Recently, one of our supporting churches in the United States sent me a list of questions aimed at understanding our ministry in Wales more fully. After reflecting on my answers, I thought that others might be interested to read some of them and so I plan to post those here (slightly edited for a more general audience) over the next couple of weeks. This is the third installment of the series: click here to read Part 1 or Part 2.
What place does preaching play in the gathering of God’s people?
By “preaching†I assume you are referring to a particular style of communicating God’s Word that might also be described using some or all of the following words: monologue, exposition, sermon, from a pulpit, or from the front. In this style, a particular Scripture passage or biblical theme would be carefully studied and explained in detail by a (preferably) seminary-trained and ordained man who meets the biblical qualifications of an elder.
When I first moved to Wales, I believed that “preaching†could only be defined by the above framework and that faithful, passionate, biblical exposition would always result in healthy, fully-alive, reproducing congregations of God’s people. We began attending the Reformed evangelical congregations scattered across the tiny nation of Wales and I was immediately struck with the amazing quality of such preaching in nearly every single church.
But I was appalled to see that the average congregation numbered twenty-three persons and that many of these churches could be described as cold, lifeless, and unmotivated concerning their own spiritual vitality or the evangelization of their immediate communities. Nearly all of these churches were established as part of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ legacy: in the second half of the twentieth century he issued a call for true believers to come out of the dead mainline denominations and establish independent evangelical chapels throughout Wales. In those chapels today, the “expositor†model continues each week with fewer and fewer people sitting in the pew. Continue reading
A sprawling campus is being developed on a hundred acres at the edge of a large suburban area, near the front entrance of a popular housing development with prices “starting in the low $300,000†bracket according to a sign erected by the property development company. Everyone’s wondering about this beautifully landscaped campus with its winding driveway, small lake, and ultra-modern structure of concrete and glass toward the rear of the property: is it a medical clinic? a health club? an exclusive restaurant? an advertising agency? an animal hospital? a bank? Whoever it was, they obviously had deep pockets and seemed to be sparing no expense to impress their upscale neighbors next door.
, where he and Shane Claiborne discuss the future of the Christian church in light of what they describe as “the greying and declining of many of our congregations.” Sine asks the following penetrating (perhaps even perplexing) questions in the magazine article:
