January 7, 2008
Our sister site, Out of Ur, recently initiated a conversation about the potential dangers of pursuing excellence in ministry. The conversation is built upon an article that was written by Daniel Schantz for Christian Standard magazine. You can find the full article by Schantz here.
The conversation on Ur mostly focuses on big picture issues (i.e. excellence in overall programming). I'd like to hear from you all about something specific: excellence in preaching. What do you perceive are the dangers in pursuing excellence in preaching?
Posted by Brian Lowery at 9:31 AM on January 7, 2008
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The problem with the entire concept of excellence is that it's much more a business value than a biblical one. The very act of focusing on personal or corporate excellence is practicing a form of worldliness. The Bible has very little to say about excellence as a characteristic of Christian discipleship. It's distracting at best to hold up excellence, then, as a goal for discipleship.
Focusing on excellence in preaching carries the further risk of focusing more on process than proclamation. Preachers, of course, ought to preach as excellently as they can, but that doesn't mean excellence itself ought to be a congregational or professional value in ministry.
Posted by: Milton Stanley on January 8, 2008
The importance of a biblical topic is not necessarily conveyed by the amount of ink devoted to said topic. The apostle Peter makes it abundantly clear that the Christian is to supplement or add to their faith, virtue, or as in other translations, excellence. And we are to make every effort to do so. See II Pet. 1:5.
Posted by: Kevin on January 27, 2008