In parts two and three of this blog series, Leighton Ford shared how the gospel can be shared in fresh and visible ways. In this entry, he shares how the gospel can be made credible, winsome, and strong.
"My name is Bill, and I'm an alcoholic." That would be my friend Bill speaking. Bill has been a member of Alcoholics Anonymous since his early teens. Bill and I have spoken together at outreach sessions, telling our stories from such different backgrounds, but with the same experience of God's grace.
Bill often reminds me, "There's no seniority in AA." At an AA meeting it doesn't matter whether someone has been sober (or struggling) for 30 years or 30 days. They all know they need God and each other. Realness counts.
When writing this article, I asked people of different ages what would make a preacher effective. One word stood out again and again: authenticity. They use that word, I believe, not in the popular sense of expressing one's "authentic inner self," but in the classical sense of sincerity, reality, being what we present, a genuine product of God, a true "letter from Christ."
Graham Johnston, pastor at Subiaco Church of Christ in Perth, Australia, says preaching in the unchurched Aussie culture has taught him a lot.
By far the most important quality there, he has found, is the trust factor. Authority in a postmodern culture comes not out of position, role, or title but from the ethos of the preacher, as a good, believable person.
"I don't see my role as providing ready answers to people," he explains. "That is much more of a modernity model. I see my preaching as much more of a process, creating a sense of openness, hoping seekers will see a person who will journey with them. I want to unpack propositional truth in a way that they will see where it comes from. Ask them to suspend disbelief for a while. And then, even if they don't buy what we believe, they will say: this person respected me, showed me how they got there. I'm willing to come again."
Johnston tells of a young woman, a recovering heroine addict who walked into church one Sunday. At the end of the service she said, "You need to know I'm an atheist. I don't believe any of this rubbish."
"It took a lot of courage for you to come here, Becky," Graham responded.
Becky kept coming. Four months later she passed by him on the way out of church, her arms crossed, and said, "You said some good things."
Fifteen months later Becky gave her own story as part of one of Graham's sermons, and told the congregation, "I came here as an atheist. Now I'm baptized. And I really love Jesus."
Posted by Brian Lowery at 8:00 AM on July 15, 2008
