Collective Ignorance?
Friday, July 28, 2006
"Preaching for all, by all."
I like that. It's one of the "essentials" (values?) of a church I deeply respect in my own tribe, The Salvation Army. The church is called Corps 614 (based on Isaiah 61:4). It started in the Regent Park neighbourhood in Toronto and, evidently, the idea has spread like crazy. There is actually a whole network of 614 churches now - not just in Canada either - but in several countries.
I love what they do. I love their incarnational ministry with the poor and over-looked. I love their energy and creativity. I love their commitment to Jesus and his Kingdom. They rock.
The thing I like about their tagline about preaching is that it represents a Biblical idea I believe strongly in: the priesthood of all believers. See, I believe that God speaks into community through community. I believe that each of us has the responsibility to teach and encourage one another. I believe God uses the "foolish" to shame the "wise". I believe the Kingdom has leveled the playing field for all of us. In fact, that's one of the reasons I do not hold to a complimentarian view, or a "one preacher" view, or a "personal" salvation view (yes, I believe that individuals come to faith in Christ, but that Jesus came for the whole world - and we play a part in the proclamation and incarnation of the Good News).
This is what Mark Driscoll says in his book "Confessions":
Via
According to Driscoll (or at least, if I read this quote correctly) it's either "long-winded, old-school Bible preach[ing]" or "artsy collective ignorance." I think that's just a dumb thing to say.
I like that. It's one of the "essentials" (values?) of a church I deeply respect in my own tribe, The Salvation Army. The church is called Corps 614 (based on Isaiah 61:4). It started in the Regent Park neighbourhood in Toronto and, evidently, the idea has spread like crazy. There is actually a whole network of 614 churches now - not just in Canada either - but in several countries.
I love what they do. I love their incarnational ministry with the poor and over-looked. I love their energy and creativity. I love their commitment to Jesus and his Kingdom. They rock.
The thing I like about their tagline about preaching is that it represents a Biblical idea I believe strongly in: the priesthood of all believers. See, I believe that God speaks into community through community. I believe that each of us has the responsibility to teach and encourage one another. I believe God uses the "foolish" to shame the "wise". I believe the Kingdom has leveled the playing field for all of us. In fact, that's one of the reasons I do not hold to a complimentarian view, or a "one preacher" view, or a "personal" salvation view (yes, I believe that individuals come to faith in Christ, but that Jesus came for the whole world - and we play a part in the proclamation and incarnation of the Good News).
This is what Mark Driscoll says in his book "Confessions":
"We continued to meet on Sunday nights until Christmas, when some of the arty types started complaining that there was a preaching monologue instead of an open dialogue, as would become popular with some emerging pastors a few years later. This forced me to think through my theology of preaching, spiritual authority, and the authority of Scripture. I did an intense study of the Old Testament prophets and the New Testament commands regarding preaching and teaching. In the end, I decided not to back off from a preaching monologue but instead work hard at becoming a solid long-winded, old-school Bible preacher that focused on Jesus. My people needed to hear from God's Word and not from each other in collective ignorance like some dumb chat room."
Via
According to Driscoll (or at least, if I read this quote correctly) it's either "long-winded, old-school Bible preach[ing]" or "artsy collective ignorance." I think that's just a dumb thing to say.
Labels: community, leadership, speaking, the salvation army
3:25 PM
Pernell - I think if you dug a little deeper into Marshill and Driscoll's philosophy of ministry, you'd find that there is a lot of room for dialogue - just not during a sermon. For members, there is a web site with a number of forums where honest questions are asked, often answered by Mark himself. The priesthood of all believers is seen in their community groups (I think they have almost 100 around Seattle) where there are a number of opportunities to teach and study. There are a ton of other ministry opportunities including children's ministries, financial counseling, neighborhood clean ups etc..., let alone the constant admonition of the believers in that church to be a representative of Christ in their spheres of influence. I think that's what it means to be a priest.
From what I understand, Mark sees a sermon or class as an opportunity to declare in an authorative voice, the well studied, prayed over Word of God. But this doesn't preclude an opportunity to dialogue or minister to one another. In fact, I think it better enables each "priest" to fulfill that responsibility.