Glenn Martinez
CM102 Invitation to Biblical Preaching I
Reflection
Prof. Edwards begins this course with an exhaustive list of reasons for preaching biblically. In addition to theological, pragmatic and personal reasons, Prof. Edwards points to a list of historical reasons. He says: “the fact is that every significant work of God has been accompanied by a renewed emphasis on preaching … if you want to see God’s hand in your country, in your community, in your church – well, if that happens, it will always be done in conjunction with strong biblical teaching. It doesn’t happen apart from that. It never has” (segment 9). Prof. Edwards goes on to give a plethora of examples of how God has worked through the preaching of the Word to strengthen and build up his church. I think this has important implications for today’s church.
Church revitalization is a major concern in mainline and evangelical denominations today. Church revitalization plans often focus on renewal of worship style, rearranging of worship services, and expansion and re-orientation of church ministries. The underlying idea is that the church needs a way to ensure that the children of the aging faithful members remain or return to the church. I recall a church in my neighborhood that billed itself as the “home of the 60 minute service.” In this case, the attempt to make church appealing to its surrounding culture seemed to cut directly into the one thing that can actually make the church effective – preaching. The church’s website asked: “so you want to go to church, but you don’t want to have to spend countless minutes listening to a boring preacher saying the same old thing?” The 60-minute service was the solution to this problem. The church proudly announced that its pastor’s sermons were no longer than 19 minutes. “We know how busy you are.” “A church to fit your busy lifestyle.” These were key phrases that highlighted the value and appeal of the 60-minute service. The church eventually shuttered. I think the curtailing of the
preaching of the Word was a critical factor in the failure of this particular
marketing tactic.
So, I want to briefly consider the converse. What would this church’s marketing strategy have looked like had the idea that the church’s vitality was intimately connected to biblical preaching been emphasized? Perhaps the notion of a 60-minute service is an appealing notion in today’s society, but what was lacking in the church’s strategy, I think, was a focus on the value of those 60 minutes. How, for example, was the 19 minutes of preaching achieving its intended purpose? This was the fatal flaw in the strategy. I think the church may have been able to survive had it emphasized the life-changing nature of those 19 minutes. And to do so, it would need to make an appeal to the necessity and power of Biblical preaching. Rather than proposing a tag line like “the home of the 60 minute service”, I think the church could have benefited from a tag line like: “the most important 19 minutes of your life” or “change your life in 19 minutes.”
In sum, I think church revitalization needs to be grounded fundamentally in the renewal of the preaching ministry. As Prof. Edwards says: “We have the same Word of God that they did. If we unleash its power, which will not return void, who knows what might happen?” (segment 9). Isaiah 55:11 says: “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” I firmly believe that God has a person to fill every square inch of each pew in every church in America. The question is: How do we effectively unleash the power of his Word to fill them?