Moving Toward Application
“To succeed in application we must not only exegete the text; we must also exegete our world. Unfortunately, this is precisely where many church leaders fall short. Pastors and church leaders often know a lot about Scripture but very little about the currents of contemporary life. Locked away in their studies, they live in relative isolation, largely unacquainted with the lives of people to whom they minister. Consequently, pastors and teachers often pursue relatively unimportant issues as they apply Scripture. Since they know little about the matters that confront modern believers, they end up approaching the Old Testament with their own needs in mind. Teenagers hear sermons that actually speak to the interests of their middle-age pastor. Business people learn esoteric theological distinctives and never hear how to live for Christ in the marketplace. Nothing could be more debilitating to application than to be isolated from the world of those to whom we minister.”
- He Gave Us Stories by Richard Pratt
May 15, 2008 at 12:21 pm
i would certainly agree. Thankfully, I have been a part of a couple of churches where the pastor does seem very interested in the culture and it shows in his preaching.
So, what does the church do with a pastor who misfires on application?
First, is the church even aware what is missing? Two, does the elderboard, pastor committee, or whatever oversight committee exists encourage the pastor. Does this include beginning to read outside his interests or visit the blog world? I would be curious about your thoughts on proactive steps that can be taken by the church or the pastor who knows he is out of touch but doesn’t know what to do about it or is afraid of stepping out of his comfort zone.
May 15, 2008 at 1:56 pm
I think you should go to a saturday night service at Lutheran Church of Hope. I think you would really like the way Pastor Mike Householder does his sermons.