does that). It's challenging and convicting, but also hopeful in that it holds out the word of grace to us and shows that we can, prayerfully and in the power God provides, be more the men that God calls us to be.
Peter Adam wrote "This book by Jonathan Griffiths is a brilliantly effective study, which makes good use of 2 Timothy to give us a diagnostic tool to assess the health of our ministry. It would be equally productive for those starting out in ministry, those in their middle years, and those nearing the finishing line! It is simple and straightforward: the format of questions and comments works very well, and make the book very user-friendly. This book will help you fight the good fight, finish the race, and keep the faith. Highly commended"
Proclaimer Blog
Recharging emotional batteries
So, a few responses to my post last week about running on empty. Thank you to those who wrote. The responses all tended to ask the same question: how, recognising that we're depleted emotionally, do we recharge? We, for the most part, know how to do this spiritually and physically, but emotionally….? Short answer: I'm not too sure myself and I'm working through it. But here, for what it's worth, are my initial observations. These are not particularly biblical, or even from years of experience. They are simply things that I'm finding useful in the moment.
- I've had to recognise that the emotional is not separate from the physical, nor the spiritual. I am a whole man! Everything is connected to everything. At one level, emotional energy is spiritual energy is physical energy. So, taking care of my physical and spiritual self has vast benefits for my emtional self.
- Sleep is a remarkable restorative for every part of life. I have found CJ Mahaney's sermon on this particularly useful.
- I find that being disciplined about planning times for things I enjoy has helped me enormously. I don't know if there's any science behind this, but lack of emotional energy has meant that I have not been able to be joyful about things, so I decided to try to restore some of that energy by planning….well, enjoyable things.
- Intimacy in relationships is important. For marrieds that means sex and time with spouse (these go together!). But there is intimacy (of the right sort) in all kinds of relationships. I've planned a day at the British Museum with a good friend. I already know it will be emotionally recharging.
- A break is important. Next week is our school half term and I've planned some time away. I'm going to disconnect my iPhone's work email account. So there.
- I've tried to build in some escapism. That sounds pretty dodgy, so let me explain. Ministry is emotionally draining and all encompassing. I find it quite hard to read a Christian book, for example, without thinking about whom it might also be suitable for in the congregation or which fellow pastor might benefit. I need a break from that. So, a good fiction book I can lose myself in (or a series) or a suitable TV series (Mrs R and I have been watching Borgen) helps me switch off from emotional outgoings and, it seems, helps with the ingoings.
You'll have other ideas, and much more spiritual ones (this is deliberately not a biblical post). Just don't ignore the issue….
Proclaimer Blog
You’re speaking not writing
There’s an article in this month’s Briefing that I liked so much that we asked permission to print off a copy for every Cornhill student. It’s called ‘Deadly, dull, and boring’ (now there’s a catchy title). It’s an edited extract from a forthcoming book from Matthias Media on how not to preach deadly, dull and boring sermons. The book’s by Phil Campbell and is called Saving Eutychus (geddit?).
In the article Phil offers ten tips. None of them are about showmanship that attracts attention away from Scripture and towards the preacher. They’re all obvious things about effective oral communication. And, like many obvious things, they’re often only obvious when someone points them out to you. A crucial one that I think would improve many worthy sermons at a stroke is this: use shorter sentences.
Here’s an example from me of a seemingly decent opening line in a sermon: “If you watch the news on TV or read the newspapers, aren’t you often struck by the way in which humanity does not seem able to get any better and keeps repeating the same mistakes?” Now apply Phil’s principle to that and you get something like this instead: “Watch the TV news. Does it look like the world’s getting better and better? Read your newspaper. Is humanity learning from its mistakes?”
The same content, but much punchier and therefore more effective. Not dumbed down, just expressed more engagingly. And as an extra bonus the preacher also get the thrill of breaking all those rules about writing style that your English teacher taught you – if you went to that kind of school.
One other thing. Before I joined the Cornhill staff I used to read The Proclaimer blog (honest), and was always impressed that Adrian’s blogs had time-stamps like 7.07am and 7.16am. I have now discovered to my relief that the blogs are written in advance [Ed: not too much in advance, please note!] and the time-stamp gives the time that the server automatically releases them, or something like that. We try to work hard around here, but not stupidly hard. For the record, I’m finishing this at 8.50am in the real world.
