Inquiry in Preaching

Bishop Daniel Wilson wrote, “It is the mark of our true and holy religion that it courts inquiry and denies no species of fair investigation.” Spiritual formation through preaching to postmoderns will need to engage congregation through inquiring questions. Someone once pointed out that Jesus asked questions and told stories, while many in churches today gives answers and tells lectures. The mantra of 60s western rebels was to “question all authority.” They are now the grandparents of the emergent Church generation. It is simply a part of the fabric of life and faith that one challenges all authority and questions every proposition. On average, this generation is also highly educated and well informed of local and global events, and trends and ideas.

Therefore, preaching to postmoderns can never simply be dogmatic assertions of propositional statements about biblical content or a preacher’s pet topics. Rather, the postmodern Christian preacher must engage people with his own real questions, and listen to and incorporate his audience’s own questions into any interaction with Christian texts and ideas. One must encourage the kind of habit the Bereans were commended for in Acts, as they “examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true” (Acts 17:11b NIV). The preacher must be the humble representative of God’s Word who invites the community into a relevant dialogue, asking questions about what God says and wants, and representing the quandaries of his people.

It is a part of the very essence of the record of God’s Word that it holds up to fierce inquiry. The Bible record gives names, dates, and locations for its “salvation history” events. Christianity is not a faith based on people’s personal experiences or opinions, but the record of a communicative God who has revealed his character and will through real events. These events are attested to as historical facts. This is not human fantasy, but divine revelation, and he expects his people to know, love, and serve him correctly.

Of course, there are essential doctrines of the faith that must be believed for one to be a Christian “believer.” There is specific content to the Christian faith. But one’s understanding of these essential beliefs, as well as one’s ongoing reception of God’s continuing revelation through his written Word, must be personally appropriated. Faith is not a matter of people blindly agreeing to rote information. Our questioning, searching, doubting, and inquiring are all vital to the authentic Christian life and faith development, especially in this postmodern context.

            

At our church, we attempt to encourage inquiry through many avenues. Sermons often begin with a query. The congregation is invited to dialogue about a question related to the theme of that week’s pericope. Also, people are invited to meet the preacher after the service at our own café, for questions, arguments, or concerns about the message. Small groups are encouraged, to allow for diversity in opinions or practices. Our website provides space for people to share their questions and ideas. Doug Pagitt invites his congregation to participate in a sermon development discussion on Tuesday nights, and then even encourages what he calls “progressional dialogue” wherein anyone can interject a comment, question or challenge as a vital part of the Sunday sermon.

We are interested in everyone’s opinion on anything. However, the question that must guide all discussions is always: What does God say about it? The dictum, “In essentials unity; in nonessentials disunity and charity over all” is a good one. Certainly there is disagreement about what is “essential.” But we agree that the essentials are revealed in God’s Word, and it is there that we must debate, question, study, and examine to see if what anyone teaches or believes is true.

Relevance in Preaching (Part 3)

While teaching a youth Sunday school class, one leader wanted to ask the youth to suggest which topics they wanted to cover during the school year. I suggested that we ought to simply read through the Gospel of Mark, letting these topics surface out of the text. This was attempted and all were surprised that all the subjects were covered, but in context of God’s greater story, rather than using the Scriptures as proof text for our topical list. This is what Dick Lucas and John Stott and the other founders of “Proclamation Trust” urge preachers to do. We ought to faithfully and relevantly teach God’s message in the Bible texts. Once, at a Dick Lucas preaching seminar, an Anglican priest exclaimed, “But that makes it so easy! I don’t have to come up with snazzy new topics to preach on all the time! I can just teach the text!”

            

Jason Van Bemmel asks, "So, who wants to be relevant? Well, I do. I want to speak the truth of God in a way that my generation will understand. But I don’t think we’ll do that by capturing the White House or the music charts. I think we’ll only do that by loving one another and the world around us radically and sacrificially – just like Jesus."

Finally, to be real and relevant in this generation is to be relational. Faith Worship Center in Greensville, SC uses this statement on their website: “real, relevant, relational…that’s faith!” Someone once said, “This generation doesn’t care if it’s true. They want to know if it’s real.” To be real means it works relationally, in everyday, lived-out relationships. The postmodern preacher must be a relational communicator, building community. And, speaking humbly, he must also proclaim the relational message of the Scriptures.