One of my favorite little books is Strunk and White's The Elements of Style. Someone recommended it to me my first year in seminary, and it has been a close companion ever since. With brevity and clarity it attempts to teach writers how to write. (Preachers would do well to heed its instructions as well. One of my favorite rules is #13: "Omit needless words.")
Some time ago (and much less formally) I began to keep a list I call "The Elements of Pastoring." If I were to think seriously about the issue, my list would be more comprehensive, but here is what I have so far:
1. Remember "The Peter Principle." ("In any hierarchical organization people rise to the level of their incompetence.")
2. Don't be careless with public worship, weddings, funerals, etc.
3. Enjoy the journey not just the destination. (A particularly difficult one for me!)
4. Be a person of grace.
5. Have something clear to say in your sermon, and say it simply and well.
6. Find your own voice as a pastor and trust it. (Stop trying to imitate the latest fads.)
What would you add to these?
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Saturday, October 15, 2005
On leading worship
It's Saturday night, and I have just finished going through my sermon. And I can't wait for tomorrow!
I love to lead my people in worship! I know some pastors are so consumed with the details of the service that they are not really able to worship (and I understand how that can be -- and sometimes I do get distracted by my role). But, for the most part, I truly worship with my people and I love it!
Of course, part of that worship experience is to bring them a word from God. And, fresh as I am from encountering that Word myself, I can't wait to pass it along to my folks. I am most effective in my preaching not when I focus on some "sinful" member of my congregation and try to figure out how to convince her to repent, but when I focus on my needy self and explore the text for the word of grace that I need!
I suppose that when Sundays become a burden to me rather than a joy, I'll take that as some sort of sign from God that it's time to move on to a new ministry. Until then I'll look forward to Sundays like a child looks forward to Christmas!
I love to lead my people in worship! I know some pastors are so consumed with the details of the service that they are not really able to worship (and I understand how that can be -- and sometimes I do get distracted by my role). But, for the most part, I truly worship with my people and I love it!
Of course, part of that worship experience is to bring them a word from God. And, fresh as I am from encountering that Word myself, I can't wait to pass it along to my folks. I am most effective in my preaching not when I focus on some "sinful" member of my congregation and try to figure out how to convince her to repent, but when I focus on my needy self and explore the text for the word of grace that I need!
I suppose that when Sundays become a burden to me rather than a joy, I'll take that as some sort of sign from God that it's time to move on to a new ministry. Until then I'll look forward to Sundays like a child looks forward to Christmas!
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
On church size
I know that the focus of these discussions is on the length of the pastorate, but I want to say a word about the size of one's church.
I enjoy pastoring a smaller congregation. It's certainly not as small as when I came, but we have just over 200 members. Gone are the days of my youth when I envied those in large churches! Large churches -- for all their many benefits -- bring large problems! (Not that small churches don't have their share of large problems, just fewer of them, I suspect!)
I was reminded of this last night as I was driving home after visiting one of our families who are caring for a dying father and husband. "John" has been in ill health for some time and under hospice care at home for about a month. Most recently as he has declined significantly I have been able to see him and his family at least once a day and often two or even three times through the day. I can do that because I don't have 2,000 members to look after. Granted, if I did have that many I would also have additional staff to assist me, but I enjoy the face-to-face contact I am able to have with my sheep. The thought of passing that off to my Pastor of Visitation doesn't excite me!
I used to think that pastors of smaller churches were somehow inferior to those of larger churches. I now understand that we each have our unique gifts and places. Indeed, I suspect that many pastors of large churches would be as incapable of pastoring my church (and miserable being here) as I would be in their congregations.
Wanting what you have is so much more important than having what you want (or think) you want!
I enjoy pastoring a smaller congregation. It's certainly not as small as when I came, but we have just over 200 members. Gone are the days of my youth when I envied those in large churches! Large churches -- for all their many benefits -- bring large problems! (Not that small churches don't have their share of large problems, just fewer of them, I suspect!)
I was reminded of this last night as I was driving home after visiting one of our families who are caring for a dying father and husband. "John" has been in ill health for some time and under hospice care at home for about a month. Most recently as he has declined significantly I have been able to see him and his family at least once a day and often two or even three times through the day. I can do that because I don't have 2,000 members to look after. Granted, if I did have that many I would also have additional staff to assist me, but I enjoy the face-to-face contact I am able to have with my sheep. The thought of passing that off to my Pastor of Visitation doesn't excite me!
I used to think that pastors of smaller churches were somehow inferior to those of larger churches. I now understand that we each have our unique gifts and places. Indeed, I suspect that many pastors of large churches would be as incapable of pastoring my church (and miserable being here) as I would be in their congregations.
Wanting what you have is so much more important than having what you want (or think) you want!
Sunday, October 02, 2005
On Coasting
The greatest danger I face in the ministry is thinking I've got it all (or even most of it) figured out! The truth is that ministry (like any other job) involves a lot of routines -- agendas, meetings, getting the bulletin figured out, returning phone calls, etc. But as soon as I allow it to become simply a job, simply routine, I'm in trouble!
The worst possible thing I can do is coast. And yet that's the easiest mode to fall into, because I've been doing this for so long. I've come to understand how the TV evangelists could fall into the traps that some of them have, because after a while, you begin to think that you're pretty good at what you do -- and you forget that ministry, at its heart, is what HE does through you. I can put on a "show" for a while, but pretty soon if I am just coasting in my own abilities, my humanity surfaces and I am driven back to grace!
