Why preaching sermons alone won't plant a church
© Seth Kniep, 2010. All rights reserved.
Yesterday it struck me again that it's going to be a long, joy-packed,
yet difficult road discipling the new believers and reaching out to
more non-believers toward the establishment of a missional church. It's
going to take months--maybe years before we have leader-producing
ministry with pastors. And I'm perfectly ok with that. If ministry is
just about "preach and they'll come" I'd still be preaching to my wife
and kids only.
But I'm learning every day that ministry is 10,000 times more about discipleship, meeting with people, and going into their world of brokenness, carrying their burdens and leading them to the cross and in turn showing them how to do the same for others. I loved seminary. It gave me tools I'll never regret and I appreciate and respect every single professor. But it's primary focus was "preach" in the context of a sermon. Yet as I study 2 Timothy 4:2 (and especially the following verses) I see that Paul's instruction to "preach" was much more about a way of life in daily conversations with people far from and close to God than it was about preaching sermons. That's the hard part of ministry that can drain you. But that's why I need your prayers every day.
In Christendom, many people raised in a culture where church gets high value will show up to listen to good sermons. And those sermons will be used by God and be incredibly edifying and people will be saved! BUT, our world is fast moving away from Christendom and closer to pluralism, relativism, postmodernism, and all the other isms. This means we as pastors will have to spend more and more time with people far from God in their home and ours, talking about life and Jesus, instead of making the Sunday sermons the main piece of ministry that sucks out time all week. I am not devaluing the worth of a preached sermon. If you know me you know I love to preach. But preaching in the NT context was not simply a sermon. It was a way of life. A proclamation day by day in the messiness of life with people far from God. Acts 8:4 illustrates this beautifully. EVERY believer was preaching. And their preaching was not sermons. It was a daily way of life, wherever they went.
Because Jesus is worthy to be talked about and treasured every second of our life,
Seth
But I'm learning every day that ministry is 10,000 times more about discipleship, meeting with people, and going into their world of brokenness, carrying their burdens and leading them to the cross and in turn showing them how to do the same for others. I loved seminary. It gave me tools I'll never regret and I appreciate and respect every single professor. But it's primary focus was "preach" in the context of a sermon. Yet as I study 2 Timothy 4:2 (and especially the following verses) I see that Paul's instruction to "preach" was much more about a way of life in daily conversations with people far from and close to God than it was about preaching sermons. That's the hard part of ministry that can drain you. But that's why I need your prayers every day.
In Christendom, many people raised in a culture where church gets high value will show up to listen to good sermons. And those sermons will be used by God and be incredibly edifying and people will be saved! BUT, our world is fast moving away from Christendom and closer to pluralism, relativism, postmodernism, and all the other isms. This means we as pastors will have to spend more and more time with people far from God in their home and ours, talking about life and Jesus, instead of making the Sunday sermons the main piece of ministry that sucks out time all week. I am not devaluing the worth of a preached sermon. If you know me you know I love to preach. But preaching in the NT context was not simply a sermon. It was a way of life. A proclamation day by day in the messiness of life with people far from God. Acts 8:4 illustrates this beautifully. EVERY believer was preaching. And their preaching was not sermons. It was a daily way of life, wherever they went.
Because Jesus is worthy to be talked about and treasured every second of our life,
Seth