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Today's Bivocational Pastor
Pastor, I've been working on a new workbook that will help pastors and church leaders put in place the suggestions that Thom and Sam Rainer put forth in their new book Essential Church? Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts. In Essential Church? Thom and Sam Rainer ask and answer the following question
Is Preaching Still Important?
"Yes! Even in today’s hyper-techno-driven conversational-wiki-culture, preaching is of the utmost importance. Of the several church-related or pastor-related issues noted by dropouts, preaching came up several times as a critical issue in retaining college students and young adults."
“While most think that students are turning off the sermon, tuning into something different, and dropping out of the church, nothing is further from the truth. Students in the church, both high school and college, view the pastor’s sermon with a level of importance. They have their eyes on him and what he is saying to them (or not saying to them, for that matter).”
“It shouldn’t surprise you that biblical truth must be conveyed to all age groups, especially through to sermon. But shockingly, students desire for the pastor to preach to them! The problem is not a willingness on their part to listen. Rather, the problem is the fact that the pastor is not engaging them where they are. The charts below reveal how two separate age groups view the importance of their pastor’s sermons.”
"Not only are the pastor’s sermons critical to the assimilation of those under 18 (above), they gain a level of importance with those between the ages of 18 and 22 (below). In other words, the older teens become, the more important it is for the pastor to relate to them through the weekly sermons.
As seen in these two charts, the spread between dropouts and those who stay increases with the age of the student. This spread is driven by how well the pastor’s sermons relate and engage each of these specific age groups.
"Particularly with those over 18, how well a pastor engages and relates to this age group correlates directly with how long they will stay in the church. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that these teens will “grow into” the message you preach. Our research proves the opposite – the older the teen, the more critical it is to reach them at their stage in life. Rather than creating sermons for the 45 and above crowd, gear sermons or segments of sermons specifically for the teens in your church.
The pastor’s sermon, largely forgotten in this “conversational” dialogue about the future of the church, still remains one of the lynchpins in keeping students in the church. As a result, the buck still stops in the pulpit with this generation.
For more information see Chapter 5 of Essential Church? Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts by Thom and Sam Rainer (free 28-page sample available)
What Is Relevant Biblical Preaching?
Dr. Ed Stetzer in Planting Missional Churches: Planting a Church That's Biblically Sound and Reaching People in Culture says about preaching
Preaching should both edify believers and encourage nonbelievers. We must grow in our preaching skills if we cannot do both. While Jesus preached a straightforward gospel, he demonstrated that preaching is not just opening the Bible, reading words, and providing commentary.
Stetzer goes on to say
Preaching should be simple but not simplistic. The Scriptures are given not only for information but also for transformation. The preacher may impress listeners with arcane theological truths that offer no life or hope, or the preacher may help transform lives with the truths of Christ’s life changing process. The latter result is God’s intention for Christian preaching.
What Kind of Preaching is Both Relevant and Biblical?
The greatest contribution the Church can make today to a troubled and frightened generation is to return to a consistent and relevant preaching of the Word of God! All Christians would agree that what is most needed in the present age is a loosing of the power of God among us, but what is often forgotten is that the proclamation of His word has always been God's chosen channel of power.
'He sent his word and healed them,' the psalmist declares. And it is not so much preaching from the Bible that is needed, as it is preaching the Bible itself---in a word, expository preaching!
For more information see chapter 5 "Preaching in the New Church" in Planting Missional Churches by Ed Stetzer.
Read an article by Ed Stetzer on Four Kinds of Expositional Preaching
In the book Essential Church? Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts, Thom and Sam Rainer say that relevant biblical preaching is vital if your church wants to connect with young adults.
How Do You Prepare a Sermon that is Relevant and Biblical?
I believe that relevant biblical preaching that connects with young adults requires adequate preparation and time. I ran across some help from O.S. Hawkins, President of Guidestone Financial Resources, on this subject. Dr. Hawkins, on pages 50-57 of The Pastor's Primer, gives some helpful insights into preparation of an effective sermon.
Note: The Pastor's Primer and four other books by Dr. Hawkins are available as free downloads at Guidestone's Website.
As we prepare for the sermon, there should be three important questions in our minds.
First, does what we are preparing to preach ‘exalt the Lord Jesus Christ?’
It is amazing how many sermons one can hear today which never mention Jesus, much less His atonement.
Second, we should ask ourselves if what we are preparing to preach will ‘explain the text.’
