Preaching – Page 10

Tag: Preaching

How to preach at church camps

25 June 2013 blogpastor 2 Comments

Sought after church camp speaker

One of the most popular speakers for church camps must be Pastor Benny Ho. He took our camp at Batam this year and mentioned that he had six camps to do during the June holidays. The theme he spoke to us was “Life on the Top” – a series of four messages that speaks to life issues. He also gave the young people an informal workshop on dating and courtship. We were blessed. I was curious about what he thought about speaking at church camps and how it was different from church service sermons and what speakers needed to take note.

Things to note

One of the important things is to be aware of is the physical and mental state of people during a camp. The ups and downs of energy and interest levels have to be observed and given attention to. He found that using humor is a help as it catches and maintains attention levels when campers get tired. Camp talks have to facilitate an encounter with God, as that is what people are positioned for and need during a camp. People have taken time out of busy studies or work, and they are more ready to hear God and experience him. The concentrated time allows for a theme to be fully developed and expanded. It would also be good for the camp speaker to work closely with the pastor and help the church rally together and work in unity for the common good. This would entail mixing around with the people and getting to know them too, especially during meal times.

Some personal observations

His preaching was well-received by the campers. I observed his preaching during the camp and here are some things I noted down. Trust this might be helpful when you get invited to do a church camp somewhere:

Topical (more accessible, I suppose) though two years ago he did an expository series on Joel with us
Clear, coherent and easy to follow outline
Pithy quotations from well-known writers and preachers or anonymous sources.
Apt use of words and synonyms and a sprinkling of original Greek or Hebrew
Stories: here is where humor is most evident
Backed up points with Scripture texts
Use of some facts, statistics and research
Put notes in people’s hands

Dr Tan Lai Yong: a prophetic sign of kingdom life

27 May 2013 blogpastor 2 Comments

Preaching is not about words alone. It is refreshing if you are a wordsmith and use words that are not tired, and fire up the imagination, and stir and move holy feelings. However it is more powerful when your words are simplicity itself, but the way you lived your life conveys torrents of life-changing meaning. It conveys an eloquent grace that invites you to change, to follow.Our church had the joy of sitting under such a preacher. Well, he may not be trained in the conventional way: seminary, but he has been so mastered by the Lord over his many decades of following Christ in His way, and this is what really makes a preacher. It’s not about preaching techniques in the final analysis, though certainly this should not be ignored. It’s essentially about imparting life. So our preacher this Sunday was Dr Tan Lai Yong and he poured out not an eloquent sermon, but his life: a spirit of kingdom counter-culture; a prophetic sign of the kingdom life that has already come to us in Jesus – one that is missional, joy-filled and compassionate. I was blessed not with words and a three points outline, but was enriched in spirit. Even after the sermon, in our hearts, there is that continuous invitation to live the kingdom life that Jesus died to offer us freely.

Watch some of his videos here in this Google link, or you may prefer reading about his life (featured in Singapore Medical Association October 2011 magazine issue).

Worship services that facilitates the Spirit’s transforming power

2 October 2012 blogpastor 2 Comments

The presentations I had to do went well today and now I can pause to write before I continue working on my Sunday sermon and the post-campus assignment.

One of the interesting readings of this module is a Christian Education Journal article (3.vol4, No.2) titled “Teaching Bible for Transformation” by Jackie L. Smallbones from Northwestern College.

Transformation inextricably linked to purpose of Bible

Smallbones’ big idea is that to teach in such a way that people’s lives are transformed we need to take seriously the primary purpose of the Bible. The Bible primary purpose is to reveal God, and only secondarily to show us how to live. The way the Bible is used popularly today, both from the pulpit and in the small groups, the secondary purpose has supplanted the primary. Preachers and people move too swiftly into the applications that focus on what we should do and how we are to apply the truth in our life. Not sufficient time is given to let the text speak and reveal who God is and what He has done. The anthropocentric focus often deters a theocentric priority.

“Transformation is God’s business”

For Smallbones, transformation is a radical change that comes from deep within a person and is lasting. It is growth in Christ-likeness. For her, “Transformation is God’s business and not our own” (Smallbones, 2007) and it often takes place by grace, despite our efforts or teaching methodology. To Smallbones, the secret of transformation lies in having a dynamic, living, interactive relationship with God. No self-disclosure, no friendship; no friendship, no transformation. God’s desire to reveal Himself and have a transforming friendship with us is embedded in the purpose of the Bible. Therefore we need to teach it in such a way that it reveals who God is and what He has done, and elicit a response of gratitude, worship and faith. It makes you want to have a friendship with God, one that in the end would empower you with the grace to do all that a response of faith entails, and one that will transform you beyond surface behavioral cosmetics, and touch you at the roots of your personality.

Exploring a worship service that facilitates transformation

I like what I read in the article and there are many more stuff she has written that is thought provoking and resonant of what the Lord has been teaching me these several years. The question that begs to be answered then is what would a worship service look like that reveals God and invites us into experiential and living encounter and growing friendship with Him. Well for one, the lyrics of the songs we sing would be theocentric. They will exalt and reveal who God is and what He has done, and is doing. Some time could be given for “testimony” where someone could share how God has been real to them. The sermon should constantly have a theocentric focus that exalts God, and should lead people naturally and finally into deep trust, adoration of God, and experiential communion with Him. Instead of focusing on the faith of David, the cowardice of the Israelites, and the blasphemy of Goliath in the sermon, focus on the God who honors His covenant, and waits for someone to dare believe in Him, in order to deliver His people. See Christ defeat of Satan in David’s defeat of Goliath and how we are more like the people of Israel who rejoiced at the victory, than like David. We sat in fear, darkness and oppression until the One greater than David appeared and set us free (got this idea from Graame Goldsworthy).

Silence and holy communion

Another way to create space for the Lord to transform by friendship is the use of silence. Silence is the womb of communion. So have silence before the service begins; or a silent pause or two between or at the end of singing praises; at the offering time; silence for the gifts of the Spirit to manifest; at a pregnant moment in the sermon or a longer silence after the sermon; or during the Holy Communion; and hey, why not a long pause just before the benediction. And of course talking about Holy communion, that visible ritual that proclaims the Lord’s death until He returns, why not do it more often than the conventional once a month.