How the Internet is changing Denominations

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Sep 14, 2006 in Church, General Technology | 1 comment

An interesting article on How the Internet is changing Denominations (HT: emergesque)  You can read the whole article but his points are:

1. Everyone expects to participate. Before the Internet the church operated pretty much as an oligarchy, with power and decision-making concentrated into the hand of the few on behalf of the many.  Boards, church staffs, along with district and denominational leaders met and made decisions on behalf of the proletariat. “The people” were supposed to trust their leaders to make these decisions for them.  The Internet has altered this arrangement.  People now expect to participate in decision-making (or at least the discussion before the decision).  It is harder now for boards and leaders to make decisions and just expect people to fall into line and “just say amen.”

2. People expect instant and complete information. Before the Internet those in power could control the release of information. A long time ago denominational leaders actually published the names of newly elected District Superintendents in the monthly denominational periodical and that was when most people found out the news.  Or, a paper letter was prepared with this information to send to 50 or so DSs and General Board members—“insiders”—who would release this information at their discretion during the month before it got into print.  This gave leaders considerable power in the sense that “information is power,”

3. People expect access to leaders. Before the Internet leaders could somewhat insulate themselves from the common people. Indeed most of the “appurtances” of leadership were arranged to put some distance between the leader and the average Joe. To complain about your son who had been unfairly dismissed by a church in another district required typing a letter, several days in the mail, and who knows how long before the leader might get around to dictating a reply and sending it through several more days of “snail mail.”  In an emergency one might use the telephone, but that may only turn into a pink slip message that could be deferred for days or even weeks.  Leaders today at every level get emails “directly from the bottom” and they are expected to reply.  True, some leaders and pastors simply refuse this access and if they are over 60 they will survive ‘til they can collect their Social Security.”  But those who stonewall access are increasingly cut out of the process and gradually become pretend leaders who the real influence flows around.

4. Human interchange has taken on a more savage flavor. While Television may be the original culprit, the Internet has provided a forum for individuals to lash out with angry tirades at others (and leaders) which sometimes reduces the level of discussions to something more reminiscent of Lord of the Flies than considered thoughtful debate.  People will say things in an email or as a response to a blog they would never say face to face.

5.  People expect things for free. People can still make money producing church resources but the business plan of the future will have to be totally different from one based on “old media” assumptions.  Bright, creative, and generous people all across the world are quite willing to post resources they wrote and give them away for free.  Selling resources people can get for free elsewhere is a dying business.

6. The “Long Tail” is here.  (If you don't know what the long tail is, he explains it.)  How this impacts church denominations, he writes:

Why I think this can be good news for denominations is many denominations (including my own) are actually long tails themselves… they are a tiny fraction of the whole with very specific values and beliefs—at least those who haven’t caved into the generic.  The Internet is not creating more generic evangelical Christians but actually is creating thousands of mini-denominations within the larger denominations.  The leaders who see this coming will capitalize on their “convening” powers to gather like-minded people together and they will figure out how to connect producers of narrow resources with those who need them—a denomination eBay of sorts. 

(I believe these mini-denominations will lead to the end of denominationalism around non-essentials and an increase in trans-denominational gospel ecumenism. Part of the 5 Trends for the Future I posted on.) 

Promise and Deliverance

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Sep 14, 2006 in Church, Sermon, Teaching | 7 comments

Are you interested in a good Redemptive Historical work?  Promises and Deliverance is an English translation of the 19th century work by Reverend S. G. De Graaf in a 4 volume set that outlines and summaries of Bible stories. (You can also pick up the Drama of Scripture.)  Throughout De Graaf's work he focuses on the Kingdom of God being established and working out its means in human history. De Graaf does a great job moving beyond the 'moral lesson' or 'typical point' used in the stories of the Bible to seeing OT stories as foreshadows of Jesus and all part of the redemptive plan of God.  The New Testament work points out the Kingdom of God being established on earth.  For an OT example, volume 1, chapter 3 begins:

I have deliberately entitled this chapter "The Covenant of Grace" instead of "The Fall".  The fall certainly merits our attention, but if we put too much emphasis on it, the revelation of God's grace might become a mere afterthought.  When we read through Genesis 3, we see that the fall is described in just seven verses, while the rest of the chapter is devoted to God's grace.  Even more important for our purposes is the fact that the Scripture is not a book of the acts of men but the book of revelation of God.  Here in Genesis 3, God shows us how He opposed sin and conquered it by His grace when it entered His creation.

Or here, we see a sermon by Michael Horton on the Exodus where he quotes De Graaf's work:

According to S. F. De Graaf: "We should guard against overemphasizing the deliverance of the people from Egypt. This deliverance was only a means of reaching the goal–establishing the covenant. In a spiritual sense, the covenant comes first; the deliverance from Egypt must be seen as following from the covenant. Here too the Word of God holds: 'Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.'" 

Here is another article on preaching by Michael S. Horton (at Modern Reformation) based on De Graaf's work: What Are We Looking for in the Bible?

