Gospel, Communicating It
Online Conversation
As God has been dealing with me more and more in these last months, I am getting more comments from worshipers about how my preaching has changed. The issue, I think, ultimately, is not better organized sermons, or more touching illustrations, but the change in me... I believe this may be back to an issue we talked about some time ago--transformation first begins in us as leaders or it does not happen. The speed of the leaders determines the pace of the pack.
Responses:
Excellent post! This is the point. And it is also all the more reason to we begin to look at transformational communication not as the role of the "preacher" but actually as the role of a team of people. The lead communicator is only one member of a team. Also the communicator must learn that there are many more things that affect "the message." For instance to be a transformational communicator we must take balance seriously in regard to our schedule and Sabbath days of rest. Too many "preachers" project the harried, tired, over worked parson at the pulpit.
The transformational communicator is one who in the process of understanding
(1) that our overworked or overwhelmed life/work styles are a distraction to transformational communication; that the power and preparation of communication require a balanced life-style that also includes rest.
(2) that our passionate relationship with Jesus just cannot be neglected if we want to be more than just "good" orators -- way too many of my friends who serve in the pastoral role neglect this aspect of their lives. They've become professional Christians and many neglect real personal time with Jesus.
(3) that our passionate relationship with people (believing seekers & yet to believe seekers) cannot be neglected either
I'm with you. Question then: how can vision and passion in messages and message preparation be developed. How do you do it? As kind of New Years resolution I believe God wants me to grow here somehow and I know not were He leads yet I open up my heart and ears to Him and to the list. I know I must first be moved by the text or the message before I deliver it.
Response:
thanx Max for waxing so wisely on this one. Especially: it turns out that this leader had an experience a couple of months ago in which for the first time in her life she experienced the power and presence of God in her life in real and tangible ways. It blew her mind. It also scared her to death. Questions emerged. Why me? What does God want from me now? How could I be worthy? Can I ever live up to what God wants me to be? What if God calls for sacrifices that I am not prepared to make? These questions, instead of energizing her, served to petrify her and she began to avoid anything that might cause her to "encounter" God.
You used the perfect word: "petrify." When people experience the power and presence of Jesus in ways that portend sacrifice...life change...threat to a whole life long of living as not-a-disciple...they can have a Peter experience and get "Petrified." "No...not this Lord!" "No, damn it, I told you twice already, I don't know Jesus. He's not m-y friend. I'm outta here." So we try to do what Max did...and what the young man in the tomb did. We say, "Don't be alarmed. You're experiencing these feelings because you're looking for Jesus. He's going on ahead of you. You will see him. Hang in there." Probably, petrified people will need to keep trembling for a while, be confused, and they may say nothing to anyone for a long time, because they're afraid. Jesus didn't discard them, though. I think one key from scripture is to stand with the petrified person and assist them to do nothing more than to say, "Jesus is Lord"--over and over and over again. That's the rock on which Jesus builds his body.
I think it comes partially from calling. I also think it comes from the ability to look way beyond the institutional box that so much "pastoral" communication seems to be confined to. Many churches resist the communicator role of "pastors." The communication role of a chaplain is a very different thing than the communication role of a transforming community leader. In our situation creativity is anticipated by our community. I have total freedom, based on our culture as a church and on my particular style which is very conversational.
I think the communicator must have a deep relationship with the truth as well. This isn't righteousness" or "holiness." It's simply a relationship that humbly wrestles with who God is and what he has revealed to humanity. Frankly, I think many may have information in their head, but I'm not so sure that there is any actualized relationship with the truth as idea and as Person. I think this idea is quite foreign to most pastoral leaders.
As far as preparation goes. For us it is a team effort. Four to five of us brainstorm and discuss the entire message which is comprised of every element within service itself. We see the message as a whole, not just part of the service. In fact everything that is done from the way the room smells and feels, to the way people are welcomed and served is part of the message. This also gives me a multitude of ideas about what to communicate and verses and passages to anchor the message with, etc.
I think that's just it. You sense that you must be moved by the text. That sounds like you're willing to have a relationship with it. To wrestle with it. To not feel that you have to have it all figured out. I am clearly within an evangelical perspective on the authority of Scripture, but people also see me wrestle with it, love it and relate with in in my conversational teaching.
Thanks for the discussion. You mentioned that people have noticed that your messages have taken on a different character. What changes in your life/ perspective/ paradigms do you think have contributed to that?
