Fidel: This year we will be doing nothing but seeking to give you confidence in the Word of God. #Back2TheWord
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And some more notes and links:
Posted in Ephesians, Jinsi ya, Preaching, Romans, tagged prayer letters, salvation on 08/29/2014| Leave a Comment »
Fidel: This year we will be doing nothing but seeking to give you confidence in the Word of God. #Back2TheWord
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And some more notes and links:
Posted in Discipleship, Jinsi ya, Ministry, Mission, Prayer, Preaching, Research, Servant Leadership, Theology, tagged pastoral ministry, transitions on 08/27/2014| 1 Comment »
Thanking God for a good day yesterday. Here are the notes so far:
Posted in Animism, Church, Ephesians, Eschatology, Gospel, Jinsi ya, Matthew, Mentoring, Mission, OT Narrative, Preaching, Romans, Theology, Youth ministry on 09/05/2013| 2 Comments »
What really struck me from the last few days of the ministry training course last week was the emphasis that came out on the future, eternity, our great Hope.
I’d never noticed what Fidel brought home so powerfully from 2 Tim. 4:1-2 that the number one reason to preach the word is the return of Christ. We are preaching in the last days a gospel of eternal life in view of the coming Day (cf. 2 Tim. 1:1, 10, 18; 2:10; 3:1; 4:8).
We found that the reason to put to death our ungodly desires (Col. 3:5) is because Christ, who is our life, is about to appear and we will be glorified with him (Col. 3:4).
Sammy reminded us from Job that the end comes at the end, and in the same session one of the apprentices very movingly shared how she had been through times when she desired to depart and be with Christ more than cling to this life. This in turn resonated very strongly with the account we read from John Paton’s autobiography:
At last the child literally longed to be away, not for rest, or freedom from pain — for of that he had very little — but, as he himself always put it, “to see Jesus.”
How badly do we need this powerful injection of eternity into our Christian lives and churches?
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Notes and resources:
Intro to Expository Preaching – Context
Preaching Christ from the Gospels (esp Matt)
How to manage email with filters and folders
2nd year programme:
Lessons from the life of John Paton
Doctrine of Salvation (2) – Predestination, Justification and the glory of God
Posted in Bible, Jinsi ya on 04/30/2013| Leave a Comment »
So, if we think inductive Bible studies are a good idea in our context, what about some How-To tips… The following are adapted from Richard Coekin’s Potted Proverbs:
Any other proverbs we can add?
Posted in Bible, Discipleship, Jinsi ya, Ministry on 04/28/2013| Leave a Comment »
Before we get into how to lead an inductive Bible study we need to question whether it’s worth doing, whether it’s an appropriate and justifiable method of gospel ministry in our context. Christopher Ash warns that:
An interactive Bible study is not culturally-neutral. To sit around drinking coffee with a book open, reading and talking about that book in a way that forces me to keep looking at that book and finding my place and showing a high level of mental agility, functional literacy, spoken coherence and fluency, that is something that only some of the human race are comfortable doing. Not everyone feels comfortable when the bright spark in the corner pipes up, “Ah, yes, but I was wondering about the significance of the word “However” in verse 3b. What do you think about that?” Some of us love that kind of seminar interaction, but many do not. For those who can do it, it may way be profitable; but many people can’t, and just feel daunted or excluded by the exercise. (The Priority of Preaching, p.28)
He goes on to mention that Bible study groups can also be places where “discussion substitutes for submission to the word of God” (p.29). Instead, he argues, preaching is pre-eminent as the culturally neutral way in which all people can come under the authority and grace of God’s Word. I would wholeheartedly agree with this.
The question is, does discussion necessarily mean a lack of submission to the Word? And is interactive Bible study necessarily culturally specific and exclusive?
Talking to Kenyan brothers, a few characteristics of Bible studies in our context seem to come out:
Bearing all this in mind, I think a strong case can still be made for inductive Bible study groups:
What’s your experience of Bible study groups? How much is this a cultural thing?
Posted in Eschatology, Jinsi ya, Marriage on 04/19/2013| Leave a Comment »
Things really warming up. Lots of Bible. Lots of nitty gritty. Enjoying it more and more…
Some surprising things about wisdom from Proverbs 8:
Some taboos challenged:
Pray for our final day today:
Posted in Ephesians, Jinsi ya, Job, Mission, Romans, Theology on 04/17/2013| Leave a Comment »
Covered all sorts of stuff today. Praise God for teachable humble engagement with the Word. The theme that seemed to emerge through the day was about our wretchedness and Christ’s wonderful salvation.
