5 Tips for Preaching & Teaching in The Emerging Church
8 Dec 2006
1. Connect with People’s Feelings: Emotional intelligence is the right brained response the left brained rationalism of modernity
2. Be A Story Teller: We all live out narratives of what we think Life is about, so help people find their story in the context of God’s Story.
3. Be a Situation Learning Catalyst: Get beyond trying to transmit Intellectual information to people’s heads and facilitate Participation, questioning, interaction of people in self-directed learning for their hearts, souls, minds and bodies.
4. Participate: Do life with the people you are learning with, avoid the disconnected life of the ‘expert’.
5. Be Sacramental: Lead people into interaction, conversation, participation, and connection to God, each other, and the world, not just your own ideas.
27 comments
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Comment by brett jordan
10.16 am on 8 Dec 2006
5 more…
1. Sin.
2. Christ.
3. Cross.
4. Repentance.
5. Forgiveness.
Comment by Jason
11.54 am on 8 Dec 2006
Thanks Brett, I had forgotten those as content for the last 10 years ;-)
Comment by Jason Reid
12.12 pm on 8 Dec 2006
What do you tell stories about Jason? How do you connect an individuals story to God’s story?
Regards
Comment by Paul
2.23 pm on 8 Dec 2006
Dam it, so much shorter but better than what I was trying to do here … http://www.jasonclark.ws/2006/10/16/explore-the-story-vs-expository-or-preaching-to-the-converted-the-conformed-or-the-contagious/
:)
personally i think the biggest improvement is that inclusive language which makes preacing a ‘we’/shared experience rather than a ‘you’ should do this – the application/enocuragement/spurring on of the sermon is in the life we share/live together…
Comment by Rick
2.43 pm on 8 Dec 2006
Since I have read your blog for some time now, I think I know where you are coming from (at least a little). Therefore I wasn’t too bothered by your list. In fact, I like it.
For the sake of those that are not reading into it, it might have been good to put “in the context of God’s story” in bold with many underlines – especially knowing that one of the primary charges against the emerging church is lack of value for the Word – and in the emerging church, as in others, evidence to support that (while not representing the whole) can be found.
Comment by ZooMuse
6.17 pm on 8 Dec 2006
I think my comment just went into the ether world, so I will try again. Why is it that there is the apparent assumption that just because you (Jason) don’t always mention the “magic words,” that some folks automatically assume that you have somehow forgotten, mislaid or rejected certain elements of content? Good grief, you were writing here about methods, not content. Can’t we trust the Holy Spirit enough to actually be at work in you? For some reason this reminds me of the little kid in Sunday school who, when asked what is furry, has a long tail and hides nuts to eat in the winter, says to himself, “It sure sounds like a squirrel, but I better say ‘Jesus.’”
What you are describing is the “enabling of learning,” something many preacher/teachers don;t worry about since their only concern often is “I must preach the Word” whether or not people learn or obey. Thanks for your willingness to take flak in order to challenge us.
Comment by brett jordan
6.33 pm on 8 Dec 2006
hi zoomuse, it was a light-hearted comment… i think jason understood that, i’m sorry you didn’t.
Comment by ZooMuse
6.37 pm on 8 Dec 2006
thanks for the clarification. As you likely picked up from my comment, I was reacting to those who tend to assume the worst about anyone who doess’t “follow the script.” Maybe I should have taken the “hint” when my first comment went astray.
Again, thanks.
Comment by Helen
2.22 am on 9 Dec 2006
3. Be a Situation Learning Catalyst: Get beyond trying to transmit Intellectual information to people’s heads and facilitate Participation, questioning, interaction of people in self-directed learning for their hearts, souls, minds and bodies.
Jason, could you clarify what this means for me? Does it mean “when you preach, preach in a such a way that you encourage the hearers to ask questions about what they are hearing”? Or does it mean “instead of preaching, where one person talks and everyone else listens, have a discussion in which everyone who wants to can ask questions”?
Comment by Existential Punk
4.42 pm on 9 Dec 2006
Brett [1] above,
Could you PLEASE be more specific and give descriptions as to what you mean, like Jase does, and how they are relevant to the topic? I’m not knit-picking, just trying to understand better. Thanks!
1. Sin.
2. Christ.
3. Cross.
4. Repentance.
5. Forgiveness.
Adele
Comment by GMD
6.33 pm on 9 Dec 2006
Rick said “especially knowing that one of the primary charges against the emerging church is lack of value for the Word”
How do we in the emerging deal with this charge, it’s a charge I face weekly as I attend a reformed church with hardcore calvanists at the helm :) Most of the congregation leave each week having forgot what was said in the sermon only 20 minutes earlier.
Still they say without preaching ‘the word’ the church won’t grow , the word in this case is a exposition of a bible passage, and quite a philispohical one at that.
Comment by James P
9.29 pm on 9 Dec 2006
Those five things you talk about are absolutely vital Jason. It’s vital to meet people where they are and link that in to what’s happening in the Bible section we’re teaching on. Then to relate that to a modern interpretation. New ways of communicating ancient truths. You can’t stand back as an expert = that’s not servant leadership and it can be arrogant. You are just a student of the word and you say it how you see it – or how God has spoken through it – and how you find it relates to the modern world and our own situations and use a story to illustrate it. We need to go inside the story and make it real, go inisde the heads of the people involved. Then we need to make it real for the people we’re talking to in their a modern context – how they relate to it.
Getting people invloved and interacting in some way also helps get people interested, and visual aids help people engage to. It is a very precise art.
Comment by ZooMuse
9.39 pm on 9 Dec 2006
GMD (11) and others — great points regarding much of todays “teaching/preaching.” After more than 35 years of preaching and teaching (my own and others), I have dropped the usage of preach or teach. I now talk about the “enablement of learning.” We can preach and teach “til the cows come home,” but until we determine whether or not our words are facilitating transformative learning, all our words may be for naught. The proof of transformative learning is transformed living!
Comment by Jason Clark
10.44 am on 10 Dec 2006
Helen (9): I’m not sure I can define what it means for you. I’m suggesting that instead of teaching times being about the transfer of propositional knowledge and correct answers that they stimulate discussion, reflection, learning, conversation.
That will look very different in different locations and with different groups of people, I’m not being prescriptive about that.
Comment by Jason Clark
10.46 am on 10 Dec 2006
Zoomuse (13): I don’t use the word preach when I speak at church, I see myself as an educator, trying to facilitate learning, I’m with you on that.
Comment by Paul
12.05 am on 11 Dec 2006
Jase (15) well you certainly do that and more than stuff of the head you are great at conveying stuff of the heart as well!
Comment by Helen
1.54 am on 11 Dec 2006
Jason, ok, I think I see what you mean. You weren’t laying down a particular structure; you were more saying, whatever the chosen structure/format, use it in a way that encourages people to think and question rather than encouraging them to just accept what they hear?
Comment by Jason
8.38 am on 11 Dec 2006
Helen (17) that’s it, Paul (16) Thanks mate
Comment by Marlin
11.14 am on 11 Dec 2006
This is a great list. Neatly summarized. For point 3 I would add “eat” and “party” to be with the people. Didn’t Jesus do that?
Comment by Paul
12.34 am on 12 Dec 2006
I think the emphasis on ‘be’ rather than just do is so vital… the whole embody thang is vital to have impact…
Comment by Jason Reid
4.23 pm on 12 Dec 2006
Paul – thanks for the link to the article. Notwithstanding the numerous questions it evokes -
In the use of story (Nathan and parables), are we not in danger of stretching beyong the bible. Nathan was an annointed prophet, and well Jesus is Jesus. I for one would not like to offer my narratives on a sunday morning, I would much rather stick to exploring what the bible means for us today.
Regards
Comment by Paul
12.15 am on 15 Dec 2006
Hi Jason (21), thanks! I think that’s a great thing to stick to exploring and narrative/story might be one way to do just that – play with it if you want to and see what happens?
Comment by Jason
8.18 am on 15 Dec 2006
Jason (21): And to explore what the bible means for us today, you need to use your own narratives!
Comment by Jason Reid
10.07 am on 18 Dec 2006
My worry is when people use other narratives for the basis of their preaching not the bible. For example the Vedas or a Jilly Cooper novel, which as useful as they might be, they are not scripture. Which is different from an amusing anecdote about how rubbish I am, to illustrate a biblical principle.
Festive Blessings
Comment by Jason
12.13 pm on 18 Dec 2006
Jason Reid (18): Isn’t that more about the quality of the narrative? Without our narrative their is no narrative of God, i.e him at work in the lives of his people.
I don’t think anyone was suggesting reading Jilly Cooper, but the need to bring ourlives to bear in the telling of the christian story.
Comment by ZooMuse
12.47 pm on 18 Dec 2006
I have greatly appreciated the balance that the Apostle brings to this sort of discussion. In Acts 20:17-38, his final meeting with the elders from Ephesus, Paul weaves together a lovely tapestry reflecting his own ministry, reminding the elders both of the eternal truths of Scripture (whole counsel of God, gospel of the grace of God, preaching the kingdom, etc) and how those truths worked out in his own story (you know how I was when I was with you, tears, sorrow, boldness, etc).
He provides a shortened version of the same idea in 1 Thess 2:7-9 where he states: “But we proved to be gentle among you….Having such a fond affection…we were well-pleased to share with you not only the gospel but our own lives as well, because you had become dear to us….we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.”
It seems there needs to be a balance of biblically-sound teaching incarnated in our own stories, both the story we tell and the story others read when they observe our lives.
Comment by Paul
7.45 pm on 18 Dec 2006
Rick (26) what an awesome inspiring, insightful comment, thank you!!!!
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