Get Out of Your "Own Little World"

When I was a kid growing up in Ohio, I didn't know much about the world.  And that led me to have a rather narrow view of life when I was a young man.  I remember thinking that anyone, regardless of circumstances, could get ahead through hard work.  Then I took a trip to a developing country, and I saw people who worked much harder than I did but were unable to escape poverty.  My thinking began to change as my world enlarged.

 

To change focus, people need to get out of their own little world.  If you have a narrow view of people, go places you have never gone, meet the kind of people you do not know, and do things you have not done before.  It will change your perspective, as it has done mind.

- John C. Maxwell, Winning With People, Pg.65, Thomas Nelson Publishers, c2004

Musings from Osborne's "Sticky Church"

We've discovered lots of ways to reach people.  We've offered the high-powered programs and slick marketing of attractional churches, the cultural savvy of missional churches, and the relational intimacy of small churches.  But we've often become so focused on reaching people that we've forgotten the importance of keeping people.  Pg.13

Stickier churches are healthier churches.  They not only draw in spiritual window-shoppers and lead them to Christ; they also grow them to maturity.  Pg.13

Everything we do is aimed at helping the Christians we already have grow stronger in Christ.  But everything is done in such a way that their non-Christian friends will understand all that we're saying and doing.  Bottom line: We've tried to create a perfect storm for come-and-see evangelism while velcroing newcomers for long-term spiritual growth. Pg.20

...a sticky church offers the perfect environment for come-and-see evangelism, because while every service is designed to help Christians become better Christians, it is always done in a way that non-Christians can understand evyerthing that's said and takes place. Pg.32

Most of our discipleship programs are very linear.  Unfortunately, most spiritual growth is not. Pg.41

Most spiritual growth doesn't come as a result of a training program or a set curriculum.  It comes as a result of life putting us in what I like to call a need-to-know or need-to-grow situation. Pg.42

Another spiritually crippling falsehood that began to lose its grip on our congregation was what I call the Holy Place myth.  It's the idea that God's presence is somehow greater in some places than in others.  It's why some Christians will tell a joke at the office they'd never think of repeating at church.  It's why others don't think twice about lying on a loan application but still swear they live by the Ten Commandments.  The Holy Place myth fosters a false dichotomy between secular and the spiritual by leading us to believe that there are some places where God hangs out and lots of others he seldom frequents. Pg.50

...transparency is hardly the hallmark of most churches.  So much so that for most people, the stereotype of a church is a place with lots of plastic smiles.  Pg.54

One reason I want my messages to be memorable is that I want people to apply the important spiricual truths and doctrines of the faith.  I know that if I can change the way people think, it will change the way they live. Pg.63

While I understand the desire to remove the intimidation factor, something seems wrong with a world where we remove all the adults from the nursery.  Pg.69

Assigning people to groups by neighborhood sounds great on paper, but it seldom works well in real life...That's because one of the poorest predictors of a potential deep friendship is the neighborhood we live in.  In most cases, it doesn't indicate anything other than shared economic status.  A much stronger likelihood of future friendship exists when we build groups around share interests or a common station in life. Pg.79

It all starts with our mission.  We describe it this way: Making disciples in a healthy church environment. It's our way of expressing that when it comes to ministry, both task and health are equally important. Pg.101

An easy-out philosophy doesn't mean a lower commitment level.  It actually creates more opportunities for greater commitment.  Pg.111

As important as it is to know what to look for, it's equally important to know where to look.  Some fishing pools yield far more of a catch than others. Pg.128

When we at North Coast Church began our small group ministry, we fell into a common trap.  We overtrained.  Pg.134

Despite the rhetoric, most small group programs and methods don't work very well.  They haven't for a long time.  There's a huge gap between what we claim they do and what they actually accomplish. Pg.140

One of the biggest mistakes leaders make when it comes to either launching or reengineering a small group ministry is a failure to carefully align both vision and methods. Pg.149

Sticky Church, Larry Osborne, c2008

Four Pages of the Sermon

Several months ago, I had the opportunity to refresh, renew & revive myself on the West Coast for several days. During that short span of time, I caught up on a little reading.  I was able to read through Thom amd Sam Rainer's "Essential Church", a book recommended to me by my brother, Kevin. It was a good read.  Incidentally, I have already begun to find relevant insights and applications in my own pastoral work; and hope to both share with our congregation and have our leaders read this enriching publication.

All along, I've been scamming through a book written by Paul Scott Wilson entitled, "The Four Pages of the Sermon". After reading books on morphology, lexicography, biblical languages and texts, I love reading books on sermonic preparation and delivery.  Biographies and autobiographical works are a distant second.  Among my favorite books on the methodology of expositional preaching, it's study and delivery are:

- Al Fasol's 'Steps to the Sermon'

- Stephen & David Olford's 'Anointed Expository Preaching''

- J.P. Gibb's 'The Preacher & His Preaching'

- 'Preaching in Black and White' (Bailey and Wiersbe)

That being said, I love the concept and creativity of Wilson's Four-Page concept.  While I understand the concept of brevity when one is trying to market a product, I am convinced that the four-page model would benefit the busy minister were it summarized in blog form.