Further post:
The question is how can each of us as communicators promote authentic transformation. I think it's a visionary, paradigm and passion issue more that just a mere technique issue. Perhaps I'm the only one.
I've been reading this thread with interest. I have been thinking for some time now that the potential in the Church is here for a renaissance in communication. History surely proves the power of communication for good (and for evil).
I am a writer, media designer, and artist, but have almost zero skills (or desire) at public speaking. I would never think of myself as a preacher, but definitely a Christian communicator. I love your idea of communication teams, yet this is almost never done in a typical church environment.
Questions...
- Why is this? What are the barriers to the formation of team-communicators?
- How central to the problem is the clergy/laity distinction?
- Do you think that there is a hunger in many Christians to be able to express themselves in meaningful ways (conversation or communication/arts) from the core of their values? What hinders them? Self-image, traditional thinking, wrong paradigm? How could a renaissance in every-member communication be led?
Also, with regard to your comments on the scope of communication... In my work with children and youth I've tried to keep in mind a certain hierarchy of effectiveness, for example...
- Child hears. (sermon, lecture)
- Child sees. (visual)
- Child is engaged fully. (story, music, drama, multimedia, etc.)
- Child does. (personal experience)
- Child communicates. (out of what they have experienced)
It seems to me that the goal of ministry should not be to gather as many people as possible each week to experience level-one communication from a single leader, but for the world to experience level-five communication from every member. That certainly would lead to fulfilling the great commission in grand way.
What do you think?
It does not tend to fit the institutional/modern paradigm, which 95+% of churches have been started and established in. It also doesn't fit the "clergy" paradigm in the institutional/modern model where all things are clergy dependent and centered. The clergy centered paradigm is a job security thing. Why does a church qqqneedqqq a clergy for hospital visitation, or to do funerals, or weddings or to teach? they really don't.
The church needs ordained leaders who are disciple-making disciples who help people discover, learn and actualize their giftedness. But it doesn't really qqqneedqqq clergy at least the way typically churches sense their need.
Has anyone ever wondered why churches seem to be required to borrow or pay a "clergy" just to "fill the pulpit" for one rare Sunday when their pastor is sick or out of town. Isn't there anyone else in an entire church that can teach? Isn't there anyone else who can visit? Isn't there anyone else who can care and serve in a pastoral function? Every established church has people who've been Christians for decades and yet they "think" they are helpless if the pastor is not "on duty." This is absurd and shows the blatant failure of the institutional/modern church to function as the BODY of Christ. Sorry my passion is stirring.....
2. How central to the problem is the clergy/laity distinction?
You've hit the nail on the head. Clergy have been removed from "the body" for training and from the body in terms of identity. The members are "the laity." We are "the professional clergy." In my former denomination it amazed me at the quiet but real distain that clergy had for laity at conference meetings. "The laity really didn't know what was going on......" I would hear clergy say in a variety of ways. "They weren't really trained as are we"...yet whose fault is this? The distinction has contributed to the impotence of the local church. I work hard to avoid titles (even though I'm 'ordained' and have an earned doctorate). When people ask me how I want to be introduced I simply say, "as Kurt." When people probe more I simply as that I'm one of the team leaders in the church who teaches and who fulfills the pastoral role. How do you get paid Kurt? I'm a full-time community builder at Pinnacle... Believe me it opens a lot of doors through which people are interested in our paradigm.
3. Do you think that there is a hunger in many Christians to be able to express themselves in meaningful ways (conversation or communication/arts) from the core of their values? What hinders them? Self-image, traditional thinking, wrong paradigm? How could a renaissance in every-member communication be led?
The hunger is there, but too often it is hidden because people think, "Oh, I can't do that because I'm not ordained." or "I can't do that because we don't do drama, or our church doesn't do drums, or doesn't actively support the arts."
The hindrance is the paradigm and attitudes. That's the reason church planting is so vital. As much as I rant here about the institutional/modern church paradigm that was primarily the only paradigm anyone knew of 20 plus years ago. We shouldn't be surprised when older churches (or clergy for that matter) don't understand. The paradigm we use at Pinnacle has always been part of me. Until we started Pinnacle I was just sort of a fisherman wanting to fish, wondering why my denominational friends didn't want to go find water with fish in it. Fishing is NOT part of the institutional/modern paradigm. Most didn't even know what a fish looked like, and probably wouldn't be all that comfortable if a fish jumped in the boat. They tend to flop around and smell. This can upset a predictable, clean private party boat for which the institution/modern church prides itself. I'm not trying to be mean, most churches are fairly private closed organizations.