Rural Ministries
May 2013
Transfer of knowledge
To help people
understand the Bible
To inspire people
To try to get people to do
things differently
To win the lost
Academic study
For our own ego
To hear ‘nice sermon Vicar!’
To keep people happy
Because people expect us to
To impress people
Because we enjoy study
Teaching
Didasko
Two way process,
interaction
Debate, discussion
Modelling and
demonstrating
Preaching
Kerusso and euaggelizo
One way
Proclamation
Inspiration
Herald
Engages the lost
To inspire and challenge people to become
more like Jesus
Spiritual transformation/life change
Clarify the win (sermon)
Engage the congregation
Using the passage
Reviewing
What is God saying?
(to me/the church?)
Prayer
Clarify the win (church)
Our environments (including Sunday services)
An unchurched, first time visitor has such a good
experience and finds the content so helpful that
they come again the following week and bring a
friend.
People (no matter where they are on their
spiritual journey) are engaged, they find the
subject helpful and they are inspired and
challenged to change and grow
People (no matter where they are on their
spiritual journey) are engaged, they find the
subject helpful and they are inspired and
challenged to change and grow:
Relevant
Encounter God
Gospel makes them feel uncomfortable not us
Seekers/unchurched are a top priority
Numbers in attendance will be growing
“While all Scripture is equally inspired, it’s not all
equally applicable.” Andy Stanley ‘Deep and Wide’
Most people arrive on a Sunday, just wanting to
know “does God have something to say about the
situations I am facing in my life?”
What is going to be helpful?
Knowledge and application
Planning or spontaneity
Topics or Bible books
Exegesis or story telling
Clarify the win (sermon)
Engage the congregation
Using the passage
Reviewing
What is God saying?
(to me/the church?)
Prayer
Clarify the win (church)
Objective
What is the objective for this talk?
What do you want people to know?
What do you want people to feel?
What do you want people to do?
Burden
What is my burden?
What is the tension?
Why do people need to know about this topic?
Clarify the win (sermon)
Engage the congregation
Using the passage
Reviewing
What is God saying?
(to me/the church?)
Prayer
Clarify the win (church)
Luke Chapter 15 verses 1 to 7
Who are Jesus’ audience?
What is their issue?
How does Jesus address it?
Where does the uncomfortable challenge come in the
process?
Who are Jesus’ audience?
Sinners and the religious elite – the full spiritual spectrum
What is their issue?
Why does Jesus spend time with sinners - what is God like?
How does Jesus address it?
A story that they all relate to and stirs a common emotion in
all of them - creates common ground
Where does the uncomfortable challenge come in the
process?
After he has built the common ground and emotion
Non Christians - assumptions
There will be non Christians in the congregation
Your non Christian neighbour is in the congregation
Your non Christian son is in the back row and has
decided to give church one last shot
They don’t know anything about the Bible
You can’t assume that you can justify simply by
saying “the Bible says”
Watch your jargon and language
Visitors
Don’t tell ‘in’ jokes and if you must explain!
Don’t assume people know who you are talking
about
Congregation
People are thirsty for living water
They come with all kinds of baggage and are just
asking “does God have anything to say to me and
for my situation”
Entice and bait people into a passage, roll them
in it and then send them away with one simple
idea:
Who is this about really?
What’s my burden (what is the one key thing?)
Where’s the tension
Do I own it?
Am I allowing the text to speak?
What is the burden that I am feeling?
How can I set up the tension?
How does the passage resolve the tension?
What is the challenge that God is giving:
to the non Christian?
to the new Christian?
to the person who has been a Christian for
decades?
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Offering
Unity Leave
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Setting up the talk by creating a tension
Does not seek to solve the tension
Could be performance song, clip, media,
story, activity but inclusive and
generating a common emotion
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Closer
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May include clips, media, story
Me, We, God, You, We framework to
create a tension and then look at how
God solves it, challenge
TNIV version of the Bible as standard
T1
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T2
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T3G T4 Y
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T5 WE
T1
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T2
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T3G T4 Y
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T5 WE
Introducing yourself
Introducing the theme
Building trust/showing authenticity
Starting to build the tension/question/
mystery
May include clips, performance song,
media, story
T1
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T2
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T3G T4 Y
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T5 WE
What we are thinking or feeling
Building common ground
Raising a felt need/creating tension
Involving as many people as possible
Could use media/clip/performance
song/story
T1
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T2
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T3G T4 Y
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T5 WE
Introduce biblical truth to resolve the
tension/mystery/question
Stick to one passage/story from Scripture
unless absolutely necessary
Could use clip/media/story etc. but less
likely
Referring to/reading Bible passage
T1
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T2
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T3G T4 Y
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T5 WE
Applying the scriptural truth to the
tension/issue/question you raised in the
first two sections
How does this apply to people who have
been listening, how have you resolved
the tension
Challenge people to do something
T1
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T2
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T3G T4 Y
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T5 WE
Cast a common vision of what our lives,
our church and even our world would
look like if we applied this
Inspire people to make a change
Begin to move into the response time
(could be the service leader takes over
here)
Notes
What is the one sentence that summarises the
message and that you want people to
remember?
What is the response?
Understanding how valuable we are is the start of
God’s story and the beginning of our story with God
God’s story is not about normal, it is about
extraordinary
Throughout the storylines of our lives, God is always
there and he wants to work through us to bless others
We need to stop pretending, start confessing and live
free
Timothy Keller
Worshiphousemedia.com
TheSkitguys.com
Wingclips.com
Andy Stanley
“Communicating for a
Change” and “Deep and
Wide”