In Jesus' day, scripture was not read silently and reading scripture occupied a central place in synagogue worship.
Since the worship of the Church was patterned after that of the synagogue, we should not be surprised that reading scripture aloud should occupy a prominent place in our assemblies. Admittedly, the importance of its place in practice ebbs and flows, but any church that doesn't have a spot for the reading of scripture should re-think the matter. Paul was not looking for "worship filler" when he told Timothy to "give attention to the public reading of scripture" (1 Timothy 4:13).
I mean by this also that scripture reading should not be purely perfunctory. I have heard scripture reading on more than one occasion when I had no idea what place the reading had for the assembly. And before the sermon, I have heard entirely too many passages that had nothing to do with the sermon (or perhaps I should say the sermon had nothing to do with it). If the reading of a text has no obvious meaning for the hearers, is it any surprise that, over the years, the hearers come to view the text as irrelevant for their lives?
Here are some suggestions for readers, and those who plan the reading.
1) Length of reading. When Jesus was asked to read in the synagogue, he chose a scant 2 verses from Isaiah 61 (Luke 4:18-19). I'm persuaded the synagogue had no idea where Jesus was going with that passage, but the simple reading of the text made a point. What point do you think people should get from your reading? Read enough to make the point. But it is possible that the length of the reading will obscure the point -- or be too complicated. I have heard -- again, more times than I can remember -- people read the entirety of Isaiah 53 before a communion service. The reading is simply too long to hold people's attention and any number of sections within the chapter can make a relevant point to the communion.
2) Explanation. First of all, be sure you understand the meaning of the reading. Once I asked a brother to read Galatians 3:24-25 before my sermon -- expecting him simply to read. The text says:
"Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law."
The reader began: "In this passage, Paul tells why we no longer need the Old Testament." He didn't understand the passage and I had to spend time not originally allocated to that sermon explaining why his statement was not true.
Second, if you are unsure your audience will get the meaning of the text -- relevance -- take a little time to explain. Be brief. If it takes you over 30 seconds, it's too long. In explaining Isaiah 61 in the synagogue, Jesus took six what turned out to be six verses. The power of his brief explanation is seen in the response of his audience: they tried to kill him! Lengthy explanations are called "sermons," and in today's assemblies, there's only time for one of those.
3) Practice. Far too many people fancy themselves public speakers. Every speech, for them, is spontaneous, in the moment -- and wholly unprepared. I have a pulpit in my home study, and each Sunday morning, I begin at that pulpit preaching that morning's sermon. I go through every sermon twice. Every intonation of my voice is practiced -- and that's just the delivery part. It doesn't count the preparation of the sermon itself. I've been doing this for over 35 years. If you think you can jot down a few notes and "wing it" successfully, you're fooling only yourself.
Reading aloud may be a gift for some, but it is mostly a craft that can be honed. If reading doesn't come easily to you, you'll need practice, practice, practice to get it right. Ask someone to help you with pronunciation if you find yourself stumbling over words. Try committing the passage to memory so the reading will flow from familiarity. You don't have to be reluctant to read aloud because your ability to read is poor. With enough practice, no one will ever know.
Ask someone to listen to you read -- someone who will be honest. Some readers have no trouble recognizing words, but their reading suffers because they emphasize the wrong words. Note the following text from Galatians 6 as an example. I heard it read a while back and the reader emphasized the words I have in all caps: BROTHERS, if someone IS caught in a SIN, you who are spiritual SHOULD restore him gently. But watch YOURSELF, or you also may BE tempted. 2 Carry EACH other’s burdens, and IN this way you will fulfill THE law of Christ.
It was a horrible reading. Try this instead: Brothers, [pause] if someone is caught in a sin, [pause]you who are SPIRITUAL should restore him GENTLY. But WATCH yourself, or you ALSO may be tempted. 2 Carry each other’s burdens, [pause] and in THIS way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
You may want to listen to a professional do the reading first so you will get an idea what the passage should sound like. Audio Bibles are wonderful tools to help. I sometimes listen to the sermons of popular preachers; not to get a sermon, but to hear it. Preachers are usually heard gladly not so much because of what they say, but because of how they say it. And I have learned from many of them.
Reading the word of God is important. It is His word, they are His thoughts. And you, for the moment, are His voice.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
On Target With Church Business
I do not know Tony Morgan -- but I probably should. Our Youth Minister, Josh Byrd, put me on to Mr. Morgan's website this past week. His article was entitled: "What if Target operated like a Church?" The thoughts were so good I decided to share them with you this week, along with a few observations on my own.
Morgan wrote: If Target did business like the Church:
- Instead of having men’s and women’s clothing departments, they would be called clever names like Impact and Embrace that are completely meaningless to new shoppers.