Under Wilson's structure is a proverbial (or literal) manuscript with four distinct pages. On each page there is a different approach to the the sermon preparation and delivery. Each page is approximately 20-25% of the sermon, upon completion.

Page One: The Problem in the Text

The first page looks explicitly and exclusively at the biblical text. Here, we are to name the problem that gave rise to the text. We know this will inevitably require the study of the context, culture and customs, along with correlating historical facts surrounding the traditions of that day.  Apart of this includes situational ethics and the exploration of the themes, central thesis, thought and theology of the writer and that problem.  Explicitly, the goal here is to summarize the manifestation of sin in the Bible world. We make sure to look at the text in a literary, historical, and theological form, so that the hearer clearly understands and grasps the text from all those different angles and realities. While this task alone is mammoth and gargantuan, it greatly informs the congregation of the Biblical material as well as the background behind the material; and the integrity of the message being conveyed.

Page Two: The Problem in the World

Page two incorporates a move to the contemporary world into the here and now. This is the Word being made flesh, so to speak. Here the preacher looks at issues in the present world that are similar to the problems that gave rise to the text. This is an interesting move that guarantees some “relevance.”. In practical terms, Spurgeon was right...we are to proclaim with the Bible in one hand, and the newspaper in the other.  To be sure, the newspaper and periodicals are not our primary source; but they are a resource of the times, nonetheless.

Page Three: The Gospel in the Text

Page three is another look at the text. However, this time we look for good news in the text. Here we clearly identify what God is doing in the world of scripture. We clearly show how God redeems the Bible world in the text.  This is what makes the Gospel...good news, in the transition to page four.  As an example, we ask...what is the good news in Exodus 14, as the people face the challenge of crossing the Red Sea?  Or,,,what's the good news in Isaiah 6, during the moment Isaiah sees the Lord in His resplendent glory in the temple? There are historic implications when studying Isaiah's culture, context and the condition of his people after the death of King Uzziah.  It is good news in knowing God is seated in His place of dominion, sovereignty and reign.

Page Four: The Gospel in the World

This is where the text becomes relevant to the heads and hearts of the listeners.  For me, I like to speak to both the saved and unsaved? What hope is there to those of us who have been redeemed? Further, what hope is available to those who are here who've never encountered the reality of our resurrected Lord?  Using Isaiah 6 once again, the good news for us today is, for one, God is in control.  Another is that He will continue to reign, even when mortal kings and princes have failed.  This is even good news when we think of our election season.  For the unsaved.l.the good news is, He can reign in your life, as He is placed upon the throne in your heart!

Wilson does assert that the minister is at liberty in shifting order of pages.  But I happen to like his order.

All in all, I think it is an approach that is worth utilizing in one's sermon preparation.  Most ministers, as myself, have used this approach for years.  However, Wilson simply shows a clear method and description of this approach. This book is not for the beginning preacher, or is it for the three-point only preacher. This book is for someone who understands the narrative approach to preaching and wants to improve their mastery of this style. The book is a must read for practitioners of the narrative-inductive style of preaching. Before this book is read, one should read “Preaching” by Craddock and “Homiletical Plot” by Lowry.

God is Faithful

I am currently in the process of reading Ray Pritchard's 'The God you can Trust.' In it Pritchard seeks to unmask the theological query many of us tend to grapple with as it relates to the reliance and providence of the very things that devastate our heart and leave us looking for answers - what can we trust? More specifically, we are lead to explore Whom we trust!? When an expectant mother rushes to the ER and gives birth unexpectedly to a stillborn; when a healthy Christian seeking to devote her life to missions goes for her annual checkup only to be informed that cancer is riveting her physical anatomy and she can expect to live, at most, the next three months alive. Or...when a devoted husband of two is delivered divorce papers, and later told by his wife of 20 years that she has fallen in love with his best friend. Inevitably...we are called to examine the extreme elements of our trust.

Of course, Pritchard's theme and thesis points to conclude the inevitable reality that the answer to life's queries are in God and God alone. I am convinced that God, in and through His Word, is teaching me the importance of ministering efficiently and effectively to beleivers who are struggling to 'hold on to their faith in the midst of confusing circumstances, unexplainable tragedy, and their own foolish mistakes'. Charles Haddon Spurgeon is noted to have said in his lecture series to his students that our preaching should strive to minister to those that are hurting. He says that if they minister to them that hurt they will always have captive audience.

Obviously the same is true today! People are hurting. People are struggling. And unfortunately, many false leaders have gone to the extreme and have begun to incorrectly minister to the struggling masses by feeding them placebo (candy) and spiritual lolipops that will only appease them temporarily and superficially. This concerns me; but it also strengthens my faith, in knowing that God's Word is faithful and true. We are seeing a true manifestation of a generation that 'will not endure sound doctrine' and those who have 'itching ears'.

My prayer for those who are my comrades in faith and ministry is that they (you), whether leading 50 or 5000, will remain faithful to the One Who remains so faithful to us. I concur with Pritchard, He is a God we can verily and surely trust!