Willwillimon.files.wordpress.com



DISCUSSION GUIDELEADING WITH THE SERMON: Preaching as LeadershipI first read Leading with the Sermon shortly after COVID-19 arrived in the United States. We were quarantined as I read the first few chapters, and it became increasingly evident that pastors needed to be able to lead their congregations now more than ever. It seemed as though we were living in a time of fear and discomfort. What is a pastor supposed to do at a time like this? Congregations wanted to know, “what will become of the church if we cannot meet?” “How will we survive?” “How can we love our neighbor when we can’t even see our neighbor?” My limp-noodling backbone found strength to straighten through the power of the Holy Spirit as Willimon reminded me that churches need a courageous pastoral leader who:Connects the congregation to its pain;Helps it conceive of its possibilities;Challenges it to step out of its current attitudes that rob it of a future;Accompanies the organization through the resulting chaos; andSupports the reframing and learning that’s required for transformation. (33)Since that first reading, back in March 2020, I’ve picked the book up many more times, and have found encouragement and enthusiasm every time. And, each time I re-read a chapter, I thought to myself, “I wish I had other clergy to discuss this with.” So, that’s what I hope this discussion guide offers; an opportunity for clergy colleagues to get together with a cup of coffee and engage in a discussion that encourages and sparks enthusiasm for this task of preaching as leadership. --Wade PowellCHAPTER ONEPREACHING: The Most Important Leadership ActivityMore than once I’ve had clergy say to me in conversation something along the lines of, “The thing that matters most is letting your congregation know you care. If you show them how much you care, it can make up for a lot of things, including poor preaching.” I happen to think that one of the most evident way to show them that you DO NOT care is to exhibit poor preaching! As pastors, preaching is the most consistent, visible activity that we do. Week in, week out, we have the audacity to speak for God. What is the message that we send if we don’t engage with the Holy Spirit to lead God’s church through good preaching?What does Willimon mean when he says, “God talks mainly through preaching?” (3)Do you agree?Is scripture an aid for preaching or is preaching an aid for scripture?What is your process to hear God in order to preach God?Think back to a sermon in which you felt you were speaking for God. Now compare that to a time in which you felt God speaking through you. Is there a difference?If so, what are some of the key differences?Do you remember if or how your sermon prep was different?Was your frame of mind different?In his description of a sermon that summons, Willimon suggests, “The sermon must also be invitational: ‘Don’t you want to hitch on to what God is doing?” What are some key elements that inspire people to “hitch on?” (12)In what ways is confrontational preaching more than simply pointing a finger?How would you explain preaching as missionary?Willimon concludes the chapter saying, “It’s not Christian preaching if the preacher is not also willing to move from proclaiming the gospel to leading the performance of the gospel.”Can you share some examples and results of where you have been both leader AND preacher?Can you share examples and results of where you fell short in one area or the other?CHAPTER TWOPREACHERS ARE LEADERSIn my second Sunday in a new appointment to an older “tall steeple” downtown church, I preached a sermon on women in ministry. I know this is the 21st century and preaching about women in roles of pastoral leadership shouldn’t be an issue, but in its 175-year history this church had never had a female senior pastor. The lectionary readings called for the familiar story of Jesus’ visit to his friends, Mary and Martha. So, I celebrated women in ministry that Sunday. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go over with the congregation, and I didn’t want to start off on the wrong foot, but the more I wrestled with the Holy Spirit on what to preach, the more convinced I was that a celebration of women in the pulpit was what was called for. After the service, I changed out of my robe and stepped out of my office to find a 90-year-old man with a face devoid of expression raise his finger to my face and growl, “You’ve got guts.” He lowered his finger and his expressionless face turned up in a smile, then said, “I like that,” before slowly turning and walking away saying again to himself, “that kid’s got guts.” That’s something that I draw upon each time a leadership decision must be made. It takes guts to be a leader. It takes guts to follow the prompting of the Holy Spirit when leading by consensus might be an easier route to take. What are some secular leadership books, techniques, or experiences that have shaped your pastoral leadership?How many times have you said, “They didn’t teach me ______________ in seminary?”Could those situations become preaching points?What are some basic leadership skills and how can they be incorporated into preaching?Discuss a sermon you preached that actually moved the congregation to action.Describe an experience you’ve had preaching a painful truth to a congregation.Were there repercussions?Was it worth it?In what positive ways did the church respond?Willimon quotes Rabbi Edwin Friedman, saying, in part, “undisciplined empathy, without theological constraint, leads us away from our originating purpose and into a paralyzing failure of nerve.” (40) In what ways has this been problematic in contemporary preaching?CHAPTER THREELEADING AS TEACHINGI was about a year into my first full time appointment at a small country church in the Texas Hill Country. I had been well received. The patriarch of the congregation liked me and called me “pastor.” I had made a few small changes in the order of worship. I did things a bit differently than the beloved retired District Superintendent who I replaced, but I was enjoying success of my own as the new preacher. I am somewhat of a sacramentalist at heart. Holy Communion has long been the high point of worship for me. I preferred using a common cup for intinction rather than the trays of individual cups that the congregation was used to. I made the change to the common cup and gave my theological reasons for sharing in the “one” cup. It was about three months later that one of the church members spoke to me after worship about the change. He said that there were several people in the congregation that were battling cancer and other illnesses that compromise their immune systems. It was not a long conversation, but a learning one on my part. We went back to individual cups, and I realized that teaching and learning must be a constant in leadership. Have you found that congregations love to be taught things they already know?What are some ways that we can not only inform with our teaching, but also move congregations to action?Do you believe good preaching helps people live and lead their best life, or is there a different “main purpose” to preaching? What is that purpose?How can we make sure that our preaching is heard by the congregation?In what ways do we shape a sermon to be received rather than dismissed or misunderstood?In your sermon prep, how do you seek God’s voice to reveal unexpected truths to your congregation?Why does a sermon that offers an unexpected “reveal” excite and resonate with hearers more than preaching expected outcomes?Describe a change that you have led a congregation to embrace.How did you help them see the need for change?What does it mean to change and adapt in order to “reclaim” the core identity and mission of the church? (59)How do we effectively move from leading with the sermon (vision) to leading the activity inspired by the sermon (management)?What are some ways we can ensure that we allow for movement of the Holy Spirit in our visionary and administrative leadership?How can we be both deliberate and structured AND flexible enough for the Holy Spirit to disrupt and innovate change?Willimon titles a section of this chapter, “Congregations go no further than their pastor does.” What does this mean, and how have you seen this play out in ministry?CHAPTER FOURCOURAGE TO LEAD FROM THE PULPITOn occasion, I’ve preached sermon series that tend to speak more to the “individual” rather than the “communal.” They’ve tended to be sermons that help the Christian live a better life or deal with difficult situations. These have been topics such as: How to harness the power of prayer, or how to overcome fear. It never fails that these sermon series tend to illicit the most praise from the congregation. Somehow, I don’t necessarily think that’s a good thing. Is church a place to go to get “fed” our preferred food? Or is church a place to be empowered to go out and feed others? It stands to reason that our congregations would rather hear a message that speaks of personal hope and encouragement to prosper as opposed to a message that calls them to discomfort and taking up their cross to follow Jesus into the places where rational people would try to avoid. That’s why it takes courage to truly lead from the pulpit! Have you ever felt, “Oh, I can’t preach that… they’ll be asking the D.S. to move me by the end of the week!” What was the issue?Did they need to hear it? Did you preach it anyway?What happened?Gil Rendle says, “Consensus is not everybody in agreement, but rather everybody realizing that all the voices have been heard and all agreeing to muddle forward, in spite of continuing disagreements.” (90) In what ways have you encouraged your congregation to muddle-through?What problems are you facing in your congregation? What difficult conditions are you facing in your congregation?How is your response to problems and conditions different?What are some ways you have been disruptive in your pastoral leadership?What risks have you taken?What difficult issues and conditions will you commit to preaching/leading in the coming year?CHAPTER FIVETELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT JESUSSeveral years ago, I preached a sermon on the evils of racism. Included in the sermon were issues of white privilege and systemic racism. I later found out that a family left the church because, “they didn’t need some preacher telling them they were racist.” A day or two after the same sermon, I was confronted by someone else telling me I didn’t have the authority to preach that sermon because as a white male I didn’t even know what it meant to be oppressed. I can’t claim that I preached a wonderful sermon. I’m sure that I DON’T know what it’s like to be oppressed. But I absolutely know there is capital “T” Truth that racism is evil, and that whether we want to admit it or not, racism goes beyond the kind of in-your-face racism of the Jim Crow/segregation era. I have reflected on that sermon many times. I have re-preached that sermon with new perspectives and scriptural guidance, but I have never regretted confronting that issue from the pulpit.What is the danger in preaching a gospel that offers a formula for living that eludes discomfort?Doesn’t Jesus want us to be happy? In what ways have you side-stepped truth in order to make the Gospel more palatable?How can preaching difficult truth lead to living out the Gospel?How is it possible to be both authoritative and humble?Why is it important to understand the timing of a message?Are there examples you can share of preaching a message that was not heard?Have you ever NOT preached a sermon because the congregation just wasn’t ready to hear the message? How did you prepare the congregation to eventually receive it?Share examples of when you have shared a difficult truth with a congregation, and how that truth led to growth.CHAPTER SIXPASTORS AS PREACHERSWhen I answered the unknown caller on my cell phone around 7:00am, I heard the voice on the other end say, “My name is Jimmy, my wife died this morning. I need a pastor, and I hear you’re a good S.O.B.” To be honest, he didn’t say, “S.O.B.,” rather, he left nothing up for interpretation. A few years later, I was at a meeting at a daily soup kitchen. The meeting was designed for people living on the streets and in difficult economic positions to speak about their living conditions and discuss ways of improving the neighborhood. One gentleman stood at the microphone and during his speech, pointed at me and said, “I want to know where the churches are at! That white M-F-er right there is the only preacher I ever see in this neighborhood. That M-F-er is real!” (Like the gentleman before, “M-F-er” was not left up for interpretation.) I have been called: sir, reverend, padre, doctor, and even father on occasions when I have worn my clergy collar, but the days that I was called an S.O.B. and an M-F-er are the days that I am most proud of. Looking back, those are the days that I was present for and listening to people in need. Those are moments that shaped who I am as a preacher. Yes, I’ve got a couple of advanced degrees, and those degrees have certainly contributed to my ability to exegete a text, but who I am as a preacher is only as effective as who I am as a pastor. What are some ways that you have established and/or maintained a connection with your congregation? With your community?Do you believe it is better to have all the answers or to have all the questions? Why?How did COVID-19 affect your preaching?What makes preaching relevant?What is the difference between teaching a passage of scripture and preaching it?What is your most recent failure in your church? (148)What did you learn from it?What might you do differently next time?CHAPTER SEVENPREACHING IS LEADING2020 brought with it many struggles. Yet, in the church I serve, giving increased, new ministries were begun, participation in youth group quadrupled, membership grew, and we found new ways to be involved in outreach and mission. As I watched these things unfold, I was compelled to ask questions. Why? How? This doesn’t make sense, does it? Over and over, in zoom meeting after zoom meeting what I heard was excitement and enthusiasm for how First United Methodist Church saw itself in the scope of God’s calling. It wasn’t so much that I had set a particular vision or strategy for the church, but it was clear that the congregation saw and felt a part of God’s vision for First United Methodist Church. My ego would love to claim credit for the apparent success of the church and my ability to strategize over the course of a difficult year, but the truth is I simply didn’t know any better than to faithfully preach the gospel. Through preaching the gospel, the congregation began to see themselves in an important role that God reserved for us. In short, we saw our story as a part of God’s story, and the people responded.Through preaching, how do we connect our story with God’s story?When has God called you into service during times that you have been most discouraged?In what ways did God give you the strength to lead?What does Willimon mean when he says, “if there is one thing we preachers fear more than the possibility of crucifixion, it is the potential of resurrection?”Do you agree that failure in preaching can be easier to accept than a faithful response to preaching?Why might that be more disconcerting?Willimon suggest that preaching cannot: please everyone, eliminate anxiety and pain, nor address every issue. (172)Are there other limitations of preaching to be aware of?What types of biblical texts bring out the worst in you? (174)Bring out the best in you?How important is seeking criticism from the congregation?What are some ways that you have sought relevant feedback on your leadership?How has your understanding of preaching as leadership been strengthened or transformed by this book and discussion? ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download