Just BE Good News???

'Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words.' This quote is mistakenly attributed to Augustine of Hippo, but considering the value that Augustine put on preaching, he never would have said such a thing.

The sentiment is nice. Preaching goes beyond words, just like 'love' is more than a word but includes action. So does preaching. James tells us not only to be a hearer of the Word but also a doer; the same goes for preaching. Don't just speak it, but follow it up with your lifestyle.
Unfortunately, however, the intentional art of preaching has taken backseat to simply 'being Good News'. People feel awkward telling people about Jesus (or even just saying his name) so they figure 'I'll just show Jesus instead of talking about Him'. That's dangerous for evangelism, because as Paul asks in Romans 10:14 'How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?'

A few years ago, as a youth pastor I started an annual festival called 'Explosion', which focused on acts of service in our community. We wanted to BE Good News, rather than just talking about it. But I found that we were using BEing the Gospel as an excuse for not actually SPEAKing the Gospel. The theme that first year was, in fact, 'Be Good News' but the following year we made the theme 'Show AND Tell'. We can not merely BE Good News, we must also open our mouths.

That mentality has also made it's way into how we approach preaching. We no longer preach Christ and the Gospel, but rather 'how to become a better person', self-help, shining your light brighter type of motivational talks. Talking about a Saviour inevitably opens the door for people to ask 'why do I need to be saved?' which may lead to awkward conversations or confessions. Better to stay away from that, and instead of stating what God is against (sin) let's focus on what He is for.

The only problem with that, is the Bible. Scripture teaches at least as much about sin as love and justice. We now have 'committed Christians' who don't see Jesus as their Lord OR Saviour, but just as a perfect example of what it means to share the Gospel through the way He lived His life.

The idea isn't to get back up on our soap boxes preaching 'turn-of-burn' messages, but to preach the Gospel of Jesus. To open our mouths corporately and privately. To share Him both in word AND deed. And to equip our hearers to do the same. That's what it means to preach the Gospel to all creation (Mark 16:15).

The Missing Piece is Jesus

I posted a quote from Ed Stetzer's interview with Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola (found here) on my facebook.  The quote reads, "We've reduced pastors to social workers, preachers to motivational speakers, & evangelism to marketing."  I got a response within minutes from somebody close to me, saying that's exactly what they are - pastors ARE social workers, preachers ARE motivational speakers, and evangelists ARE marketers.  This was my response to that:

"...as lofty and even necessary as these positions are in our society, the missing piece is Jesus. When a pastor neglects the ministry of Jesus, he no longer IS a pastor but a social worker. When a preacher doesn't preach the Gospel of Jesus, he no longer preaches but gives motivational talks. When an evangelist overlooks Jesus, he is simply manipulating people emotionally through well placed marketing strategy.
Not that those positions aren't valuable. For example, I enjoy giving/hearing a good motivational speech. But if/when I preach, I need to know the difference."

The missing piece IS Jesus.  In so much of our preaching, Jesus is missing.  I was sitting in on a 'worship service' at a large, well-known Canadian church a few months ago, and the preacher had us looking at David and Goliath.  He took us through the story, picked up a few key themes, extrapolated on how brave and courageous David was, and convinced us that we should do the same.  Not one mention of how Jesus is the greater David, who defeated not only the giant of Death but all of his friends as well, and because of that victory we can charge ahead like the Israelites did after the Philistines, as unafraid conquerors.

Many pastors that I know, and especially those involved in youth or young adult ministry, don't like the term 'preaching'.  They'd much rather have a 'sharing time' or a discussion or 'give a talk'. Jesus isn't mentioned - most of the time its moral goodism or sin management, and so these men who may say they're called to preach have now become motivational speakers, or worse, religious statesmen.  Preaching the Gospel has become a lost art.  This blog will strive to redress that wrong and to put preaching Jesus back in its proper place in Church and society.