Today the most common method our community uses to proclaim the gospel is exhortation for the membership and lecture for the public. For many years this has been our favored approach. This was not always the case as years ago we favored private discussion, then public debate, before settling on the lecture.
Some history of preaching methods
Beginning in the mid 1800’s (see Bro. Hemingway’s series on “Scenes from the Truth in America”), there were many people struggling in a search for true Bible teaching. These pioneers examined what was currently being taught. As they diligently searched the Bible, they could see more plainly the errors in contemporary denominations and the importance of determining truth from within the word of God.
They slowly moved out of darkness into light. As Bible issues were preached and debated, many people could see for themselves the true God of scripture. At last there was a viable choice.
A zeal to be unlike other groups
As the whole Bible was carefully examined, the new-found good news became less like the other denominational beliefs. A deeper understanding of the Father and His Son was realized.
One outcome of this growing difference was arranging debates on various facets of Bible truths. Our pioneers, convinced of the truth of the Bible, responded in opposition to inherited traditions and legends. The public was drawn by this stimulating challenge and, as the record shows, some of the debates were highly successful. The public evidently enjoyed the challenge and there was a high regard for the logic of what the Bible had to say about many moral issues of life.
It is commonly acknowledged that debates did good service in that generation. But the popularity of religious debates is now a part of history. One downside of debates is that sometimes they only served to deepen the chasm between ourselves and those we were hoping to convince.
Straightforward lectures used next
As debates waned, lectures grew as our favored method of community proclamation. While not as confrontational as debates, our lectures have generally been attempts to preach and teach the word of God in a vigorous and challenging manner. We have done this because we have believed that lecturing about the Truth is the most direct way to make the public aware of the gospel message. To honestly fulfill the divine commission, we have done our best to help men and women understand who God is and what he expects of His creatures.
Our persistence in public lectures clearly indicates that:
- We are eager to tell people who we are and what we believe.
- We are aware of the needs of people and seek to answer that need by showing what the Bible has to say.
The seminar approach
Now another approach has found noteworthy acceptance: the seminar. The distinction between lecture and seminar is made clear in their dictionary definitions:
Seminar: a group of students as at a university, doing advanced work, as in original research, under an instructor.
Lecture: 1) a formal talk or address on any subject. 2) a lengthy reproof, scolding, rebuke.
Underlying concepts
When preaching effectively we should:
- Try to understand the minds of our friends.
- Try to see things from their perspective.
- Try to discover and empathize with their fears, struggles, weaknesses and needs.
- Insinuate artfully and lovingly into their lives.
- Teach them to see for themselves what the Bible says.
- Help them to see that we are fellow-travelers with them.
When preaching, we should also recognize that we are asking a person to temporarily put aside their disbelief. This is a point which deserves more extended comment.
Suspension of disbelief
All writers struggle under this process by which they must ask the reader to “suspend disbelief.” It is only by doing this that the writer can spin his tale or inform the reader about something which may benefit him. This is the same anticipation we have when we address the public. We expect them to “suspend disbelief,” so they can hear what we have to say.
This is a vitally important principle of teaching. When we speak about the Truth, the listeners must be made to feel they can trust us and, if we come across honestly and sincerely, they will listen and, hopefully, later believe. “Suspending disbelief” means the students have willingly opened their minds to us to learn what the Bible has to say about fulfilling their immediate spiritual needs.
Understanding our friend’s minds
To comprehend the thinking of those searching for truth means we have to appreciate their perspective, to discern and identify with their fears and weaknesses, their needs and struggles. To empathize with them may not be easy, for we may have never traveled on their road, and only with great difficulty can we really understand how they are thinking.
There is help available, however, if we turn to God as Jesus did, for “I will never fail you nor forsake you!” said our God. The promise of God is certain: “For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth comes knowledge and understanding” (Prov. 2:6 RSV as all quotes). And James reveals the help of a generous God: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given to him” (James 1:5).
Rely on God’s help
One thing of which Jesus was fully confident was that without God, his Father, he could do nothing. He passed on this truth to his disciples when he said: “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
Continuing in words that surely apply to preaching activities he said: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide; so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. This I command you, to love one another” (John 15:16,17).
It is abundantly clear from scripture that it is God who draws men and women to Jesus: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44).
This is God’s work and He will help us do it. When we are able to more deeply understand this wonderful reality, in terms of our responsibility toward those whom God draws to Jesus, then our calling becomes positively awesome. Paul was convinced the help promised by God was certain and speedy. Listen to the energy of his words as he wrote to the Ephesians: “Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think…” (Eph. 3:20). To the Colossians he emphatically restated the same truth: “…Holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God” (Col. 2:19).
Why seminars work
For many people, more effective than expert debate or clever “give and take” is the soft approach: the warm handshake of a loving Christian who is interested only in the eternal welfare of the visitor who, with mixed expectations, shows up at our seminars. Not sure of what to expect, they feel acutely vulnerable. It is in this circumstance we remember most vividly that it is God who draws men and women to Jesus. He is at our elbow, listening, ready to help us.
If the atmosphere is warm and friendly, then the stage is set for our working in the vineyard. From now on, there can be no doubt about the role of the Lord in this. It was the Lord who brought this person here, and it is God’s will that all men should come to Him.
Although it is true that it is God who draws, it is the individual who now stands at the crossroad and must make his own personal response to the call. Perhaps for us this is the moment of truth, for the sword has been passed to us. There can be no hesitation on our part about bringing this person to the Bible to find the real reason for his existence.
To teach someone about the viability of the word of God is truly walking in the presence of our Lord. His truth is never at a loss, nor is it superfluous — it is eternally quickening.
Nothing is as rewarding as watching the truth about God begin to sink into the opening mind of our friend. For the seeker, the struggle becomes less of a confrontation and more of a surrender to the wonder of a loving Father.
They have learned to see for themselves what the Bible has to say about confusing issues previously accepted without questioning. Becoming more comfortable with much of the Bible they didn’t understand, they know now the Bible answers its own questions.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One