- Each department in the store would have its own logo to go with their clever name. And, of course, all those logos would be different than the logo on the front of the store.
- The workers in each department would all have their own t-shirts and flyers to promote what’s available in their departments. The youth clothing department would, of course, have the best flyers.
- The store manager and his wife would be pictured on the front page of the website.
- You wouldn’t actually be able to buy anything from the website, but each department would have its own page explaining why they are such a great department and the the information would be several months out-of-date.
- If you are in the shoe department and have a question about flashlights, the shoe department employee has no idea how to help you because it doesn’t have anything to do with shoes.
- Shoppers would be able to start their own departments so that they can buy the items that they want to buy. Don’t worry…that means there will certainly be a clothing department for singles.
- Shoppers would also be able to appoint their own store manager and then serve on committees and boards to tell the store manager what to do.
- The store would only be open one day a week between 9:00 a.m. and noon and on the first Wednesday evening of every month.
Businesses know what their primary purpose is. Good businesses constantly evaluate their actions in view of their primary purpose. Superfluous actions that obscure their mission or inhibit fulfillment of their purpose are discarded.
But not always. Sometimes businesses hold on to outdated models due to tradition or political constraints, or due to self-imposed constraints. When that happens, the purpose suffers -- and you know what happens to those businesses.
The Church, and every congregation should be aware of their primary mission. Every program and ministry should be regularly evaluated on the basis of how they are helping to fulfill the mission.
More about that next week.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Cultivating Leaders
Last week, I wrote about the importance of leadership, and the need to cultivate it within the church. An Elder wrote and asked: “How do we do this?” "Elder training is typically 'on the job' and comes after selection and appointment. But that only exposes new elders to 'meetings' and 'budgets.' How do we cultivate leaders?’
[In the Church of Christ, our highest leaders are called “Elders” and must have specific qualifications – delineated by such texts as 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 to be appointed. But Elders are not the only leaders and what I am about to suggest will apply to all leadership situations in the Church.]
First, there must be PURPOSE. A current leader, or current leaders, must deliberately come to the conclusion they must plan for and cultivate leaders for the future.
Second, there must be UNDERSTANDING, an understanding of what that specific leaders work actually involves. A teacher in the 6th grade Bible school is a leader. She knows what her job is: to present the word of God. She knows what her parameters are: Not to teach the whole Bible, but to teach the section she’s been entrusted with. She must relate to her students, shepherding them, taking an interest in them and in their lives. She must prepare her lessons to make the Bible come alive and impress upon her students how important is its message.
There must be SELECTION. She must be on the lookout for someone else, who just might take the same interest in young people she does.
There must be MENTORING. She should, with her supervisor’s approval, ask that person to join her in the class. She should explain to the teaching candidate what she is trying to do. She should model her understanding and her method, being open to the ideas of her co-teacher, becoming partners and fast friends.
I well remember two of my 3rd grade Sunday School teachers, Sister Hussey and Sister Garmon (we called all our teachers “sister” back then). Sister Hussey was the leader. It was her class and she was serious as a heart attack about it. Sister Garmon was a dear lady who was her ‘helper,’ but later, sister Garmon became my 6th grade teacher. This is the way you raise up leaders.
You may well ask, what does that have to do with Elders?
Everything! It’s just as simple.
Current Elders need to have an understanding of what their job is. It is decidedly not sitting in meetings – though there’s a lot of that. It is first and foremost, watching out for people. Praying for people. Guiding people. Encouraging people. Teaching people. Current Elders should be on the watch for men who might qualify as Elders. That’s purpose. They should identify and select some of them, perhaps telling them: “I believe you can be an Elder one day. I wish you would make it one of your goals.” Why not then mentor them by asking them to pray with you for people in the church? If there are sensitive matters, one need not share everything or betray confidences, but surely there are plenty of other things to pray about and being specifically asked to do so lends an importance to the job. Take the candidate with you to visit members in the hospital. Share the duty of praying there. Take them as you just visit in the homes of members. Talk with them about the budgeting process and take time to explain the difficult decisions you make.
Some Elders will be good at this. Some won't. Those who can, should.
And what if you select someone who is a dud? Some people, despite the fact that they want a ministry and have all the “scriptural qualifications” are decidedly inept shepherds. Others get in the ministry only to discover they are ill-suited to shepherd people. Why not spot some candidates and walk them through it, giving them an understanding of the work as you do, and observing whether they can, and will, really do it?
I can hear your reply: “Yeah, yeah, you make it all sound so simple.”
It IS simple.
It’s just not easy.
Leadership never is.
[In the Church of Christ, our highest leaders are called “Elders” and must have specific qualifications – delineated by such texts as 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 to be appointed. But Elders are not the only leaders and what I am about to suggest will apply to all leadership situations in the Church.]