“Daily I abhor my sin. Daily I adore my Saviour.” (John Stott)
“I remember that this: that I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Saviour.” (John Newton)
In the morning Bible studies we were encouraged by Paul’s Christian experience in Romans 7: “Wretched man that I am! …Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord”. Then in Isaiah 6 we saw the prophet having a similar experience: “Woe is me!” (cf. the 6 woes in the previous chapter) as he see the Lord (Jesus) high and lifted up (cf. John 12) in the place of atonement.
In Job 2:11-3:26 we saw the wretchedness of Job – this time not a wretchedness from guilt but suffering as the blameless servant of God – an honest window into the dark night of the soul and ultimately a picture of Christ in Gethsemane with his useless comforters, of Christ on the Cross, enduring the forsakenness, the hopelessness of hell, suffering worse than death.
Christine introduced Augustine in 30 minutes and it came out clearly that most of the heresies the great pastor-theologian fought (Manichaeism, Donatism, Pelagianism) had an insufficient appreciation of human (and Christian) sinfulness (and there are certainly assumptions in that direction in our Kenyan context). Augustine, through his reading of the Scriptures and his own experience knew the true wretchedness of the human condition.
Then Harrison led the most meaty session of the day as we grappled with the doctrine of salvation, especially from Ephesians 2, seeing again the wretchedness of our natural state and the wonder of our sovereign deliverance in Christ – from hell to heaven. (Harrison’s paper on the doctrine of salvation written when he was an apprentice himself in 2006 is here).
After a Jinsi Ya on Interview Preparation Skills, Sammy gave us some very helpful guidance on being Steadfast in the workplace.
Finally we looked again at Ephesians and found that Paul’s mission was…
Pray for today (Wednesday):
Posted in Bible, Jinsi ya, Preaching on 03/14/2013| Leave a Comment »
Sammy shared this with us at the last Ministry Training on How (or When) to use a commentary:
When I learnt that there are certain writings known to us as commentaries, I was kind of, “Mmmh alright no more struggles in preparing sermons! I can copy-paste.” That meant I could simply ride on other people’s ideas. No more good and hard thinking. After all the commentary will do it for me. That was really bad thinking and bad practise too. Because with that kind of thinking, I never read the passage thoroughly – I just read once and went to open the commentary. That made me lazy. I did not need a lot of time to prepare a sermon. What do you make of that?
Even worse, it’s very easy to read others sermons on internet and then copy-paste, pray and preach. That’s not good at all, is it? There is no short cut to faithful preaching!
David Cook in Teaching Acts, has some very helpful wisdom:
Too often as preachers we let the commentaries do our thinking for us. Under pressure, we immediately go to the commentaries, without first thoughtfully reading the text itself. If that is our ‘method’, our preaching is likely to be a regurgitation of the commentator’s thoughts on a passage. The result is powerless preaching. Read the text thoroughly and thoughtfully, using different translations, and only then consult the commentaries for extra insights, clarification etc. (p10)
Listening to the text is the right kind of engagement with biblical text. It is a careful and methodical activity, but never a forensic exercise! In his book, Working the Angles, Eugene Peterson reminds us that we approach the inspired Word of God, not as cool analysts, but as passionate hearers! The former approach will have us taking a tool kit to the text; the latter (and right approach) will first find us prayerfully meditating on the text (Ps. 1) and then, appropriately and sensitively, picking up our analytical tools. In human interaction, we learn most by asking the right questions and listening patiently to the answers. The careful reader of Scripture will ask questions like:
What is the author saying? Why does he say it like this? Why does he say it like this in this context? What did it mean to the first readers? What does it mean now? What should I do about it?- What pictures is he using?
All these are useful questions to guide reflection. Your own personal discoveries will lead to a more passionate presentation and a renewed freshness in your preaching.
Having engaged with the text in this way, it would then be appropriate to consult the commentaries. (p. 35)
So the first answer to how to use a commentary is – not until you’ve done many hours of passionate, prayerful listening.
Posted in Culture, Jinsi ya on 12/18/2012| 2 Comments »
After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding… (Luke 2:46-47)
Harrison shared the following with us at the training last week:
Questions can be categorized into two basic groups, open and closed. For more on this see Gary Lockwood’s, How to Ask Intelligent Questions with Impact.
In practical steps…
Note: Africans and westerners approach questions differently. Whereas simple open questions communicate interest in the west, Africans perceive this as interrogation. More often than not Africans will offer information on what they wish the other person to talk about whereas westerners will expect them to ask questions. Africans feel awkward with short succinct answers (which seem disinterested or unfriendly) so delve into long-winded descriptions and this comes across as insincere to westerners (as if hiding something). This can be very frustrating on both ends hence need for cross cultural sensitivity.
For more see Daniel Wendler’s, Invitation: The Art of Good Questions in Conversation on the ‘Improve Your Social Skills’ site.