07.25.10
sermons don’t make disciples
Bill Kinnon posts Part 2 of this discussion.
“As I type this post, mid-Friday afternoon (May 7th, 2009), tens of thousands of church leaders are preparing their sermons for this coming Sunday. Some are in their church office, door firmly shut, a Do Not Disturb sign literally or figuratively in place. Others are in their home office. Their spouses and children knowing well enough to leave them alone. The cool leaders are in the local St. Arbucks, an over-priced Venti of surprisingly poor quality coffee close at hand, as they scribble notes into their Moleskinés while searching Logos on their MacBooks.
“Still others are somewhere listening to (insert your favourite preacher) as they copy down the theme, the examples and sometimes even the personal stories of those “gifted preachers.” For many, if not most of these preachers, the Sunday service will be their primary point of contact with members of their congregations…”
And Bill’s point, to be perfectly clear, is as the title reads above. Bill is not debating the place of teaching in the life of a community of God’s people, he is debating the philosophy of ministry that places the sermon at the heart of the life of a community as if good sermons will create disciples. Bill doesn’t mention, I believe, the personality cult that tends to follow where the preaching ministry is exalted above all else. Neither does he mention the sola pastora model that tends to accompany an imbalance of emphasis on the Word, and the accompanying neglect of a functional priesthood of believers. And he doesn’t place all these issues clearly in the context of a church mired in modernity, which was oriented toward information over formation, and more right brain than left. All these things tend to be packaged together.
Let’s be clear, as Reg McNeal is clear, that spiritual formation is the first priority. The question is, positively, how we get there? Negatively, how do we war against the tendency to produce consumers of spiritual goods and services?
I like the framing that occurs in the comments on Bill’s post. A sermon is one more piece of a conversation on God, mission and church that should be ongoing in various venues, mostly smaller and more personal ones, in and around a community of faith. The conversation is critical – it and the stories we tell will shape our culture and practices. And equally foundational, what does the community believe about the Gospel, and what stance does it have toward surrounding culture? If we are not actually going on mission, if our orientation and gaze is primarily inward, we will never move beyond a dualistic and isolated Christian culture.
Daryl Dash pushes back with Sermons do make disciples.
Ed Stetzer writes on “the pastor as rock star.”
