With all the cultural sensitivity among evangelicals, there is a lot of talk about the form and shape of church as well as sermons. What role does the sermon play in our world today? What about the role it plays even the lives of the average believers?
In a post on the Out of Ur blog, David Fitch offers some thoughts on current preaching myths, and the beginnings of some thoughts on where preaching ought to be headed. Part of what he says in the way of direction:
The bottom line is once we preach for formation, where God’s truth is birthed in and among us, we become shaped for his mission in the world. We can see things we didn’t see before. We act out of assumptions we didn’t have before. We imagine what God is doing in ways not possible before. And a little congregation becomes a powder-keg for mission and the harvesting of fields ready for the gospel.
I can appreciate the importance of this insight. I have made a deliberate effort almost every sermon for a couple of years now to pay attention to the “spiritual formation angle.” And all I mean by that is that I try and answer the prophetic question – how do we now engage with God’s character and will in this particular area? We preach the truth of God’s word, and we strive to bring people into spiritual spaces where they want to and will encounter God.
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