Leadership Development Profiles (Leadership Series 4 of 6)

Leadership Profile

In this section, we're going to take a look at the leader's profile or the leadership competency profile. This is one component of another leadership development model called the competency model or outcome based model. The idea of the leader profile is clearly defining what a mature, effective church leader looks like. Seeking to avoid the concept if you aim at nothing, you hit it every time, the concept here is that it's vitally important in leadership development to have a clear understanding of what that end goal or what we might say the end product of a mature leader actually looks like. If it is not defined and clearly understood, it inevitably will not be accomplished.

Now, this is just a general survey for you. There's the leadership competency profile, which is the starting point where the leader understands the goal that is being moved toward. Then, there is the leader assessment, which is a comparison and a contrast of the individual leader's competencies with those in the ideal leadership profile in terms of a holistic list of competencies that we will come back to. Then, based on that assessment, there is an acute realization always of particular areas that need to be focused on more than others. That then is the primary focus of the learning methods. Here, we will look at the concept of a learning covenant or a learning contract to give specificity and focus to the development of the leader under the oversight of a supervisor or a mentor.

Then, of course, if the learning methods have been effective, which usually they're not, but if they have been, then there will be outcomes. The concept here is that the goal is not just simply teaching, but the goal is learning. As you heard me say earlier, the goal of teaching is to make learning possible. Therefore, the concept of evaluating the measurable outcomes of the learning methods that have been employed is vital to the development process because once there has been an evaluation of learning outcomes, then there can be an ongoing called an iterative process, an ongoing process by which the leader profile is revised as well as the assessment and even the learning methodologies. This is the overarching concept, and we're going to be diving more deeply into this first session right here. We're going to be diving more deeply into this first area in this session called the leader profile.

Now, this leadership competency profile is made up of three categories of competencies. One would be character competencies, the concept of spiritual maturity. The other would be ministry competencies, the idea of ministry skills. Then, knowledge competencies, in particular for ministry development, we're looking here at knowledge competencies in the areas of Biblical studies, theological studies, and practical studies. As you are probably familiar by now, you can see how these different aspects of character and skills and knowledge are all, in many ways, overlapping and are meant to converge in the heart or the soul of the leader as the leader is being developed.

Now, let's dive more deeply now and take a look at each one of these in particular, starting with the character competencies. Those are clearly given to us in scripture, often overlooked. It's amazing how, I have said so many times already in this series, that God has condescended to inscripturate a literal job description of what a church leader is supposed to look like in the New Testament. It's just embarrassingly neglected in the development of leaders. I've listed here 20-some competencies that we'll put in the category of character competencies in 1 Timothy 3. As you go on in Titus 1 and then also other passages in 2 Timothy and Acts 2, Acts 20, Hebrews 13, you can see 20 or so other character competencies. Here, we see why one of the fundamental theses of this particular course is that character is primary in leadership development. Now, this is why.

That would be character competencies in terms of spiritual maturity. Now, let's look at ministry competencies in light of ministry skills. Now, before we do that, I want to try to help you understand that what we're looking at here would be more in the area of social science. Studies of effective leaders, be in profit or nonprofit organizations, churches, or businesses, the concepts still apply what is an effective leader. All truth is God's truth. General revelation just has to be interpreted properly as does special revelation. The model that I am showing you here is based on decades of research. One particular organization did over 30 years of study, the Association of Theological Schools, which is an accreditation agency for most seminaries and colleges, theological colleges in the West, in the United States. These general revelation insights are brought to us by these kinds of studies of effective leaders over decades of research. We have been able to see now over time statistical validation of this research. Let's just take a look at these.

Notice that there is an overlap. Just as we saw in Scripture the importance of integrity and spirituality and the family, we should expect that general revelation, studies of effective church leaders would see an overlap of exactly those things, but you can also see that you have a broader set of competencies drawn from special revelation or the social science studies of effective leaders here. This is the second category. Between 15 and 20, again, here. Now, there are 95 competencies in all in this leadership model. So far, you've seen the character competencies and the ministry competencies. Now, let's look at the knowledge competencies of Bible, theology, and practical.

In terms of the Biblical knowledge competencies, that would historically and traditionally a knowledge of Biblical content from Old Testament courses, New Testament courses on different books of the Bible. Theological would be traditionally systematic theology. A subset of that is often Biblical theology as well as the study of church history. Then, in practical, you see the application of the Biblical and theological to life in the context of ministry through, I've listed several here for you, prayer, evangelism, discipleship, missions, preaching, teaching, leadership, personal ethics, church development, counseling, and social ethics, just to name some of the more foundational concepts where a church leader needs to have these knowledge competencies.