Proclaimer Blog
Christ our representative and the shape of evangelical preaching
In my most recent post I was recommending an approach to sermon applications from biblical narratives which avoids both simply drawing out moral examples and just preaching biblical-theological points which can feel pretty same-y across lots of different narratives. In this post I want to suggest one possible underlying theological reason why well trained expository preachers in our context are often nervous of moving from preaching the biblical-theological point, e.g. David is a type of Christ winning the victory for us – to also preaching David as a positive example for the believer to follow, e.g. David as a model of faithful action when the honour of God is maligned.
My suggestion goes like this: these two strands of application follow from different aspects of God’s act of salvation in Christ. The ‘biblical-theological’ application is an outworking of Christ’s substitutionary work: he died on the cross in our place, doing what we could never do for ourselves. Hence in seeking to apply 1 Samuel ch.17 we look for what is unique about David in his action on behalf of Israel.
On the other hand, the ‘moral example’ strand of application is an outworking of Christ’s representative work, in particular in the union of the believer with him: we were united with him in his death and raised to new life with him. A key consequence of this is that the believer ought to be growing in Christlikeness, obedient as he was, self-sacrificial as he was. Hence in seeking to apply 1 Samuel ch.17 we will look for what David, even in his function as a type of Christ, shares in common with faithful Christian believers.
My hunch is that some conservative evangelical preachers who have (rightly) drawn deeply on such books as Goldsworthy’s Gospel and Kingdom are nervous about this second kind of ‘moral example’ application because we have tended to be much less familiar in our piety and preaching with Christ’s representative work than with his substitutionary work.
Maybe this puts it more simply: theologically, we should preach (e.g.) David as a unique type of Christ because of what Christ has done for us that we could never do for ourselves. And we should also preach David as an example for the believer because in his role as a type of Christ he demonstrates some of the Christlikeness that we, in our union with Christ, ought to be growing in.
Or even more simply: we’re not David, and also (from another perspective) we are David. The former is what prevents the latter being the dreaded ‘pure moralism’; the latter is what prevents the former from making all the richness of scriptural narrative seem essentially pointless. Such is the mystery of God’s saving action for us in Christ, and therefore such can be the richness of biblical application to those who are in Christ.
Proclaimer Blog
Preaching God and example
Many preachers in conservative evangelical circles say that they find narrative the hardest parts of Scripture to preach. I think that is particularly true of the way in which we draw appropriate applications from biblical narratives. Here’s the issue for a preacher who already knows that what he ought to be is expounding the text: once I’ve got to the heart of what this passage is really about (what we call at Cornhill the Big Idea, but other names are available), in what particular direction and from which particular angle should I apply that truth? (in Cornhill parlance, what’s the Aim?).
Graham Goldsworthy’s book Gospel and Kingdom many years ago had, so it seems, a significant influence in rightly warning preachers away from simply mining biblical narratives for moral lessons (stuff like “which ‘Goliaths’ in your life should you be slaying?”). That is an extremely helpful corrective, but it can sometimes leave a question hanging. I’ve often heard that question expressed like this: if I’ve taken that kind of warning on board, how can I avoid having essentially the same application in every single sermon of a series I preach on, say, the book of Judges? Won’t that approach lead me to preach just the great theological themes of a passage (nothing wrong with that in itself), but to do so quite repetetively and without paying a great deal of attention to the details of character and plot in each particular text? (To be fair to Goldsworthy, he may deal with that. I ought to re-read Gospel and Kingdom.)
I recently came across this two-fold piece of advice in drawing application from narratives: ‘identify the central act of God in a narrative and observe the way the characters in the drama respond to him’ (Daniel Doriani, Putting the Truth to Work: the theory and practice of biblical application, p.181). The first instruction here is essentially in the Goldsworthy line: avoid moralism and preach what God is doing in this event. The second instruction, though, leads us to the details of the characters and plot in each particular narrative. Doriani is wanting the preacher to hold the characters up to his hearers as models and examples, whether good or bad, of different responses to the actions of God. Thus in 1 Samuel 17 (Doriani’s major example) we must certainly preach that believers now are first of all to identify ourselves with the Israelites cheering on the hillside while they watch God’s appointed champion defeat God’s enemy on their behalf. But in addition to that we can and should also preach David as an example to follow in caring deeply enough for the honour of God to act bravely, and also his brother Eliab and Saul as negative examples, in their own separate ways, of a response to the action of God narrated in the text.
