Opening New Horizons through Preaching
Visiting around North America and communicating with pastors and laity around the world is a real eye-opener. I am constantly impressed by the scope and variety of human life in the areas I visit. From gold mine communities in Nevada to swamp areas of Georgia and frozen lakes of Minnesota, people work hard to get on with life.
But there are some really significant issues of a business nature that seem to hit businesses in all areas. These come on in spite of some of the best efforts of the entrepreneurs. In these areas, the Church can and should take major responsibility to improve the lives of the people of the community, both in and out of the congregation.
In the process of leading the community toward a better life, the Church will typically find itself becoming a stronger organization. It is no doubt true that one of the best portions of training for a pastor who is going to serve a local pastorate anywhere would be the Master of Business Administration education. This is primarily training for active organization patterns. In this area, the Church and any local business have commonality.
One major lack in many businesses, including the local congregation and other non-profits, is stability. Many operations can simply not seem to stay on track with their mission, their bottom line and their community style. Strange as it may seem, the Church often has the same problem! Sometimes it seems as if the operational pattern, voice and results of the congregation have no contact with the stated mission, bottom line and personal lives of the congregation and community.
I have long been a fan of lectionary worship. For those who are not familiar with this, there are lists of suggested scripture passages to be used at the various dates of the Christian Year. In these lists, one will usually find, at the minimum, an Old Testament lesson and a New Testament lesson.
Other lists, however, are much more complex. In some one will find a passage from the Pentateuch, Major Prophets, Minor Prophets, Writings, Psalms, Gospels, Acts, Epistles and Revelations. In most Christian faith groups, the service may include as many of these as the pastor or worship leadership group chooses.
Personally, I like to generally build the entire service from these, as much as practical. For instance, a service opening might be taken from Isaiah (Major Prophet). A hymn might be taken from a theme from Genesis or one of the epistles. A prayer for compassion and understanding might come from Job. The Gospel should come just before the sermon. In my thinking the close is usually best when it comes from the Book of Revelations (sometimes called the Book of Dreams!).
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