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Pastor
XXXXXX,
It is with great fear and trembling
that I write this email. I am writing to request another meeting with
you. I have two or three witnesses that are of the same mind as me and
have agreed to accompany me. However, I will be the one voicing the
charges. These charges are based on what I see in the Bible, in regards
to your preaching. I will quickly outline for you the charges.
1) With,
possibly, a well-intentioned concern for souls you have turned aside from
preaching the word and turned to satisfying those with itching ears.
This concern and method appear to be a means to the end that the size
of the congregation would grow and bigger buildings would be built.
2) There
is a major void in the pulpit in regards to instruction in “sound doctrine”.
Due to this void, you have not fulfilled your responsibility as pastor
in at least these four areas:
a) The
mature are being neglected. Taken from what you have said in the pulpit
and in our previous meeting, the idea is that the spiritually mature can be
left to find spiritual sustenance themselves after you have whet their
appetites.
b) The
spiritually weak are not made healthy, though most would be unaware of this
due to the lack of biblical expository preaching.
c) The
spiritually immature are being enabled to stay immature.
d) As a
church we follow the latest trends, instead of remaining or abiding in the
word. (ex. The Prayer of Jabez, The Purpose Driven Life, The Secrets
of the Vine, and a new building)
3) Often
the case with the “proof text” methodology, there has been a misuse of
biblical texts. I will list just a few examples from your most recent
sermons:
a) 2
Peter 3:8-9 was used as a call to evangelism.
b) 2
Corinthians 3:17 was used as the thesis statement for the “insert generic
'How to grow a church'” sermon series.
c) Hebrews
12:1-2 was used to give support that a church should have a
"vision".
d) Matthew
26:6-13 was used to support the idea that it would be wrong to send money,
which the church had raised for the building fund, to the victims of
Hurricane Katrina.
4) There
is an overly casual attitude toward the preaching of the word, or to say it
in a different way, a general lack of reverence toward the task of rightly
dividing the word of truth. I have seen this displayed in at least two
ways:
a) Worldly
wisdom and philosophies are propagated. This would include the
following examples in your teaching:
· The teaching that we’re not being obedient to what we already know
about Jesus and the Bible, so why do we need to learn anything more?
· Zig Ziglar’s quote, “stinkin’ thinkin’”, is quoted often and I have
heard it being used by members of the church in their conversations.
· The notion that, due to the size of our building, we are not able to
minister properly.
· The teaching that the size of our building is an indication of our
passion for the lost.
b) There
have been occurrences of unbiblical teaching. Here is a list of a few
examples.
· The proof text methodology as mentioned previously results in the
misuse of biblical texts. Although the principals taught may be good,
the misuse of the author’s intent in the text undermines the authoritative
teaching from the pulpit. Examples are given in charge number three
above.
· The teaching that the number of attendees in a church or worship
service is a major indicator of the Spirit’s presence.
· You said it was not your job to feed the sheep, only to whet their
appetites.
· The teaching that says we are putting souls in danger of an eternity
in hell when we don’t give to the building campaign.
· You said that the building we intend to build was ordained before the
foundations of the world.
· You said that the building was one of the greatest legacies we could
leave.
All of these charges find their root
cause in the apparent fact that you have a seeker-driven approach in your
preaching ministry. I do not believe this is a biblical approach.
I would use the following texts, and perhaps more, to show what the
prophets and the Apostles would say about how to approach the ministry of
preaching and how not to approach it.
- Nehemiah 8:6-8
- Ezekiel 34
- Isaiah 55:9-11
- Jeremiah 23:16, 18, 21-22
- II Timothy 1:13, 2:15, 3:16-4:4
- Titus 1:9, 2:7-8
- I Corinthians 1:20-25
- 1 Peter 5:2
- Acts 20:28
- Romans 10
- Hebrews 4:12
I would use the following quotes from
contemporary pastors and theologians to establish what they consider to be
the biblical approach to the ministry of preaching.
- Alexander Strauch – “Elders lead the church
[1 Tim 5:17; Titus 1:7; 1 Peter 5:1-2], teach and preach the Word [1
Timothy 3:2; 2 Timothy 4:2; Titus 1:9], protect the church from false
teachers [Acts 20:17, 28-31], exhort and admonish the saints in sound
doctrine [1 Timothy 4:13; 2 Timothy 3:13-17; Titus 1:9], visit the sick
and pray [James 5:14; Acts 20:35], and judge doctrinal issues [Acts
15:16]. In biblical terminology, elders shepherd, oversee, lead, and
care for the local church."
- John Piper - “The function of elders may be
summed up under two heads: teaching and governing. They are the
doctrinal guardians of the flock and the overseers of the life of the
church responsible to God for the feeding and care and ministry of the
people.”
- Mark Dever – “Pastoral authority is directly
related to authorial intent. The preacher only has authority from God to
speak as His ambassador as long as he remains faithful to convey the
divine Author’s intentions. This means that the further the
preacher strays from preaching the intention of the text, the further
his divine blessing and God-given authority are eroded in the pulpit.
Expositional preaching is the only kind of preaching that, by
definition, ensures the agenda of the sermon is determined by the agenda
of the text…To say that preaching is prophetic is not to say that it is
either predictive or ecstatic utterance - preachers are ambassadors, not
prognosticators; and their source of revelation is God's mediated
written Word, not His immediate verbal Word. It is rather to say that preaching
is about receiving God's Word and communicating it to God's people in a
way that is faithful to God's intention. Preaching is prophetic
because it conveys God's Word to God's people. Exposition best handles
the prophetic nature of preaching because the expositional sermon is
unique for taking the point of the passage as the point of the message.
It is therefore the best way to remain faithful to the content and
intent of God's Word in any given text.”
- Al Mohler – “The current debate over
preaching is most commonly explained as an argument about the focus and
shape of the sermon. Should the preacher seek to preach a biblical text
through an expository sermon? Or, should the preacher direct the sermon
to the "felt needs" and perceived concerns of the hearers?...Clearly,
many evangelicals now favor the second approach. Urged on by devotees of
"needs-based preaching," many evangelicals have abandoned the
text without recognizing that they have done so. These preachers
eventually may get to the text in the course of the sermon, but the text
does not set the agenda or establish the shape of the message…Focusing
on so-called "perceived needs" and allowing these needs to set
the preaching agenda inevitably leads to a loss of biblical authority
and biblical content in the sermon. Yet, this pattern is increasingly
the norm in many evangelical pulpits….
David
Wells – “Many of those whose task it is to broker the truth of God to the
people of God in the churches have now redefined the pastoral task such that
theology has become an embarrassing encumbrance or a matter of which they
have little knowledge…I look at the way in which the pastorate has become
professionalized, how the central function of the pastor has changed from
that of truth broker to manager of the small enterprises we call churches. To
the extent that this tendency has taken root, I have concluded that it is
producing a new generation of pastoral disablers.”
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