Willem Van Gemeren helps us understand “why” when he comments on the modern evangelical church’s approach to interpretation: “The community worships, but individuals feed their own soul. The polarization of community and the individual is regrettable and can lead only to an impoverishment of the Christian community. Real dialogue takes place when the church as a whole and the individual Christian relate at the same level to the biblical text.”

How, then, can we prepare sermons in community? Here are a few of my ideas. I’d appreciate reading yours as well.

1. Study sessions with other pastors – On two occasions in the last decade, an area pastor and I have preached through the same blocks of Scripture at the same time. Once, we worked through the ‘Ten Commandments’ together. Later, we worked through the Gospel of Mark. On both occasions, we did our own exegesis early in the week and then met together on Wednesday to share insights and discuss critical questions. My pastor-friend and I experienced the sharpening to which Proverbs 27:17 refers on both a personal and an exegetical level.

2. Preparation time as a team of staff or elders – The concept is to get the most godly leaders in your church or ministry to collaborate. This is especially helpful in thinking through where a congregation is spiritually. What needs to they have? Where is Christ-formation not taking place? It occurs to me that pastors who work individually on sermon preparation at least get the benefit of community insight at an exegetical level because they look at commentaries. Yet these commentators cannot help them wrestle with the spiritual needs of their particular congregation. That’s why it can be valuable to devote an hour or two each week to meeting with a team who can think together about the bearing of a passage on the life of a faith-community.

3. Focus groups with members of the congregation – I like to mix it up and use a different kind of community approach with each series. One time, it might be with another pastor. Another time, I’ll involve staff or elders. But sometimes, I like to get six to eight people in the congregation to study the text with me and to wrestle with how it applies to Christian living. I’m always stunned by how believers who lack formal training can possess such keen insights into the text, as well as into life.