The first of the three areas that my local church needs to work on is
expository preaching. While this is the first and the most important, I
would start by saying that the church gets it right the vast majority of the
time. However, recently there has been a trend of what I would “call
appealing to the masses” in some of the sermons. I do not feel that this is
intentional. To address the current tension of the racial divide in America
and the issues centering around it, the sermons seemed to get off track.
The Word became less and less a part of the issue and seemed to focus
more on how the racial makeup of our specific church is diverse and does
not play to racial stereotypes. While that is to be commended in some
respect, there seemed to be a shift from the Word to a conversational
approach to the services for an entire series. As Mark Dever writes, “the
congregation’s commitment to the centrality of the Word coming from the
front, from the preacher, the one specially gifted by God and called to that
ministry, is the most important thing you can look for in a church.”1
My hope is this is simply a series that is a little off target and not a signal
of things to come. The church could easily rectify the situation. By
returning to the Word as the primary focus through expository preaching,
this trend could simply be a bump in the road on the way to fulfilling the
great commission.
+++++++++++ The second area the church could work on to improve would be its
concern for discipleship and growth. The church is by far the largest in the
area. It utilizes biblical database software, tracks metrics, and analyzes
the data to make informed decisions about leading the church. It is a
wealthy church. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of those
things when the balance is correct. However, there seems to be a
tendency to focus on the numbers over discipleship and growth. By
growth, I do not mean numerical growth but rather spiritual growth. The
church has excellent facilities, pristine bathrooms, and terrific child care.
It has a systematic method for attracting newcomers. It is a very
attractive church, and numerically it is a success. However, sometimes I
feel it may be tilting towards a secular version of success through
numbers and less on the congregation’s spiritual growth. At times,
decisions seem to be all about the number. As Dever writes, “the New
Testament idea of growth involves not just more people, but people who
are growing up, maturing, and deepening in the faith.”2
+++++++++++ The church could resolve this by emphasizing not so much on
getting people into the door, but on the content from the pulpit being
aimed at deepening the faith post-conversion instead of aiming the
majority of the content almost solely towards beginning Christians. This
can be a slippery slope, as the balance between appealing to the lost and
feeding the flock is challenging to achieve.
+++++++++++ The third area the church could work on is concerning the
membership. As Dever writes, “We should show unbelievers that there is
something more than horizontal community or a vague sense of God’s
presence in our congregations.”3+The church is very welcoming to
unbelievers to the point it tilts a little too far towards accommodating
them in hopes of conversion by saying they are just happy they are here.
This area is probably the least area of concern, as the church does a good
job of this balance. However, with the numerical issue mentioned above, it
seems that there may be an inappropriate level of comfort afforded to the
position of the unbeliever. As Dever writes, “we must be careful about
telling non-Christians the theological lie that they, in the most profound
sense, belong.”4+Again, this is difficult to balance, and I can see the
church’s intention to love them the way Christ commands biblically.
However, I think at times, the pendulum swings too far in that direction for
a specific numerical purpose.
+++++++++++ To address the situation, I think the church could make a deeper
call to the lost rather than just tell them it is ok, and we are glad they are
here. I do not think it would drive them away. In the end, it may serve to
save more by going after them (preaching towards the issue) more
passionately.
[Word Count: 743]
+
1+Mark Dever,+Nine Marks of a Healthy Church+(Wheaton: Crossway,
2013), 57.
2+Ibid., 213.
3+Ibid., 174.
4+Ibid.
Bibliography
Dever, Mark.Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. Wheaton: Crossway, 2013.
