Community in Preaching (Part 3)

Entertainment is an addiction for contemporary culture; many churches compromise their integrity to keep their people amused. Some churches are like Broadway, while others are more like Barnum and Bailey. With ever more elaborate and expensive technology and techniques, Western churches attempt to compete with the dazzle of popular, celebrity entertainment. Jacque Ellul has pointed out that "technology is like a Trojan horse in the city of God".

Whether it is a show or a circus, it is not a community. The shift to postmodernism has shown us that the real work of Christian pastoring is to be a real, known person who leads a real, known community in life and faith. The weekly gathering of representatives of the real, known community combats the “cult of celebrity.” It anchors the journey of faith to reality. An authentic, postmodern pastor is able to publicly say to his community, “Cut me some slack,” because he is a member of the community, not an expert or a celebrity. The ministry of a pastor is not a performance, but a sharing in the journey of life and faith. His task is to help create Christ-centered community.

           
Another modernist cult that a communal approach to listening to the Word of God combats is the “cult of individualism.” Individualism and all its consequences are in direct opposition to the interest of God’s Holy Spirit in building the united body of Christ. The rugged, self-reliant individual of American lore and the polite, private individual of Canadian society are modernist enemies to the Christ-centered community. The postmodern preacher must model the kind of relationally interdependent, life-on-life communal enmeshment that will help the Word of God be attended to in this new era.

           
The actual public presentation of the Bible teaching must also model the communal aspect of authentic postmodern Christianity. The message cannot be a lecture. There can be no invisible wall between the speaker and the congregation. It must be a conversation. Sometimes there must literally be interaction between speaker and listener. It must me done in a natural, friendly, relational way.

           
At our church, we may begin with a question related to the theme of the passage of Scripture we are listening to that week. The question gets the congregation interacting relationally. The speaker may then engage in answering the question himself. This bridges the preacher into the dialogue. Likewise, throughout the message there may be interaction through questions, invitations to reflect on a subject, the sharing of a humorous anecdote, an interview with someone, or even just a conversational tone.

The tone of the message it set by the attitude of the speaker. If one believes that this is a lecture or performance, one will project that kind of formal, divisive atmosphere. If one assumes that these are a group of friends who have gathered to listen to the Word of God together, one will project a casual atmosphere of friendly, warm, mutual respect and familiarity that invites others into the faith community on a journey in communal conversation. For preaching to be both authentically Christian and authentically postmodern, it will need to cultivate that kind of a sense of community.

Community in Preaching (Part 2)

At our church, we have a team of bible teachers, rather than just one main preacher. This team must work together to present unified teaching. At the same time, there is an inherent diversity in the group. Diversity is highly valued among postmoderns. The team model can communicate and demonstrate the unity and diversity of the Christian body. During the week, the congregation is encouraged to study and reflect on the passage, in small groups or individually. This is a communal approach to the whole process of listening to God’s Word, from the early stages of exegesis to the delivery of a Sunday sermon.

One of the things this approach to communal exegesis does is combat certain modernist cults. The contemporary Christian leader battles several modernist cults. There is the “cult of the expert.” If someone has written a book or is on television, wears a lab coat, or is even merely from out-of-town, he is considered an expert. With the rejection of modernist rationalism, postmoderns have not rejected the modernist awe of experts, but have merely adopted a pattern of believing their own choice of experts, habitually failing to examine their claims for falsehoods. With the community gathering around the texts of Scripture together, the group can challenge preconceived or misplaced trust in the teaching of experts, which on careful examination of actual texts may prove to be erroneous.

Another modernist cult is the “cult of celebrity.” The local pastor can never compete with the popular entertainment icons or the Christian celebrities who dominate the public media and private imagination. Like in the “cult of the expert,” people will simply give attention and allegiance to celebrities. Every public servant is compared to the most popular celebrity. The preacher is compared to Chuck Swindoll. The worship band is compared to U2. But the real hero ought to be the local guy who works hard, every week, to serve his congregation by helping them pay attention to real texts and real lives. It is easy to entertain, especially from a distance or in short bursts. 

Community in Preaching (Part 1)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “In Christian a community, everything depends on whether each individual is an indispensable link in a chain.” For Spiritual formation through preaching to be both authentically Christian and authentically postmodern, it will need to involve the whole community in its expression, from the early stages of exegesis to its final public, verbal presentation. It cannot be a solo act by a professional expert who closets himself away with books until the moment he ascends the pulpit platform. The postmodern preacher must engage his community. He must exegete his community. He must truly know, love, and serve his community by inviting them along on a journey of listening to the revealed Word of God together.

There are many ways to involve one’s community in the early stages of exegesis. At our church, this is attempted by inviting the community to join in on a weekly meeting around the identified text for that week. This is a planning meeting for the upcoming Sunday service. Usually present are the preacher, the music worship leader, the administrator, a visual artist, the prayer leader, and any other interested members. This often includes ministry leaders such as youth leaders, children’s workers, small-group leaders, and church elders.

            

The preacher comes with his homework done. The hard work of textual exegesis has been done on his own. He has examined the text in all its contexts (original language, culture, history, genre, text, and theme). He has consulted commentaries. He brings all of his homework to the group and they wrestle with the text together. Often the music worship leader has also done some homework, and examined the themes of the text for responsive engagement with the Word in song. The prayer leader or visual artist may also have been engaging the text during the week, and have each brought their own interpretations.

            

The group, representing the larger community, listens to the text together and asks, “What does this mean? What did it mean to the original hearers, and what does that mean for us?” There may be disagreements. There will be different points of view. What surfaces is a rich tapestry of living believers listening to God’s Word together. Their combined insights inform the continued development of what will take place at the Sunday service. There is seriousness to the actual exegesis of the text. The group does not equally weigh careful exegesis with personal opinion. This group is not about pooling ignorance. However, the preacher is not the only one listening to the text and preparing his message in private. The group helps each another engage the Word and discern its message.