First, there must be PURPOSE. A current leader, or current leaders, must deliberately come to the conclusion they must plan for and cultivate leaders for the future.
Second, there must be UNDERSTANDING, an understanding of what that specific leaders work actually involves. A teacher in the 6th grade Bible school is a leader. She knows what her job is: to present the word of God. She knows what her parameters are: Not to teach the whole Bible, but to teach the section she’s been entrusted with. She must relate to her students, shepherding them, taking an interest in them and in their lives. She must prepare her lessons to make the Bible come alive and impress upon her students how important is its message.
There must be SELECTION. She must be on the lookout for someone else, who just might take the same interest in young people she does.
There must be MENTORING. She should, with her supervisor’s approval, ask that person to join her in the class. She should explain to the teaching candidate what she is trying to do. She should model her understanding and her method, being open to the ideas of her co-teacher, becoming partners and fast friends.
I well remember two of my 3rd grade Sunday School teachers, Sister Hussey and Sister Garmon (we called all our teachers “sister” back then). Sister Hussey was the leader. It was her class and she was serious as a heart attack about it. Sister Garmon was a dear lady who was her ‘helper,’ but later, sister Garmon became my 6th grade teacher. This is the way you raise up leaders.
You may well ask, what does that have to do with Elders?
Everything! It’s just as simple.
Current Elders need to have an understanding of what their job is. It is decidedly not sitting in meetings – though there’s a lot of that. It is first and foremost, watching out for people. Praying for people. Guiding people. Encouraging people. Teaching people. Current Elders should be on the watch for men who might qualify as Elders. That’s purpose. They should identify and select some of them, perhaps telling them: “I believe you can be an Elder one day. I wish you would make it one of your goals.” Why not then mentor them by asking them to pray with you for people in the church? If there are sensitive matters, one need not share everything or betray confidences, but surely there are plenty of other things to pray about and being specifically asked to do so lends an importance to the job. Take the candidate with you to visit members in the hospital. Share the duty of praying there. Take them as you just visit in the homes of members. Talk with them about the budgeting process and take time to explain the difficult decisions you make.
Some Elders will be good at this. Some won't. Those who can, should.
And what if you select someone who is a dud? Some people, despite the fact that they want a ministry and have all the “scriptural qualifications” are decidedly inept shepherds. Others get in the ministry only to discover they are ill-suited to shepherd people. Why not spot some candidates and walk them through it, giving them an understanding of the work as you do, and observing whether they can, and will, really do it?
I can hear your reply: “Yeah, yeah, you make it all sound so simple.”
It IS simple.
It’s just not easy.
Leadership never is.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Cultivating Leadership
Businesses know the importance of leadership, and every major corporation in America is in the business of leadership development. The most successful is the IBM corporation which spends $700 million a year specifically on leadership development. One day of every quarterly directors' meeting is devoted to a discussion of leadership development. (How many Elder meetings are devoted to this?) In a recent FORTUNE magazine article (December 7, 2009 -- p. 72), J. Randall MacDonald, Human Resources chief at IBM likened his business to a race that never ends. He spoke of the competition being "one-half of an inch" behind them. The only thing keeping them in the lead is their leadership.
Our competition, as a church, is not other churches. Our competition is Satan. And whether we are in front of him, neck-in-neck, or behind and losing ground has totally to do with leadership -- or a lack of it. And our "lack" of leadership has to do, most of all, with a lack of purposeful and intentional leadership development. I see it all the time. Churches that once were dynamic, growing and full of life, led by men of vision who could inspire others to see and do the seemingly impossible are now gasping for air, led by the collective consensus of whoever shows up for the monthly business meetings.
What happened?
The leaders died off (or moved away), and no one ever made provision for their replacements. Instead, we THOUGHT the Lord would provide -- and He didn't.
I do not mean to belittle the providential care of God. No one believes more strongly in it than me. But I believe that expecting God to provide leaders this way is unbiblical. God provided Israel a leader in Moses, and Moses led Israel for forty years. When Moses died, the mantle of leadership was passed to Joshua -- an assistant who had spent forty years at leader Moses' side. The result was that during the thirty years of Joshua's leadership, Israel served the Lord. The Elders who stood at Joshua's side led after Joshua died and Israel still served the Lord. But they failed to train leaders to take their place. The story of Judges which follows is the story of the Canaanization of Israel because she had no leader -- a fact mentioned specifically four times in the book. And those judges? Read the book. These are the kind of leaders you can expect when you wait on God to provide them at the last minute.
Every congregation must have leaders who know well what the work of the Church is really about. And by the way, if you see the work of the church as simply "preaching the gospel" or "serving the community," you have yet to grasp its true calling.
We must have leaders who know what is needed in their congregation to accomplish this work -- and it changes from community to community, which is why churches whose leaders adopt the latest and greatest fads because they've been successful elsewhere usually fail.