For me, my daily exposure to the Word -- as I prepare for next Sunday's message -- keeps me humble and dependent. As I hear God speaking to Israel (or whomever), I hear Him challenging me not to coast but to rest completely on Him.
The worst possible thing I can do is coast. And yet that's the easiest mode to fall into, because I've been doing this for so long. I've come to understand how the TV evangelists could fall into the traps that some of them have, because after a while, you begin to think that you're pretty good at what you do -- and you forget that ministry, at its heart, is what HE does through you. I can put on a "show" for a while, but pretty soon if I am just coasting in my own abilities, my humanity surfaces and I am driven back to grace!
For me, my daily exposure to the Word -- as I prepare for next Sunday's message -- keeps me humble and dependent. As I hear God speaking to Israel (or whomever), I hear Him challenging me not to coast but to rest completely on Him.
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Some thoughts about sermons
It's Saturday morning, and I am sitting in my office, having finished tomorrow's sermon. I'll be back tonight to go through it a couple of times, and back early tomorrow morning to review it again (out loud) a few more times. Hearing my words is important -- what looks good on paper often sounds awkward or unnatural to the ear.
I've quit apologizing for not getting my sermons done by Thursday! First, I've been thinking, studying, and ruminating about it all week, so I knew coming here this morning essentially what I was going to say. (In fact, I fell asleep last night thinking about how I would organize the sermon.) Second, it's fresh for tomorrow. I don't have to "re-learn" a sermon that I completed days ago. Finally, I'm just a deadline guy -- it's the way I've operated for my whole life, and I'm not about to change now. At semester's beginning in college and seminary I always thought what a good idea it would be to get that term paper out of the way in the first few weeks. But, inevitably, the last week of the semester found me rummaging through the library stacks with my 3 x 5 cards, working on my papers!
My goal in creating a sermon is quite simple --— to give my people a word from God. That means I need to "listen to the text" and organize my sermon around it rather than organizing the text to fit my ideas. Clearly, my personality and prejudices color what I say, and I will focus on issues that another pastor might not, but I work very hard to keep the TEXT in capital letters and my grid in the lower case.
As John Stott says, "We come to our reading of the Bible with our own agenda, bias, questions, preoccupations, concerns and convictions, and, unless we are extremely careful, we impose these on the biblical text. We may sincerely pray before we read, 'Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law' (Ps. 119:18), but still the same non-communication may persist. For even that introductory prayer, though to be sure it is taken from the Psalter, is suspect because it lays down the kind of message we want to hear. 'Please, Lord, I want to see some "wonderful thing" in your word.' But he may reply, 'What makes you think I have only "wonderful things" to show you? As a matter of fact, I have some rather "disturbing things" to show you today. Are you prepared to receive them?' 'Oh no, Lord, please not', we stammer in reply. 'I come to Scripture only to be comforted; I really do not want to be challenged or disturbed.'" [The Contemporary Christian (Downers Grove: IVP, 1992), p. 190.]
For me the most important ingredients of good preaching are humility, simplicity, and integrity. My life needs to be congruent with the text. I don't need to be perfect, but I do need to preach to myself before I can preach to my people.
I've quit apologizing for not getting my sermons done by Thursday! First, I've been thinking, studying, and ruminating about it all week, so I knew coming here this morning essentially what I was going to say. (In fact, I fell asleep last night thinking about how I would organize the sermon.) Second, it's fresh for tomorrow. I don't have to "re-learn" a sermon that I completed days ago. Finally, I'm just a deadline guy -- it's the way I've operated for my whole life, and I'm not about to change now. At semester's beginning in college and seminary I always thought what a good idea it would be to get that term paper out of the way in the first few weeks. But, inevitably, the last week of the semester found me rummaging through the library stacks with my 3 x 5 cards, working on my papers!
My goal in creating a sermon is quite simple --— to give my people a word from God. That means I need to "listen to the text" and organize my sermon around it rather than organizing the text to fit my ideas. Clearly, my personality and prejudices color what I say, and I will focus on issues that another pastor might not, but I work very hard to keep the TEXT in capital letters and my grid in the lower case.
As John Stott says, "We come to our reading of the Bible with our own agenda, bias, questions, preoccupations, concerns and convictions, and, unless we are extremely careful, we impose these on the biblical text. We may sincerely pray before we read, 'Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law' (Ps. 119:18), but still the same non-communication may persist. For even that introductory prayer, though to be sure it is taken from the Psalter, is suspect because it lays down the kind of message we want to hear. 'Please, Lord, I want to see some "wonderful thing" in your word.' But he may reply, 'What makes you think I have only "wonderful things" to show you? As a matter of fact, I have some rather "disturbing things" to show you today. Are you prepared to receive them?' 'Oh no, Lord, please not', we stammer in reply. 'I come to Scripture only to be comforted; I really do not want to be challenged or disturbed.'" [The Contemporary Christian (Downers Grove: IVP, 1992), p. 190.]
For me the most important ingredients of good preaching are humility, simplicity, and integrity. My life needs to be congruent with the text. I don't need to be perfect, but I do need to preach to myself before I can preach to my people.
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