Preaching for Church Renewal

From The Forum Magazine, Spring 2015 - view the full issue here

Twenty-one years ago this spring I received a phone call asking if I could preach the following Sunday at a congregation facing a challenging situation. The caller was on a steering committee attempting to keep a church alive after the past Sunday’s announcement that the majority of the congregation and the entire leadership team, minus one, were immediately leaving to form a new, non-denominational ministry.

What do you preach to a handful of discouraged believers the first Sunday after a painful separation? I chose Acts 15:36-41, recalling Paul and Barnabas’s separation prior to the second missionary journey. The message was entitled “When Christians Part Company.” I pointed out that believers sometimes separate in less than optimal ways, but even in the messiness of parting God always has a greater plan. Through parting God multiplied kingdom possibilities, developed new leaders, and clarified calling.

Within weeks that congregation invited me to join them on a renewal journey as their pastor. This past January I completed two decades of service to this revitalized congregation that has become a significant missional outpost. At the farewell, some mentioned how that first Sunday’s message lifted them from momentary despair to a renewed sense of hope and calling.

That message is illustrative of preaching for renewal. Preaching for renewal is intentional preaching that strengthens congregations and shapes a vision for a God-preferred future. Statistically, most pastors preach to congregations in need of renewal. In North America more than 80 percent of churches have plateaued or are in decline, meaning that four out of five preachers serve in a renewal context.

The pulpit is the most important tool in a renewal pastor’s toolbox. Preaching has the power to change the atmosphere and help journey to mission. Peter reminded his readers that they had been renewed by the enduring Word of God that had been preached to them (I Peter 1:23-25). So what are the characteristics of preaching that renews?

Hope-Filled

First, renewal preaching is hope-filled; revitalization preachers broker in hope. They believe God’s work is not finished in this world or in this place. Hope-filled pastors preach as Haggai preached to disappointed temple builders who saw the sad foundations of their post-exilic temple and recalled the formerly magnificent house of God, constructed under Solomon’s leadership. Haggai’s sermon to the rebuilders was God’s promise: “My Spirit remains among you. Do not fear” (Haggai 2:3-5).

Hope-filled preachers root this hope in Scripture, not in optimism. Think of Cleopas and his traveling companion … disappointed, discouraged on a slow walk to Emmaus. Then Jesus comes from behind, reminds them of Scripture’s promises, breaks bread, and reveals himself. Suddenly, despair turns to hope and joy. God’s biblical promises are the roots of hope.

Of course, preaching hope doesn’t deny reality. Naming reality is among the most important responsibilities of renewal preachers. Renewal pastors always say what is so. But they always say what is so through the eyes of faith.

Bible-Based

Hope-filled preaching changes the atmosphere and helps journey to mission. This is also true of a second characteristic of renewal preaching, which is that it must be Bible-based. Renewal depends on life-transforming biblical teaching. Cally Parkinson, author of MOVE: What 1000 Churches Reveal about Spiritual Growth, says that imbedding the Bible in everything is among the five best practices advancing a congregation’s spiritual growth (the other four are getting people moving, creating ownership, pastoring the local community, and developing Christ-centered leadership). Biblical teaching stimulates renewal in a congregation. That’s what Nehemiah discovered.

Nehemiah orchestrated one of the greatest turnarounds of all time. In 52 days he coordinated the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls (which had lain in ruins for 142 years). But renewal did not come when the structures were completed. So Nehemiah built a high wooden platform at Water Gate and the people assembled. Ezra the priest climbed the tall timber pulpit and read the law from sunrise to noon. Meanwhile, Levites milled among God’s people, explaining the law and its application to life.

During those morning hours a revival broke out. People began to weep and repent, sometimes uncontrollably. Nehemiah declared the day sacred to the Lord and sent the people home to enjoy choice food and sweet drinks because “the joy of the Lord is our strength.” The study of God’s Word creates a revival where structures cannot.