It is equally amazing how little the text is explained and exegeted today even by those who consider themselves to be expository preachers.
Finally, we should ask ourselves, as we prepare the message, if it will ‘extend the gospel.’
We call ourselves preachers of the gospel and yet the gospel itself, that is, the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, is absent in so many sermons. If we go into our preparation with a concern to exalt the Lord Jesus, explain the text and extend the gospel in every message, it will pilot us through our preparation.
For many, determining the text or what subject to preach is one of the most time-consuming and difficult tasks of preparation. For me this has always been the easiest because I preach through books of the Bible and seek to do so in a culturally relevant way while being true to the text and applying it to present day issues.
The Process of Preparation
Living with the text
I begin by looking at the passage, living with it for awhile, reading and rereading it sometimes hundreds of times. If it is short enough I write it down in a note card and put it in my pocket for a couple of days. I have found it helpful to ask the following questions, Who? What? When? Where? How?
When asking these questions, it is amazing how an analytical outline often begins to emerge.”
Exegesis of the text
There are so many Bible study sources available today, sources like PC Bible Study, Logos, etc, “that even the preacher without a working knowledge of the biblical languages can do a proper exegesis including word study, parsing verbs, and the like.
Outline of the text
After the above steps, an outline will generally emerge. Then I go to all the commentaries at my disposal…Next I take all the notes I have made, the resources I have read and begin to type them in the outline usually in the order of explanation, illustration and application under each point (of the outline).
Once the sermon is complete, I live with it the final two days or so before it is to be delivered. While I do not memorize it word for word, I am so familiar with it that I only take a brief outline of it into the pulpit.
Before preaching the message I go back to my original three questions as best I can ask myself again …
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Have I exalted the Lord Jesus in this exposition?
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Have I explained the text adequately?
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Have I extended the gospel, that is, is the gospel in the message?
Then I preach it, hopefully for God’s glory and the people’s good.
Note: The Pastor's Primer and four other books by Dr. Hawkins are available as free downloads at Guidestone Financial Resources's Website.
If you are looking for help in this area be sure to pre-order Essential Church or register online for the Essential Church Retreat featuring Thom and Sam Rainer (February 26-28, 2009 at the Ridgecrest Conference Center in Ridgecrest, North Carolina).
I look forward to working with you and providing information and insights in this newsletter that will both encourage and equip you to do the work of ministry.
Please call me at 615-251-3893 or email me at dan.garland@lifeway.com for help that you need.
Dan Garland
Director of Pastoral Ministries and Church Consulting
LifeWay Christian Resources
Developing Ministry Teams in Bivocational Ministry by Steve Echols
After twenty years of being a pastor who was fully funded, I entered the world of bivocational ministry somewhat unexpectedly. After answering a call to teach at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, I began a bi-vocational pastorate. Now in my seventh year of bivocational ministry, I have learned that developing ministry teams is not an option but a necessity. Fortunately, I have discovered that bivocational ministers actually have some advantages in developing ministry teams. Read more...
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SBBMA Bivocational Regional Resource Centers
A Regional Bivocational Resource Center seeks throughout its geographical region to encourage, promote, connect, and service bivocational/smaller membership churches, ministers, and families for their effective service in God's kingdom. Primarily within its role as an entity of a Baptist, Christian educational institution, each Resource Center will provide:
Center leadership, Training programs, A resource "lab", On-campus events, Regional events, SBBMA participation. learn more...
Guidestone has recently released their 2007 Guidestone Financial Solutions for Bivocational Ministers and has given us permission to post it here. This 8-page guide is full of advice and help for pastors of churches with smaller budgets and limited resources.
Dowload it now: 2007 Guidestone Financial Solutions for Bivocational Ministers (2.5 MB PDF)
Visit the GuideStone Financial Resources website for more help.
Be sure to visit the Southern Baptist Bivocational Ministers Association website along with other State Bivocational Ministry Websites:
Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas
Dan Garland is the Director of LifeWay's Pastoral Ministries and Church Consulting. Dan came to this position in August 2007. Dan has twenty-two years of pastoral experience in various size churches, mainly in Kentucky. He was also the Team Leader for Church Development and Evangelism for the Kentucky Baptist Convention for over seven years. In that capacity Dan worked with bivocational pastors and smaller membership churches.
You may contact Dan Garland at 615-251-3893 or email him at dan.garland@lifeway.com.
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