We must have leaders who will see that the work gets done. It doesn't mean that they have to do all the work themselves, only that they see the work is done.
We must have leaders who will inspire confidence in God among the people of God.
We must have leaders who will be responsible for anticipating the future, knowing where God’s people will need to be in the years to come, and charting the course to get there. That's called vision.
We must have leaders who will guide God’s people to that future and nurture them along the way.
We must have leaders who will model the life Christ calls us all to live so that we come to know it not just by hearing, but by seeing. Paul said: "Follow me, as I follow Christ."
Why would we ever think that God would want to entrust the Church he died for to a happenstance leadership?
He wouldn't.
A recent survey conducted at Lipscomb University asked ministers: "Based on your experience. what studies do you think would be most helpful to ministers?" It's a good question. As a church leader, where do you feel most inadequate? What would help you do your job better? Ask for it. You may have to slot it in the budget. You may feel guilty about asking for a place in the budget for your own development. Get over it. It will be money well spent. You may have to pay for it yourself. Do it. You serve by appointment of the Holy Spirit, and those entrusted to your care constitute the body of Christ for which Jesus died. No cost is too great.
Who will be the next leaders at your church? You should have them picked out. Know their names. Encourage them. Appoint them to tasks that will stretch them and get them ready for the task ahead. Through the years of preparation, some may drop out. Some you thought qualified God may remove from contention. But in the end, the right people will be in place for the right job -- because it was planned with intentionality and blessed by God. And don't forget to teach them to do for others what you have done for them.
Pass it on.
Our competition, as a church, is not other churches. Our competition is Satan. And whether we are in front of him, neck-in-neck, or behind and losing ground has totally to do with leadership -- or a lack of it. And our "lack" of leadership has to do, most of all, with a lack of purposeful and intentional leadership development. I see it all the time. Churches that once were dynamic, growing and full of life, led by men of vision who could inspire others to see and do the seemingly impossible are now gasping for air, led by the collective consensus of whoever shows up for the monthly business meetings.
What happened?
The leaders died off (or moved away), and no one ever made provision for their replacements. Instead, we THOUGHT the Lord would provide -- and He didn't.
I do not mean to belittle the providential care of God. No one believes more strongly in it than me. But I believe that expecting God to provide leaders this way is unbiblical. God provided Israel a leader in Moses, and Moses led Israel for forty years. When Moses died, the mantle of leadership was passed to Joshua -- an assistant who had spent forty years at leader Moses' side. The result was that during the thirty years of Joshua's leadership, Israel served the Lord. The Elders who stood at Joshua's side led after Joshua died and Israel still served the Lord. But they failed to train leaders to take their place. The story of Judges which follows is the story of the Canaanization of Israel because she had no leader -- a fact mentioned specifically four times in the book. And those judges? Read the book. These are the kind of leaders you can expect when you wait on God to provide them at the last minute.
Every congregation must have leaders who know well what the work of the Church is really about. And by the way, if you see the work of the church as simply "preaching the gospel" or "serving the community," you have yet to grasp its true calling.
We must have leaders who know what is needed in their congregation to accomplish this work -- and it changes from community to community, which is why churches whose leaders adopt the latest and greatest fads because they've been successful elsewhere usually fail.
We must have leaders who will see that the work gets done. It doesn't mean that they have to do all the work themselves, only that they see the work is done.
We must have leaders who will inspire confidence in God among the people of God.
We must have leaders who will be responsible for anticipating the future, knowing where God’s people will need to be in the years to come, and charting the course to get there. That's called vision.
We must have leaders who will guide God’s people to that future and nurture them along the way.
We must have leaders who will model the life Christ calls us all to live so that we come to know it not just by hearing, but by seeing. Paul said: "Follow me, as I follow Christ."
Why would we ever think that God would want to entrust the Church he died for to a happenstance leadership?
He wouldn't.
A recent survey conducted at Lipscomb University asked ministers: "Based on your experience. what studies do you think would be most helpful to ministers?" It's a good question. As a church leader, where do you feel most inadequate? What would help you do your job better? Ask for it. You may have to slot it in the budget. You may feel guilty about asking for a place in the budget for your own development. Get over it. It will be money well spent. You may have to pay for it yourself. Do it. You serve by appointment of the Holy Spirit, and those entrusted to your care constitute the body of Christ for which Jesus died. No cost is too great.
Who will be the next leaders at your church? You should have them picked out. Know their names. Encourage them. Appoint them to tasks that will stretch them and get them ready for the task ahead. Through the years of preparation, some may drop out. Some you thought qualified God may remove from contention. But in the end, the right people will be in place for the right job -- because it was planned with intentionality and blessed by God. And don't forget to teach them to do for others what you have done for them.
Pass it on.
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