I've written a short piece, "serving your community," where I share some of the questions that I'm busy wrestling with about preaching and community/spiritual formation. Drop by and share your thoughts, comments, and questions.
Love your thoughts Sean, good reminder that preaching isn't about the preacher but about the community that we're a part of as a church... thus we really need to know the people that we're preaching to and know their stories. Good challenge.
Great thoughts about issues that do need wrestling with.
I think it should be appreciated that the preacher / teacher is a part of the community as well. The community has certain characteristics, qualities and ‘needs.’ The preacher has certain skills, gifting and abilities. Some which will probably be an immediate and obvious blessing to the community. In other areas new skills may need to be developed, outside help sort, or another in the community given responsibility. I think it is unrealistic to assume the preacher will be able to be all things to all people. Circumstances of life often restrict prep time etc for the preacher and so it is natural to lean into ones strengths. So the community will shape the preaching, but the preacher will also shape the preaching/teaching and thus the community. Having different people speak helps mix up preaching styles and methods, and I like the idea of incorporating the Christian calendar from time to time, to give shape to content.
I think the idea of having different people speak is often the key to this. However, I also don't want to box myself into one way of doing things, and I think this is what I'm getting at. I want preachers to experiment with preaching sometimes, trying different things because different things appeal to different people, and we're all different!
Sue and I tag teamed a parable last night at church, and I think it worked quite well. It was something different, something out of the box. What we did afterwards needs some thinking through, but I was happy with our little experiment, and I think it made the point we were trying to communicate quite well.
Love your thoughts Sean, good reminder that preaching isn't about the preacher but about the community that we're a part of as a church... thus we really need to know the people that we're preaching to and know their stories. Good challenge.
ReplyDeleteGreat thoughts about issues that do need wrestling with.
ReplyDeleteI think it should be appreciated that the preacher / teacher is a part of the community as well. The community has certain characteristics, qualities and ‘needs.’ The preacher has certain skills, gifting and abilities. Some which will probably be an immediate and obvious blessing to the community. In other areas new skills may need to be developed, outside help sort, or another in the community given responsibility. I think it is unrealistic to assume the preacher will be able to be all things to all people. Circumstances of life often restrict prep time etc for the preacher and so it is natural to lean into ones strengths. So the community will shape the preaching, but the preacher will also shape the preaching/teaching and thus the community. Having different people speak helps mix up preaching styles and methods, and I like the idea of incorporating the Christian calendar from time to time, to give shape to content.
Love your conclusion.
I think the idea of having different people speak is often the key to this. However, I also don't want to box myself into one way of doing things, and I think this is what I'm getting at. I want preachers to experiment with preaching sometimes, trying different things because different things appeal to different people, and we're all different!
ReplyDeleteSue and I tag teamed a parable last night at church, and I think it worked quite well. It was something different, something out of the box. What we did afterwards needs some thinking through, but I was happy with our little experiment, and I think it made the point we were trying to communicate quite well.
*Sean