To look at these more specifically under Bible content, just to give you an example. Bible content, the mature leader knows and demonstrates how to apply Old Testament, New Testament content to real life and ministry. In terms of Bible languages, knows and demonstrates how to use the original languages in preparation for effective teaching and preaching. Then, in Bible interpretation, knows and demonstrates how to apply sound principles and methods of Bible interpretation in preparation for effective teaching and preaching. Now, in the area of doctrine, Bible doctrine, knows and demonstrates how to apply systematic and Biblical theology to real life and ministry.

Apologetics and philosophy, knows and demonstrates how to defend the Christian faith against false religions and philosophies. Then, in church history, knows and demonstrates how to apply practical insights to today's issues drawn from the development of Bible doctrine and church mission in history.

What I want you to notice here with all of these, even the knowledge competencies, I want you to notice the critical importance of how every category, even in the knowledge competencies, is actually defined in terms of not just the knowledge itself but the application of that knowledge to life and ministry. This is the first component of five, the leadership competency profile. After this session, we will then take a deeper look at the concept of leadership assessment to compare and contrast one's own competencies with the model to determine those particular areas where learning methods need to be developed and then learning outcomes measured and the process continuing from there.

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Leadership Assessment

In this section, we will be looking at the Leaders Assessment. This is the second component of the five components in this leadership development model that we are doing a survey of called a competency, or an outcome based model. Last time we looked at the leader profile. That is what does a mature leader look like, the concept of starting with the end in mind, clearly defined. Then we come to this component called leader assessment, which will be the focus of this session, and then after the assessment is made, learning methods are implemented. This includes a learning contract that we will look at more deeply in the next lesson, and it also includes the application and implementation of what's called andragogy adult learning methods or adult learning principles.

And, then the outcomes are actually evaluated, and the discrepancies that are found, the areas that were not successfully developed. Then go back into the process, not only often to impact the learning methods, but also the leadership profile and the assessment process itself. So with that overview, let's drill more deeply now into this second component called leadership assessment. Now, in the assessment process, what we are doing again by review is assessing three categories of competencies, character, ministry and knowledge of Biblical theological and practical competencies. This assessment is called a 360 assessment, which means that you are seeking feedback or assessment responses from people that actually encircle you. Examples would be you want a supervisor, someone who is over you or who has been over you in the past, such as an employer, some leader that you have been under.

Laterally, it would be feedback and assessment from your spouse if you're married or an associate, someone who has worked alongside you, and then a subordinate. This would be if you were an employer, someone who was an employee as you were or are as a subordinate of a supervisor. Now, to understand what the process actually looked like online, I want you to notice here that you will be sent a link that will bring you to a webpage that looks like this, and here you'll see some introductory comments telling you that this has been designed to take less than 30 minutes. Although you may take as long as you'd like, it consists of 95 questions in the three categories that we have surveyed, character, skill, and knowledge. And, the assessment can only be taken once and all of your answers will be kept confidential and your assessors, your references will also be honored by their responses being kept confidential as well.

Although you will see a collective average of all of them together in the bar graphs that I'll show you in just a second, but before we go to that notice in the lower left, when you come to this page, you will choose the menu at the bottom left part of the page and as you noticed the arrow there, you would actually click on person being assessed. And when you send this link to these people, they too will get this same page, but as you can see in the fall down or drop down menu that they would choose spouse, associate, supervisor, or subordinate, and I think there's also an other category on there as well. And so, what you are doing as well as these other people is actually going through, you are actually going through these 95 questions and they are too, and you were doing a self-assessment while they are doing their own assessment and then you will be able to compare the results.

Now, before we look at what the comparison will look like, what the analysis sheets will look like, let me just give you an example of the three categories of what the actual online assessment looks like. Character competencies assessment. This one, as you can see here, if you'll look where the arrow is, these are the questions from first Timothy three. Every particular competency has the Greek term there with it, and a one sentence definition. The same with ministry competencies in terms of a one sentence definition, and you can see the scale of one to five from strongly disagree to strongly agree. And then there are the knowledge competencies as well that we reviewed. And you can see the same continuum in the same categories. Now, after you have filled this out and all of your references have also filled it out, you will receive a profile report, a pdf file via email, and the cover page will look something like this, and then you will have an analysis of all of the responses of those who have assessed you.

Here's an example in terms of a character competency assessment. This character competency, as you can look at the bottom left part of the page is hospitality. And if you will notice the bar graphs, notice that the scale of the Y axis over on the left side of the page zero, one, two, three, shows that there were four respondents. You were one of them, so that means you gave yourself either an agree or strongly agree, and the other three people who took this assessment, also one of them agreed with you, and then two of them went into the other category of either agree or strongly agree. In terms of ministry competencies here's another example of the ministry competency of prayer knows, demonstrates and can affectively equip others to be devoted to personal family group and corporate prayer.

Notice here a different division of those who have evaluated and assessed you. One disagreed, two neutral, and one agreed, and you were one of those four responses and knowledge competencies the same. This is the knowledge competency of Bible interpretation in terms of knowing and demonstrating how to apply sound principles and methods of Bible interpretation, and preparation for effective teaching and preaching. Notice that two responses were neutral. One was agreed, one was strongly agree and again, you were one of those four. And so, what we have seen so far is we have looked at the leadership competency profile and then we have just reviewed the process by which you are able to assess your own competencies and see similarity, and dissimilarity, with that profile by looking at your own responses as well as those who know you the best, above you laterally, besides you, and those who work for you or under you.

Then in the articles to come, we will look at learning methods that, how to take the results of this assessment and turn them into a learning contract that can be executed using adult learning principles. And then we'll learn a bit more detail about how to evaluate the outcomes to see whether the objectives were actually accomplished and measurable means of determining that. And then entering into this as an ongoing process of evaluation and implementation, that becomes more of a way of life.

Leadership Development Models (Leadership Series 3 of 6)

In this article, we're going to be taking a look at leadership development models. We're seeking to answer the question, how does a church leader develop greater personal maturity and ministry effectiveness?

There are several models that have been developed, two that actually are focusing on the same practical applications would be one by Ted Ward called the Fence Model, one by Robert Clinton called the Railroad Track model. Both of these models are communicating three very fundamental dynamics that are almost always a part of effective leadership development.

We'll use Clinton's model, the Railroad Track, for this session. Those three dynamics are number one, instruction. This is either in a formal or non-formal environment where you learn concepts or ideas or principles or doctrines. The second dynamic is experience. This is actually being in the field doing ministry experience, and then this really the most significant because you can actually have instruction and no experience. Or you can have experience and no instruction, or you can have both of them going on at the same time but not connecting.

That's often the problem with traditional field education. What's being learned in the classroom, one set of concepts and ideas, and yet, the experience on the field is not connected to the concepts or the theology or whatever the principles are in the classroom. And so, the real key dynamic here is the idea of periodic reflection and application with a mentor or a coach or a supervisor, and this doesn't necessarily need to be one person. It could be several.

But the concept is, periodic times where, to use another metaphor, someone helps you connect the dots between the theory and the reality of your experience. You may recall my reference to a quote I like very much from John Frame, "Theology is application. If it does not edify, it is worthless." And the concept here would instruction in theory or concepts or ideas or doctrine that is not actually applied to life, and ministry is worthless.

Now what's interesting is when studies have been done of Jesus' development of the disciples, it's very, very clear that as Robert Coleman says this first quote, "His concern was not with programs to reach the multitudes, but with men whom the multitudes would follow." And there's much to learn from his methodology of developing leaders. Coleman goes on to say, "Having called his men, Jesus made a practice of being with them. This was the essence of his training program, just letting his disciples follow him."

Coleman goes on to say, "Knowledge was gained by association before it was understood by explanation." And then one more excerpt from his book 'Master Plan of Evangelism', "If we do not make the journey from theories and ideals to concrete situations, then the concrete situations will be lost under a smog of words." You can see here that, although Coleman might not even be familiar with this model, he is making the same point, and that is, knowledge must be connected with experience normally under a mentor or a coach or a supervisor in the field. 

Now, it's very interesting when you look at this passage in Acts 4. It's somewhat striking as you think of education and ministry preparation. In Acts 4 we read, "Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John," and now note this, "and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished." And then notice this next phrase, and or but, it could translated, "They recognized that they had been with Jesus." What a contrast between those who are formally educated and have not been with Jesus, and those who are uneducated and have, showing the outpouring of God's Holy Spirit on them by their boldness.

I shared with you earlier an ancient Chinese proverb that also taps into these dynamics, bears repeating here, "I do, you watch. I do, you help. You do, and I help. You do, and I watch." Another Chinese proverb I want to share with you here that applies, a new one in this series, "I hear, and I forget. I see, and I remember. I do, and I understand."

Leadership Development Methods (Leadership Series 2 of 6)

In this article, we are going to be taking a look at leadership development methods. Within the field of education, a very common differentiation is made between three methods of learning or three methods of education. One is formal educational methods. The other one would be non-formal and the third one is informal. Let's look just briefly at each of these categories.

Formal education, this is usually related to a school, college, university. Formal education is, it's normally full time, not always but normally. It's long term. There's normally some form of accreditation with admission standards and requirements that need to be met with a standard curriculum. It's usually leading to some kind of a diploma or a degree that someone gets, that's offered through the school. It's normally content centered and it can be very costly.

Now formal education is usually seen as isolated from the student's normal context. It's primarily teaching and curriculum centered and highly governed. This type of learning is the type of learning you'd normally think about in schools, colleges, universities, graduate schools and other educational institutions.

A second method of education or learning is non-formal. Now, non-formal education is normally part time, as opposed to formal being full time. Instead of long term, it's short term. It is not accredited whereas formal is accredited. There's easy access. There's not a barrier in terms of not having the credentials or the background necessary to be received into a school or an educational program.

It's personalized in terms of the curriculum and the methodology. It's usually offered through distance education, through conferences, seminars, apprenticeships and it usually occurs in the learner's normal context. Again, in contrast with formal education where it's usually not, and it is affordable whereas formal education is usually expensive. The key point here, just as before is that, it's primarily learner or learning-centered, where formal education is primarily teacher or teaching or curriculum centered.

Now the third category is informal education methods. Informal methods are unstructured. They're spontaneous. They're highly relational. They're a way of life. There is no curriculum or credits. It doesn't lead to any diploma or a degree. It's just simply a teacher, a mentor working with someone that needs help and needs development with a skill or some area of life, and the teacher, the mentor is simply someone with more experience. It's highly learner and learning-centered like non-formal education, but the focus here, there is no program at all. It is just simply a focus on walking through life with someone and learning in time and in life, in light of contexts that arise.

Now this was obviously the primary educational method of Jesus that he used in the training of his disciples. There was teaching. There were times that he would preach and teach to crowds, but yet it seems like, from the scriptures, that most of the learning of the disciples was in what we would call an informal method process.

Now there are times when the lines between each of these methods of learning are just not that clear. They can be blurred. In other words, it isn't always as cut and dry as it seems, but these definitions, I think can help you have a general idea of each method of learning and impact how you learn and develop as leaders, as well as how you help develop leaders in your ministry. Now finally, I want you to note how these three educational methods can be seen as three developmental training levels of a teacher.

Now notice here, level one is teaching content to the learner. You see the teacher at level one bringing content as the arrow goes from the lower right to the upper left. This is curriculum centered. Then level two, as you see a significant turn being made back to the right. That would be facilitating. This is when the teacher moves from teaching content to the learner to facilitating the learner's needs. This would be learner centered or non-formal, where the first would be more formal.

Then level three, the next turn would be the teacher really taking on more of the role of a mentor, accompanying the learner, walking through life. That would be informal. So if you look at this now through the earlier grid, you can see level one is formal, with the focus on content. Level two is non-formal, with the focus on the learner and learning and informal, the third level, walking through life.

So it's very significant to see how this turning of the corner takes place when, as you can think of yourself as a teacher, you learn to shift from level one, that is merely focusing on teaching content to someone, transmitting information. That's the curriculum centered, to level two, facilitating, becoming learner centered. Then to level three, accompanying or walking through life as Jesus did with the disciples. Now I want you to note how in all of these shifts, you see a shift from the formal, level one, to the non-formal, level two, to the informal, level three.

Now forms of all three learning methods are normally needed in developing leaders holistically. It would be a misunderstanding to think that one of these levels or one of these methods of learning was actually superior to the other. They are all just different methods that need to be used appropriately and most effectively. It could be summed up in a, in a sense in the old Chinese ancient proverb that the essence of informal learning is "I do and you watch. I do, you help. You do, I help." And then, "You do and I watch." Then what's often forgotten is the last step, which is "You do and another watches."

Leadership Development Principles (Leadership Series 1 of 6)

Leadership Development Principles Part 1

 In this article, we're going to be surveying seven leadership development principles. One is the concept of the sovereignty of God in leadership development. The next one is the primacy of holistic development. Then we'll take a look at the importance of Christian community, I'm referring here to the Church. And then the value of extracurricular learning, that's learning outside of a classroom or outside of a seminar, a teaching context. The next one, the need for individualized learning, the concept here is one size does not fit all. The need for relationship learning, this is the critical importance of what's sometimes called apprenticeship or having a mentor or having a coach. Then the need for intentionality, the need for intentional learning, having clearly defined, measurable outcomes and means and processes, moving you toward those outcomes that are critical for being an effective leader.

Let's begin with a look at the concept of the sovereignty of God. There's just not a checklist or a magic template for developing leaders. I wish there were, and I'm sure you do too, but everyone just does not become a mature, well-equipped pastor or church leader, church planter, a mature minister of the Gospel in the same way. God in his sovereignty sometimes moves in some truly mysterious ways, in the way he raises up emerging leaders and equips them to be godly and prepared for very effective ministry in his Church, sometimes with no formal education at all, it's just amazing. And sometimes with great degrees of formal education and training, it's across the spectrum.

Nevertheless, there are some valuable generalizations and principles, that's what we're looking at here, which can and which should be made and understood and grasped by leaders to understand their own development as a leader, as well as to be effective in raising up other leaders, learning what the best means are for equipping leaders in the church. Here, the big idea is that there really is no checklist, there is no set of steps that you follow, it's in the sovereignty of God, but there are still principles and generalizations that will greatly benefit leaders if they understand them.

Let's look at that, the first one being the primacy of holistic development. Now the three training competency categories represented here of knowledge and affections and behavior, are three inseparably interwoven capacities or faculties of the human soul. John Owen called these components or different parts of the human soul a trinity of faculties. Knowledge, that would be synonymous with understanding. The concept of affections, that would be the heart of motivation. Behaviors would be the will, volition, acting and reacting.

Now, all three of these human capacities need to be vitally and very intentionally engaged in the development of mature, effective church leaders. The term heart in Scripture, and character, often used in discourse, should be understood as being primarily synonymous, as overarching terms that encompass all three of these faculties, all three of these emphases. Now the affirmation of this doing and knowing and being paradigm is not intended to imply that all three of these faculties of the human soul receive equal emphasis in the biblical portrayal of leaders in the church.

In fact, the biblical texts stress most often the primacy of personal character. We see this especially prominent in the apostle Paul's description of an overseer or an elder in 1 Timothy 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9, and several other passages in the New Testament, the concept here being that a character is primary in leadership development, not merely as is often thought just someone's behavior or just someone's knowledge or just someone's heart passion or something like that.

But the affirmation of the primacy of character in leadership development also does not mean that Christian character can or should somehow be developed apart from growth in theology, which would be knowing in ministry practice which is doing. For Christian leaders to be true theologians, they must be godly people. We should not understand theology as just one of the things that leaders must know, but what they must learn to do in the context of their ongoing personal and ministry development. John Frame wrote, "Theology is application. If it does not edify, it is worthless."

The next principle is the importance of Christian community. Now the Lord normally develops leaders in the community, more particularly in the community of the church. This is why the development of ministry leaders must include a very vital substantive ongoing experience of Christian community in the church with a high priority on the leader's development with the leaders in that church, and the members in that church, a real sharing of lives. Leaders can only learn how to lead by being in a learning community, a local church, where they can actually experience biblical standards that cover all their relationships. That's because learning like most of life is essentially a social process where individuals challenge and affirm each other, and often have conflict and need to experience resolution all in an ongoing relational context. And so this is a component that must be central.

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Leadership Development Principles Part 2

The leader needs to understand the value of extracurricular learning, that God normally develops leaders as they are leading. The testing of a leader's giftedness, the affirmation of God's call and the ongoing development of an emerging leader's gifts all occur best and should be primarily developed in the context of ministry.

Now, many emerging leaders who have the privilege of attending a Bible institute, a college, or a seminary still need to understand that they will normally learn- and they usually say this, often years later- as much or more in preparation for ministry outside the classroom as inside, especially when they're seeking to apply outside what they've learned inside.

This is why it's so important for church leaders preparing for ministry in a school environment, in an educational institution to always also have a very clearly-defined and administered, we might call it, an extracurricular learning plan for the holistic development, and we'll come back to that later.

The next concept is the need for individualized learning. The personal background and ministry experience of emerging leaders very broadly. So, some students begin at the same time alongside other students preparing for the ministry as a church leader, and they have a very high degree of personal and spiritual maturity. Others arrive at the same point of preparation for ministry in a college or an institute or a seminary and they're very immature personally, spiritually, theologically, often relationally. And some students have formal training before they come for training to be a church leader. Others have years of experience in the business world.

Each individual student is unique and is therefore best equipped for ministry by education and learning processes that can be as individualized as reasonably possible. This, again, is the concept that one size does not fit all because everyone's coming with unique wounds, unique background, and unique experiences and therefore ... There are some baseline similarities but there are often many more unique needs that need to be addressed specifically and individually for effective leadership development.

The next to last principle is the need for relational learning. Very frequently, as seen in Scripture and in life and subsequent history of the church, God seems to normally use mature leaders to nurture the growth of emerging leaders. An example would be the Apostle Paul's relationship with younger Timothy. Now this is not to denigrate the value of learning from one's peers, that's important. In fact, peer mentoring is also a very effective way to develop emerging leaders. It's one of the most neglected way. Studies are showing significant learning, almost equal to learning from subject matter experts and teachers from emerging leaders that are peers.

But people normally grow in wisdom through the guidance of those who are more experienced. You know, it's interesting, in previous periods of history, very natural, relational, and vocational networks made very normal the younger, less-experienced people to always be entering in some form of apprenticeship or being mentored. It was just a way of life and a way of culture. That's just not that common today.

The bottom line here is that leaders do not develop in a vacuum. Instead, leaders are most often developed in the ongoing give and take of face to face relationships, especially those who have gone before them and who have been in effective ministry pouring back into them.

And the last one, I'm just calling the need for intentional learning. Developing leaders in knowledge and skill and character the way we've described it here can be accomplished most effectively when the goal of that development is very clearly and succinctly expressed as a part of an intentional plan- and I'm choosing my words carefully- with measurable outcomes, and this is whether it's written or not. The more precisely the final product, we might say, of a mature, Christian leader can be described, the better emerging leaders can be nurtured toward that end.

The path toward the goal can be traversed if the point at which the training of an emerging leader begins, determined by an assessment of any sort, and then ends described in terms of some measurable criteria, is more clearly recognized. Now, the problem is that in many or most programs for developing church leaders, the final product is just, quite frankly, not very clearly defined. It's the old adage, you aim at nothing and you hit it every time. Worse than that, the process that is supposed to lead to that final product of a mature, well-equipped church leader, just frankly, too often fails to do that.

 It's been said that the goal of teaching is to make learning possible. The real question is not whether teaching is taking place when you're in a classroom or when you see a classroom, but whether learning is taking place, and whether that learning is truly equipping church leaders to do the work of the ministry that they've been called by God to do.

Methods of Evangelism (Evangelism Series 6 of 6)

Preaching Evangelism

John Stott writes, “When we contrast much of contemporary evangelism with the Apostle Paul's, its shallowness is immediately shown up.”

Years ago, Tim Keller did a very helpful study of the evangelistic methods of the Apostle Paul in the book of Acts. We’ll draw from some of these key insights below.

Let's start with what Keller calls Paul’s “preaching evangelism” seen in Acts 17:17 where Paul is shown reasoning in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks. We see a similar evangelistic method of Paul used by him in both Athens and Corinth, where he always began in synagogue worship because of his core commitment to win his people, bringing the gospel to the “Jew first” (Rom 10), and also where he focused on winning the God-fearing Greeks who converted to Judaism. These were the religious seekers of Paul’s day.

The application that's often missed today is the significant role of public corporate worship and preaching in evangelism. Many are understandably hesitant to see the public worship of believers as a primary evangelistic methodology because Lord’s Day worship is primarily for believers.

This often raises controversial questions regarding whether we should be more seeker-oriented or believer-oriented in worship? But the real question is whether or not the Gospel is being faithfully presented in the worship and preaching.

This is because the biblical gospel is good news for both believers and unbelievers. To unbelievers it’s good news that they can be delivered from sin's penalty. It's also good news for believers that they can be delivered from sin's domineering power over their lives. It's fundamentally the same message. The gospel presents a person, the person and work of Jesus, and we invite all our hearers to come and trust in him, that that they might be delivered, as they draw near to him in repentance and faith.

This is why the call for us to decide whether we are seeker-oriented or believer-oriented in worship and preaching is illegitimate. If our worship and preaching are truly gospel-centered, they will transform both seekers and believers.

The question is often asked, “What does a sermon look like today with both the believer and the seeker in the public worship?”

Let’s look at a brief example in preaching Ephesians 6, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children, but raise them in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord.” When preaching this text our task is to communicate God’s expectations of fathers. What is God’s standard for fathers? It’s perfection. God calls fathers to love their children perfectly. Examples from the text include they don't exasperate their children but raise them in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord.

When both believers and unbelievers hear this same message, they are crushed by the depth of their failure to love their children according to God’s standards. They become aware of the sin and need for God’s forgiveness and grace.

But we don’t just stop there in our preaching. We go to the sin beneath the sin. Why are these fathers not loving their children like God commands? It’s because they are idolaters. They are worshipers of success in their work. They have no time for their children not just because they need money, but because they need affirmation they get at work. They find their whole life and identity in their work

The gospel sermon then presents them, not mere principles to live by in terms of their attempts to try harder to be a good father through their prayerful self-effort. No. We present to them the good news of a person, a Savior. In the sermon we present to them a person who will not just forgive them, but as they continue to draw near to him, he will empower them to love their children in a way they’ve never loved them before.

And so we invite all fathers, believers and unbelievers, to come to Jesus in repentance and faith. And we promise them that he will deliver them, he will forgive them, and he will empower them to change.

Now, let's say the Holy Spirit is really at work through this preaching of Ephesians 6. What happens to the unbeliever when he repents and draws near to Christ in faith? He's converted. He’s justified.

But what happens to the failing father who similarly repents, the one who is a believer, someone who has already been converted and justified? Is he converted and justified again? No. He has already been saved from sin’s penalty and forgiven. But now, as he draws near to Christ in ongoing repentance and faith, he is being saved from sin’s domineering, idolatrous power of his life that is keeping him from being a more loving father.

What’s exciting about this is that, as a preacher, you are totally free from having to discern and focus on either believers or unbelievers. Instead your primary focus is on preaching the good news of the gospel to both the lost and the found.

We must recover the biblical concept of preaching as a primary means by which the lost are meant to come to faith in Christ. This doesn't deny that all believers are responsible to be personal witnesses in all their relationships in life. But this helps us understand that evangelism is also meant to be very communal. And it can help us recapture the practice of intentionally bringing lost people we know and love to worship with us so they’ll be under the God-ordained means of grace called the preaching of the gospel.

Preaching evangelism is usually a vital part of what Ed Clowney used to call “Doxological Evangelism.”

Using 1 Corinthians 14, Clowney calls us to recognize that it’s appropriate for the unbelieving seeker to come into our worship services, even when they don’t understand everything we do and say as believers in worship. And we should not feel that we need to alter all our words and practices so everything makes sense to the unbeliever.

Clowney’s encouragement is for believer’s worship to always be authentic and God-centered. So that, even if unbelieving seekers do not understand everything we do in worship, they become deeply impressed with the existential reality that God is in our midst, even with much mystery to them. Clowney calls this doxological evangelism.

So, on a practical level now, be careful about trying to dumb everything down in worship to appeal to lost people. If the worship is authentic, if the nature of the gospel is faithfully proclaimed to both believer and unbeliever, it is okay for there to be degrees of mystery. Don't fall prey to dumbing everything down into contemporary jargon. Instead, focus on authenticity and transparency in your worship.

As you do, recapture the richness and the beauty of the preaching of the word and doxological evangelism as a primary means of reaching people who are outside of Christ.

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Contact, Friendship, & Public Forum Evangelism

Having studied Paul’s method of preaching evangelism, we turn now to take a brief overview of his other methods, including what Keller calls “Contact Evangelism,” “Friendship Evangelism,” and “Public Forum Evangelism.”

Note these texts of Scripture:

“He (Paul) reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.”

It’s clear by the phrase, “with those who happened to be there” that one of Paul’s evangelistic methods is what is often called today, “Street Evangelism.” The same man who focused on preaching in synagogues on the Sabbath could also be found in the marketplace on other days sharing the gospel with total strangers.

The New Testament also reveals that Paul’s focus on evangelism was much more outside the synagogue than inside the synagogue, and most often in people’s homes he knew. In Acts we find these kinds of descriptions: “Paul left the synagogue and went next door to the house of Titius Justus, a worshiper of God.” And Paul writes, “You know that I have taught you publicly and from house to house I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance in our Lord, Jesus Christ.”

We need to rethink the power of hospitality in our homes as an evangelistic methodology. It’s amazing how people who hardly know each other are often willing to join you in your home for a meal and talk for hours to you and total strangers sharing their lives.

Have you noticed that in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, that one of the requirements of an elder, a pastor and church planter, is being hospitable. This is because there is great power in a home that is warm and open, displaying the welcoming love of God to unbelievers. 

If we can get over the need to turn “every conversation to Jesus” with people we invite into our homes, new doors can open into the lives of people. And you're just going to have dinner with them. You're not going to take every conversation and turn it to Jesus. Instead your focus is more on asking them real questions and truly listening to their answers and not just waiting for them to give their answers so you can talk next.

Please don't misread me, I am not saying that the Holy Spirit does not or will not work when you always bring up the gospel when you meet with unbelievers. I’m just saying that it can be a huge step for many people to actually be free from the illegitimate pressure to have to talk about Jesus for an evening so they can just just show people the welcoming love of God and love them deeply and well by mostly listening.

One final evangelistic method we see Paul using is called, “Public Forum Evangelism.” Paul would sometimes engage in public discussions on various topics as a means of bringing the gospel into the discussions. One of the most well-known times is recorded in Acts 17 when Paul met with philosophers at Mars Hill.

Following this method, some church planters have used the public platforms of book discussions at local bookstores to graciously, winsomely, and wisely bring the realities of the gospel into the discussions.

A Message About Repentance and Faith (Evangelism Series 5 of 6)

Gospel Affirmations and Promises

Gospel Events

The good news is that in order to satisfy himself, to manifest the fullness of his glory, the eternal second person of the Godhead took on humanity in his birth. Then he lived a sinless life for us and died a sinner's death in our place. He lived the life we should have lived and died the death we deserved to die. And on the third day he was raised from the dead. Later he ascended on high to the right hand of God. And one day he is returning to make all things new. There is an already and a not yet in the gospel.

Please be very careful to follow this logic: Because of what Jesus did (Gospel Events), Jesus is now Lord and Savior (Gospel Affirmations). Because of what Jesus did, in his birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension (Gospel Events) the good news is that God has now made him Lord–the one who can now demand submission and Savior–the one who can bestow salvation (Gospel Affirmations).

Gospel Promises

And because Jesus is now Lord and Savior, he can make promises that are absolutely astonishing:

New Status

He can promise forgiveness and a new status before God based on the perfect record Jesus earned for us with his life of obedience.

New Nature

He can also promise us a new nature. This is the promise of a new heart with new affections and desires he gives us by placing his promised Holy Spirit in us.

New World

And he can promise us a new world. The ascended Christ, as Savior and Lord promises us the restoration of all fallen creation when he returns to make all things new.

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Gospel Demands of Repentance and Faith

Because of what Jesus did, God has made him Lord and Savior. We can also say he is Prophet, Priest and King. And as our Prophet, Priest and King, he can make promises of a new record, a new heart, and a new world. And each of those promises contains many other rich promises.

This raises the questions, “How can I appropriate these promises in my life? What is the means by which these promises become a reality in my life? How can I receive God’s forgiveness, a new status, a new heart, and a new world to come?”

In the New Testament you find references to three key words through which God means for these promises to become realities in our lives: faith, repentance, and obedience. John Stott calls these the Gospel Demands 

In many passages of Scripture you’ll find an emphasis on only one of these words. For instance, looking at only the words of Jesus in John 6, we would think the only imperative is for us to believe, to have faith.

But then in other passages, like Mark 1:15, Jesus calls us to “repent and believe” this good news that the Kingdom of God is at hand. So in this passage it’s not just faith but also repentance. And in other passages of Scripture, we find the call to “obey” as the key imperative.

It’s important to understand that when we are referring to repentance, faith and obedience, one assertion is really central – that is it through faith alone, sola fide, and Christ alone, that these gospel promises of God become ours.

So how do repentance and obedience fit into that primacy of sola fide, "faith alone?”

It’s helpful to understand the nature of biblical repentance, faith, and obedience and see how they relate to each other. For example, to have faith is to obey God. God now commands everyone, everywhere, to repent. And to repent is also to obey God.

The biblical concept of repentance is that it is one side of faith. Repentance is turning away from something and faith is turning to something and trusting in it. This is why repentance and faith should be seen as two sides of the same coin. As we are turning from our sin, self-trust, and idols in repentance, we are also, at the same time, turning to Christ in faith and personal trust. And while we’re repenting and believing we are obeying God.

This understanding frees us from a moralistic or a legalistic understanding of obedience. This is what the Puritans used to call, “Gospel obedience.” In the first thesis of the 95 Theses, Martin Luther wrote that when Jesus said, 'To repent,' he meant that all of life is repentance. Luther understood that if you're truly repenting, you must also be believing.  And if you're truly repenting and believing, you are obeying.

At the commencement of his ministry recorded in Mark 1, Jesus said “The time has come. The Kingdom of God is near. Repent, and believe the Good News.” The call of Jesus is for us to repent and believe the Good News that our God reigns, through his Son, who has taken on humanity, lived a sinless life, died a sinner’s death, been raised from the dead, ascended on high. And he promises us that the spoils that are his will be ours, if we simply repent and believe.

Notice how Jesus is not calling us to pray and receive him, but to repent and believe him. There's no place in the New Testament where people are called on to pray to receive Christ. They are called to repent and believe.

A meritorious understanding of the nature of faith is saying, “If I offer to God my faith and trust in him, he will take that good work of my faith and give me forgiveness, a new record, a new heart, and a new world to come.” A lot of people actually think of their faith like this, as somehow meritorious to God. They arrogantly think and sometimes say, “I have been good enough to believe, why can't you be good enough to believe?”

Faith and repentance are not meritorious. They are instrumental. It is through the mystical means of repentance and faith by which we appropriate the promises of Christ. Remember, it’s not meritorious. It’s instrumental.

True, biblical repentance involves renouncing yourself as being adequate in any way to do that which could make you acceptable to God. It involves a confession to God of your sinfulness, of your guilt, an attitude of mind that desires to turn away from your sins. True repentance involves turning away from your sinful self so you might turn to Jesus Christ in faith.

In the New Testament, when people heard this good news, the bible tells us they were pierced to the heart, and they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter responded by calling them to repent and be baptized (Acts 2).

So what is faith?

True, biblical, saving faith is not just intellectual assent. Lutherans call this fides, which is simply “I believe something. I believe something is true.” Faith that saves, delivers, and appropriates the promises of God in Christ is not merely intellectual assent. And it's not merely trusting in God's general provision. This is the reason why 20% of the people in the world, one-fifth of the world population is nominal Christian. They wrongly believe that mere intellectual assent is true saving faith.

It’s common for merely nominal Christians to say something like: “I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. And when I’ve had problems in life, I have prayed to him, and trusted him.” They're saying they believe that Jesus is the Son of God and they’ve trusted him all their lives to help them. The problem is someone can do that still not be a true believer in Jesus Christ. 

The brother of Jesus, James tells us that even the demons believe. He writes, “You believe that God is one? You do well. The demons believe, and shudder.” So it's just not intellectual faith, fides. It's what the Reformers called personal trust, fiducia. It's not merely believing in propositions about Jesus. It’s trusting in him as a resurrected, living ascended Lord and Savior.

When you repent and believe in a biblical way, you are not just believing propositions or promises, you are trusting in a resurrected and ascended person. It's not by trusting in the orthodoxy of Gospel truth. You are saved by trusting in a person.