Volume 1: From Creation to the Conquest of Canaan

Volume 2: The Failure of Israel's Theocracy

Volume 3: Christ's Ministry and Death

Volume 4: Christ and the Nations

They are not always easy to find (we have a great bookstore in San Diego that has them, Evangelical Bookstore ).  I also saw them at Covenant Seminary Online Bookstore and Westminster Bookstore .

How to list your most recent sermons on your blog (or other website)

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Sep 12, 2006 in Church, General Technology, Sermon | 0 comments

Pastors, would you like to have your (or another preachers) most recent sermons on your blog automatically?   Here is any easy guide to syndicating your latest sermons using Sermon Cloud.

1. Create a Sermon Cloud account.

2. Upload sermons.

3. Go to your Sermon Cloud church page.  Example Kaleo Church  http://www.sermoncloud.com/kaleo-church/

4. Click on the link: Find out how to link to Kaleo Church's sermons from your website or blog

5. Grab the code.  For most blogs you can grab the php code an put it in your sidebar: <?php include("http://www.sermoncloud.com/php/kaleo-church/recent/3"); ?> 

6. Enjoy.  See Recent Sermons on the right sidebar on David Fairchild's Blog

REMINDER: 2 more weeks to download free Christian Audio books through Sermon Cloud.

Topical, Textual or Expository Sermons – What is the best method?

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Sep 12, 2006 in Church, Sermon | 13 comments

Over the years, I've had the opportunity to attend several church planting conferences.  Often, a session discusses whether preacher should preach topically, by text or if it should be expository.  What form of preaching is best, let's look at the options:

Topical Sermons: A topical message is a sermon where a preacher uses passages to support a thesis about a particular topic.  (eg. How to be a Godly Husband)  At a Purpose Driven Church Planting Conference,  one of the presenters said the very act of preaching expository sermons is a contradiction to the Bible.  To preach expository sermons was 'unBiblical' in the sense that the books were written to deal with specific issues & topics.  This is the model that a preacher should preach today.  Paul & Peter wrote topicaly and used 'texts' to support their points.

Text Sermons: A text message is one where a singular passage of the Bible is used as a jumping point to discuss a particular thesis. (eg. 1 Corinthians 13 to discuss Love is an Action)

Expository Sermons: An expository sermon is following a book of the Bible, passage-by-passage to allow the text to determine the point.  (eg. Galatians 1:1-4)  Most conservative churches would argue that expository preaching is the only way to preach.  Reformed churches stress lectio continua (preaching through whole books of the Bible in course).   Timothy Keller summarizes the sentiment as he writes why conservative churches feel non-expository preaching is theologically inferior; "1) First, other forms of preaching are considered 'man-pleasing' because we are choosing texts we prefer rather than preaching through the 'whole counsel of God' as God provides it in the Bible.  2) Second, other forms of preaching are more open to abuse since your thesis is not being controlled directly by the text.  3) Thirdly, other forms of preaching do not show as much honor to the text of Scripture.  The expositor focuses on the Biblical passage itself in a way that the others do not."

Haddon Robinson argues that expository preaching is essential in a postmodern context:

Twenty years ago it would have been almost impossible to bring a case to court against a minister. Today a lawyer that's defending a minister will do every thing that he can to keep the people in the jury from thinking of him as a minister. So we have lost a lot of the base, for a lot of different reasons. What we are really trying to say is, "O.K. if I can get people to study the Bible and to see the text, I believe that the Bible is self-authenticating." If I can get you to really read it, to look at it, to hear it, to understand it, it has its own power to convince and to convict and to change people.

Therefore in a postmodern age one reason that we work with the biblical text is to have the authority of the text — and behind that the authority of God — behind what we say. I've always believed that, but it has become clearer to me now than it has been in the past. That is not to say that the person in the pew has to accept my view of inspiration. It is simply to say that if the Bible is what I believe it to be — the word of God — and that the Spirit of God answers to the Word, then if I can lay that out before them in a relevant fashion it has the power to do what my authority today can't do. (source: Expository Preaching in a Narrative World: An Interview with Haddon Robinson)

Is there only one way to preach?  Tim Keller states that ultimately the method you chose is going to be selected for practical purposes.  (Often personal reasons & convictions that drive this.)  At the end of the day, preachers are going to tend to gravitate to what they are most comfortable with.

[Triperspectival Aside:  I would argue that Kings tend toward topical (and Purpose Driven Church plants), Priests toward text and Prophets toward Expository as part of their natural personality/gift structure.]

NEXT SERMON SERIES POST: Moving Beyond Method to Form: Propositional vs. Narrative Preaching 

All Church Planting Bootcamp Sessions

Posted by D. Goodmanson on Sep 12, 2006 in Church, Church Planting, Teaching | 2 comments

I've uploaded nearly all of the Church Planting Bootcamp Sessions.  You can now hear the session and download the notes on: