Triperspectival Benedictions
Each week I (or an elder @ Kaleo) end our worship service with a benediction. I used to do these benedictions based on verses in the bible. In the last 6-months I have transitioned to Triperspectival Benedictions that follow the sermon. The three elements of the benediction are:
Normative/Information: What was the passage, topic or emphasis we examined from the Bible.
Existential/Transformation: How, as Christians, are we changed by God in this area? What is God's grace doing in our lives?
Situational/Sending: What is our call to now live in response to this new reality. How are we a sent people to be on mission and proclaim/live this reality?
This was today's benediction based on a sermon in Acts chapter 9 that dealt with Paul's conversion and his radical life of faith through the gospel.
Kaleo, may you grow in faith in the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ,
May you see yourself as the children of God. That you are forgiven, that you are more loved, accepted and approved than you dare imagine.
May you go and live as the children of God, rejoicing and telling everyone the good news of what God has done.
Go in peace.
Just another crazy triperspectival idea from the Kaleo guys.
Read MoreTriperspectival Hermeneutics
David Fairchild and I spoke yesterday about a triperspectival hermeneutics. He has posted some great insight into how to use a triperspectival hermeneutic . Here is a snapshot, but I encourage you to read the whole post.
Our Triune God is omniperspectival and sees all perspectives simultaneously. This should humble us and cause us to seek other perspectives to gain a richer understanding of His truth since it shows us that we have a very limited view of things.
Prophet Perspective:
If we tend towards a prophet perspective, meaning that we are normatively and theologically inclined, we will often look at the text with a grid of systematic theology. This means that we read a passage of Scripture and almost instinctively think of the passage under its neatly categorized theological heading. We see the text as support for the bigger theological topics in an almost apologetic way.
Priest Perspective:
If we tend towards a priestly perspective, meaning that we are more often emotionally in touch and engaged, we may come to the text to see how this affects my heart, my emotions. We look at the text to “sense” what is happening within it. We may say things like “this is how it makes me feel,” or “I know it’s right intuitively, I just can’t explain it.”
King Perspective:
If we tend more towards kingly perspective, meaning that we are situationally oriented, we may come to the text with a concern for how this text applies to real life. How it is worked out practically. We look at the text to “see” what it looks like. The strength of the king is found in the ability to apply a truth to real life situations. A king will often come to the text and instinctively understand how it should look. A king may prefer discussion oriented learning rather that book learning. A king needs to get his hands on the idea and grapple with it in conversation. Kings are great at organizing structures and systems to work out the vision of the text. Kings are very creative when thinking through how to build bridges missionally to others as a church/corporation.
These are quick summaries, read the whole post at David's site including DIAGRAMS! Our brother is getting creative over there. Article: Triperspectival Hermeneutics
Read MoreTelling Gospel Stories
We speak in stories. Stories are the way people share what they really think and express who they are. Stories are the web that holds together a person's true beliefs. It is through these stories that we interact and communicate. They are the currency to exchange ideas and as such are more important than 'facts'. In an age of informational overload, Daniel Pink writes in A Whole New Mind
"When facts become so widely available and instantly accessible, each one becomes less valuable. What begins to matter more is the ability to place these facts in context…"
It is through these stories that we interact and beliefs are challenged. God reveals Himself primarily in story and Jesus often teaches through story. Christians need to understand the importance of this, including a greater understanding of their own story.
Here are three aspects of story that every Christian ought to know:
The Worldview story (Normative) : The worldview story is the driving story of a person's life. It is the story that shapes their interpretation of all things. This may be the humanist story or a postmodern story but none-the-less it interprets all other stories and life experiences. A Christian can recall when they became a Christian. Their whole life changed. This is because their worldview story changed. Christians not only have the greatest story ever told, but also each of our individual stories only make sense connected to the grand story as revealed in scripture. (Read: STORY AND BIBLICAL THEOLOGY PDF by Craig G. Bartholomew and Michael W. Goheen)
Our Person Story (Existential) : Often Christians assume their 'testimony' is simply a resume like collection of facts about their 'conversion'. This is because many Christians have a wrong view of the gospel. If we see the gospel simply as the entry into the Christian faith, our testimony is reduced to this. As we grow as Christians, our personal story includes the continual grace renewal that the gospel brings. It is the idols that, by grace, lose their grip on our lives. It is the suffering that softens our hearts to love others. It is God using circumstances to sanctify us. It is our identity being changed and conformed to the image of Christ. This is the story we speak to others daily in both word & deed. (Read: To Be Told…Know Your Story. – Dr. Dan B. Allender)
Mission & Story (Situational) : When your worldview changes and your very values and identity change, how you live will change. Loving others and sharing your story will be a natural result of your understanding of the gospel story. Anything less than this is a rejection of the Biblical story. This is because in your worldview, you will see God as a missionary god and you as a missionary too. Christians ought become great listeners as well as story tellers. We must re-think evangelism to be the sharing of our story, God's story and listening to others stories.
Listen to the Sermon: Telling Gospel Stories (MP3 & PowerPoint)
Read MoreExpository Preaching Series
Here is a series some of you preachers may be interested in, Colin Adams (Unashamed Workman) started a series, "Ten Questions for Expositors" with his first interview with Tim Keller. [HT: Reformissionary]
Read MoreSan Diego Church Conference [The Gospel Gone Public: Worldview¬?Mission¬?Preaching]
There is nothing more beautiful than to see a city transformed by the Gospel. As a fellow laborer for seeing Gospel going forth, you are invited to the next Acts 29 regional event in San Diego, The Gospel Gone Public: Worldview·Mission·Preaching on Saturday, March 31, 2007 (this Saturday). Covered at this one-day conference will be topics that affect every pastor passionate about transforming San Diego with the Gospel, including the Church’s biblical mission (how to build your church for mission), how to prepare and preach Gospel-centered messages, Gospel transformation, and much more.
Sessions:
The 12 Musts of a Missional Church
Gospel, Story, Worldview, and the Church’s Mission
Preparing & Preaching a Gospel Centered Message
Q/A with Dr. Michael W. Goheen Geneva Professor of Worldview and Religious Studies at Trinity Western University , co-author of The Drama Of Scripture: Finding Our Place In The Biblical Story and author of “As the Father Has Sent Me, I Am Sending You”: J.E. Lesslie Newbigin’s Missionary Ecclesiology.
Acts 29 Vision & Values
Learn more: San Diego Regional Acts 29 Conference
Read MoreThe Pastor as Identity-Worker
This Sunday, Steve Trout from the Kaleo Counseling Center preached a message entitled, Gospel-Centered Counseling. One idea he unpacked stuck with me:
How you see yourself tends to determine what you do & what/who you end up loving.
The Bible would agree. Think about how much time is spent on identity, new names or even (as Steve pointed out) in the 6-chapter book of Ephesians there are 20 different mentions of a Christians new identity.
Saints, the beloved, adopted, co-inheritors, Jesus workmanship, fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, a dwelling place for God…
It seems much of the work of a pastor is helping Christians believe this new reality so thoroughly it shapes how they live. Sadly, in a world where many Sunday's messages are dedicated to how to live in response to Biblical principles, the identity created is a religious people. These people must put on the outward works-based righteousness because it is the identity being told to them each Sunday.
Identity work is critical. The powerful nature of the gospel is that instead of pressing against someones will, which may lead to outward change, you can help people see they are a new man now alive in Christ. They are ambassadors, fellow heirs, saints, a dwelling place for God almighty, beloved and accepted in Jesus Christ. If more Christians believed this, how different would we live out this inward reality in how we live and love others?
Of course, many of us have to first believe this too…
Read MoreDrew Goodmanson
CEO of Monk Development creators of Ekklesia 360. Co-Founder of Kaleo Church where I served as Pastor for 8+ years and helped coach several church plants in San Diego. Co-Founder of the GCM Collective, President of the Board at the Center for Church Communication, Board Member of the Entrepreneurship Organization, Internet/Technology Advisory Chair at the Christian Leadership Alliance. Connect
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