Today is a beautiful Lord's Day where I am. It is a crisp 64 degrees! I cannot help but to write a bit regarding a large problem in Evangelicalism, and in African American Baptist circles. Worship is largely irreverent. Listen to what the inspired writer who wrote to the Hebrews wrote to Jewish Christians in the Roman world:
"Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire (12:28-29)." Bible students know that the writer refers back to Exodus 19 and also Deuteronomy 4:24, which is the portion of Holy Scripture the writer quotes. What does this mean? The same God that spoke with such power to Israel at Sinai comes among his people as they gather every Lord's Day. God is awesome striking real, honest godly fear among his people; he is no trifling God, but full of glory, majesty, and power.
The worship I witness among African American Baptist lack this fear and sense of awe and reverence for the most part. The singing that takes places in these churches have little reverence; is it solemn to dance and move and shake? Preaching that winks at sin, and jokes about sin---is this demonstrating reverence and godly fear? Yes, I know that joy is part of our worship; but it is tempered by reverence.
Let these churches take this passage from Hebrews and apply it correctly.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Assessment of National Baptist preaching
This is a post to ask for some help and insight. It has been over six years since I've been a member of a traditional Missionary Baptist church. I left that particular church only after a few months of joining because it was a faulty church without good pastoral leadership and good, solid gospel preaching. Before this church, I spent just short of ten years at a National Baptist church where I served as an associate minister, Sunday school teacher, Youth worker, and chairman of the Young Adult Ministry. I loved that church, but becoming a Calvinist paved my way out of the door.
After I became a Calvinist, my whole perspective changed regarding the Church, especially preaching. I realized that my pastor preached little of the gospel. He was no whooper; he tried to "tune up" at the end. He failed to give biblical texts their justice. At the end, I was disappointed and grieved over this.
I often wonder what did I think preaching was before becoming Reformed? I enjoyed good explanation of the text, but I especially enjoyed the "gravy!" For most of my ministerial life, that was my style. I was (still am)an expository preacher, but I could tune up and whoop. After embracing the Reformed faith as an African American Baptist, I stopped tuning and whooping. I focused much more on exposition and then clear applications. One sister said my preaching had become "lectures." I still possessed the passion for the word of God; in fact, I had more passion, but I left out the relish African American Baptists associate with preaching.
Since being a Reformed Baptist, I've heard some great preaching. Cultural aspects aside, most National Baptist pastors come nowhere near the substance and richness of preaching I heard in Reformed Baptist circles. There are a couple of African American Reformed Baptist pastors here in the US; I am a part of three African American men who fill pulpits. We all preach expositional with pointed applications, but with passion.
I pray that National Baptist pastors focus more on the text and applications and less on style; this is not to say that they should come from without the African American Baptist tradition. This tradition at its best elevates eloquence, wonderful tonality of voice with clear textual exposition and stirring applications.
Oh, let us return to strong, clear gospel preaching without the taglines of "purpose" and "destiny."
After I became a Calvinist, my whole perspective changed regarding the Church, especially preaching. I realized that my pastor preached little of the gospel. He was no whooper; he tried to "tune up" at the end. He failed to give biblical texts their justice. At the end, I was disappointed and grieved over this.
I often wonder what did I think preaching was before becoming Reformed? I enjoyed good explanation of the text, but I especially enjoyed the "gravy!" For most of my ministerial life, that was my style. I was (still am)an expository preacher, but I could tune up and whoop. After embracing the Reformed faith as an African American Baptist, I stopped tuning and whooping. I focused much more on exposition and then clear applications. One sister said my preaching had become "lectures." I still possessed the passion for the word of God; in fact, I had more passion, but I left out the relish African American Baptists associate with preaching.
Since being a Reformed Baptist, I've heard some great preaching. Cultural aspects aside, most National Baptist pastors come nowhere near the substance and richness of preaching I heard in Reformed Baptist circles. There are a couple of African American Reformed Baptist pastors here in the US; I am a part of three African American men who fill pulpits. We all preach expositional with pointed applications, but with passion.
I pray that National Baptist pastors focus more on the text and applications and less on style; this is not to say that they should come from without the African American Baptist tradition. This tradition at its best elevates eloquence, wonderful tonality of voice with clear textual exposition and stirring applications.
Oh, let us return to strong, clear gospel preaching without the taglines of "purpose" and "destiny."
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