This avoids moralism. It also helps avoid same-y expressions of good biblical theology that might pay too little attention to the details of each particular narrative.
Proclaimer Blog
A mindset not a method
Expository preaching, says Dick Lucas, is a mindset not a method. That's a really helpful thought and one I've been coming back to again and again recently. Someone asked me last week at our younger ministers conference whether there is a PT approved (!!) set length of passage to preach. That's a fairly bizarre question when you stop to think of it. Every text has a context right up to the context of the whole Bible and if you never stop saying 'this portion I've got belongs in a wider context' you just end up with the Bible as your text – and therefore one (rather long) sermon! So, a bizarre question. But the right answer is that we teach a mindset not a method.
In other words, the answer to the question is no. We do encourage preachers to take whole sections that belong together, especially in OT narrative. But you can preach a text in an expository way just as you can a longer section. (Though preaching a text which is faithful to its context and setting is much harder than a longer section; even though it may appear otherwise). You can even, I believe, have a topical series which is still expository. A wedding sermon can be expository, as can a youth club talk.
All that we teach tends to focus on handling the word of God accurately. These lessons apply whether you're preaching on Acts 2 in its entirety or just verse 42. Both can be expository sermons. Because expository preaching is a mindset not a method.
Proclaimer Blog
EMA featured books #4
Messages that move by Tim Hawkins is another book about preaching. But don't yawn. Not until you've had a look. For sure, of the making of books about preaching, there is much. But Tim's book is different. For starters, it's written in a quirky, but engaging style that those who know Tim or have read any of his material will recognise. This means it is easily readable – a great feat for a book on the "how to" of preaching. What others preaching books can you say that about? Secondly, it is remarkably thorough and deals comprehensively and helpfully with all aspects of a message, including some of the parts of preaching that other texts leave behind – introductions, conclusions, illustrations. All very helpful comments on these from Tim.
So, it may be another book on preaching. That is fact. But it is a very welcome one.
For sure, this is not an advanced textbook. As such, it is a book that will serve two audiences. For experienced preachers there are really useful lessons and nuggets to ensure your preaching stays sharp and on track. For less experienced preachers (perhaps the primary audience?) this will serve as a really good introduction to preaching. I could easily see us getting a copy of this, for example, for each of our occasional preachers in church. Just occasionally I found myself disagreeing with Tim as did the member of our BookPanel who reviewed it: for example, we thought it is possible to preach on a passage such as Phil 4 and the end result being to stir emotions rather than being concerned that someone should do something as a result. Nevertheless, that's a minor criticism. There's much here to encourage existing preachers and build new ones. My commendation was genuinely heartfelt: "In this delightfully practical book you'll find down to earth wisdom, helpful encouragement and biblical exhortation. Read it and buy a copy for a fellow preacher."
Or, as our BookPanel member said, " I run a preaching group in the summer term, and I'll get my guys to read this as part of it." Perhaps you should do likewise?
Proclaimer Blog
EMA featured books #3
The God who became human by Graham Cole is the latest in IVP's New Studies in Biblical Theology (NSBT). This series has some really outstanding contributions in it now, and it's always a delight to stock them. This particular one is an excellent volume. I read it in one sitting and will come back to it again and again – at its most basic it is a biblical theology of the incarnation – nothing ground-breaking there, you might think. But as he goes along, Graham interacts with all kinds of viewpoints and issues, making this one of those books that is greater than the sum of its parts. Technical at times, and with lots of quotes, but clear chapters and conclusions and lots to make this preacher think about both his worship and his preaching – not least about theophanies, Blackham's OT theology, and the wonder of the incarnation. It's not out yet, but will be available at the EMA. Deeper than the average read, but worth some of your British spondoolies.
Proclaimer Blog
Don’t believe everything you read…
A salutary warning about our words can be misquoted – in a positive article in Monday's Times about US evangelicals, Tim Keller was quoted as saying it was possible to believe that homosexuality was a sin but still be in favour of gay marriage. This actually was lifted straight from an article at the Huffington Post (lazy journalism, one might argue, but then the writer of the article, Tim Montgomerie, found fame as a blogger). As Keller clarifies here, he did say these words, but in response to articulating what some anabaptists held as a position. In other words, as a statement of fact as to what others believe. We shouldn't be surprised that words get twisted or even misinterpreted, I suppose. Hey ho.