Renewal preachers teach a congregation to love the Word, engage the Word, and be shaped by the Word. Renewal pastors encourage reaching for Bibles, opening Bibles, and marking Bibles. Renewal preachers are the Levites milling among God’s people with Bible in hand, “making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people could understand what was read” (Nehemiah 8:8). Bible-based sermons that renew are expository (the theme of the sermon is the theme of the text) and tip toward expositional (the structure of the sermon reflects the structure of the text).

Gospel-Centered

Hope-filled and Bible-based sermons have the power to change the atmosphere and help journey to mission. Gospel-centered sermons also make this possible. The goal of renewal is more than creating healthy congregations that survive another day. The goal of renewal is transforming lives and communities for Christ. Congregations are on a path to renewal when people are being brought from despair to hope, guilt to forgiveness, defeat to victory, bondage to deliverance, anger to love, rebellion to obedience, and death to life.

Only the Gospel has the power to transform a life. Paul writes in Romans 1:16, “I’m not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.” The Gospel is God’s dunamis (his dynamite) that blows through hearts of stone, leaving behind hearts of flesh.

Gospel preaching is God’s dynamite of choice. Jesus commissioned the apostolic church to “go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation” (Mark 16:15). Gospel preaching is preaching saturated with the story of Jesus. It declares the necessity of placing faith in his finished work. It promises new life for all who trust him. It declares that this new life is made possible through the indwelling of his Holy Spirit. Renewal pulpits proclaim that Gospel Sunday after Sunday.

Good Gospel preachers perfect a personal approach to communicating that Gospel in a clear and compelling way. When a renewal preacher develops a way of sharing the Gospel and sticks with it week after week, that pastor teaches the congregation from a Sunday morning pulpit how to share the Gospel from a Monday morning pulpit.

Sadly, many sermons contain little Gospel. In fact, some sermons preach a contra-Gospel. A contra-Gospel is a moralistic self-help message. Much of what is called “Christian preaching” is motivational speaking attached to the Bible. Renewal preachers preach the Gospel and this Gospel preaching changes the atmosphere and helps journey to mission.

Quality-Infused

There is another important aspect of preaching that renews: it is quality-infused. Quality-infused sermons are critical in renewal congregations because they are often on a short list of things going well. Music may be sub-par. Programming may be non-existent. And fellowship may be a small reflection of what has been. But at least there’s a quality sermon. Additionally, visitors often decide on future returns based on a present message. 

Someone described a quality sermon as having thoughts that breathe and words that burn. Breathing thoughts and burning words are great goals. One thing is sure: quality-infused sermons are never an endurance contest. Sermons should be twenty minutes or feel like twenty minutes.

Quality-infused sermons are interesting sermons, and interesting sermons are preached by interesting people. Interesting pastors read widely, travel broadly, enjoy recreation and hobbies regularly, connect with people significantly, and enter into suffering willingly.

Quality-infused sermons are especially marked by three characteristics: they are clear, they are compelling, and they are connected to life. Quality-infused sermons change the atmosphere and help journey to mission.

Vision-Oriented

Finally, preaching that renews is vision-oriented. Renewal sermons paint a picture of God’s preferred future. Kevin Adams, a church planter in Granite Springs, California, calls this “Preaching Toward Shalom.” It’s preaching that paints a compelling picture of what life could be if God’s kingdom were on earth as it is already in heaven. Preaching toward shalom increases a congregation’s thirst for a God-filled tomorrow that begins with Spirit-empowered decisions today.

Renewal pastors regularly preach “I Have a Dream” sermons that envision what can and should be if we’ll only have sufficient faith, sufficient vision, sufficient obedience, sufficient strength, sufficient abiding, and sufficient humility to follow God into mission.

A Final Word

A number of years ago I attended a leadership conference at a leading North American church. For two days the why and what of this missional ministry were examined. Near the close, the senior pastor invited attending pastors to join him for a private conversation. When the doors were shut he said, “It’s the preaching.”

Many factors contribute to changing the atmosphere and journeying to mission in renewal congregations, but none is greater than hope-filled, Bible-based, Gospel-centered, quality-infused, and vision-oriented preaching.

(written by Keith Doornbos)