D. A. Carson contributes a chapter entitled “The Trials of Biblical Studies” to the book The Trials of Theology: Becoming a “Proven Worker” in a Dangerous Business (ed. Andrew J. B. Cameron and Brian S. Rosner; Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2010)
The Gospel Coalition has made a pdf of the chapter at their site. Andy Naselli provides an outline as well.
Carson observes five ‘domains’ that students of Scripture will need to address: integration (of the Bible, and of ourselves); work (whether too much or too little); pride (in several directions); and the capacity to manipulate Scripture. He also makes several helpful suggestions for the priorities of those whose ministry vocation is academic writing.
Timmy Brister writes a post ‘Addressing the Damaging Effects of Professionalism in the Local Church’.
I am increasingly concerned, however, about the state of the church, and specifically how professionalism has caused her to suffer. Every minister ought to do everything he can to be skilled in his craft, competent in his work, and unwavering in his commitment to fulfill his calling. And yet, what I am finding today is that when well-trained, gifted men of God excel in their ministry, those who are blessed by them experience two things: a sense of “I could never do that” and a sense of “I only want him to do that.”
Murray from Mentone Baptist suggests the following for preachers:
When preaching:
- be convicted – let the word of God convict you as you prepare your sermons
- be clear – the aim of preaching is not to obscure God but to present Christ as Lord. Keep it simple stupid! What’s the value in being clever and unclear?
- be correcting and rebuking and encouraging – the preacher who only ever encourages is disobeying God’s charge on preachers. The word of God rebukes, corrects and encourages. The preacher who fails one of these three is not preaching the Word faithfully.
- be creative – work hard on avoiding being boring and predictable. Mix up the way you begin your sermon, use a variety of illustrations (not always church history, not always this is what I did during the week…), mix up the length of sermons, the number of points you have, the tone of voice and pace, etc
- be concise – I’m not arguing for short sermons, but don’t use more words than you need
- be convicting – it is the Holy Spirit who convicts through his word, but we want people to know that we want them to know and understand and be changed by the preaching of the word. We want them to know and feel that this word is for them
From Catablog: 10 Things That Drive Me Crazy About Working for a Church. Tim Schraeder provides some observations based on ten years in ministry. The headlines:
1. We are really good at burning people out.
2. We focus way too much on what we don’t have.
3. We are afraid of change.
4. We use “let me pray about it” as an excuse to get out of making decisions.
5. We LOVE meetings.
6. We try to do way too much.
7. We try to be something we’re not.
8. We spend too much time looking at other churches.
9. We worry about people leaving.
10. We don’t feel trusted.
Justin Taylor provides the list of 10 books that Albert Mohler believes every preacher should read in 2010. (Plus more books from the Crossway catalogue that Mohler commends.)
That’s your lot.
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