I dove into John Wesley’s Scriptural
Christianity. This sermon is clearly calling out a community for not living
up to the standards of Scriptural Christianity and/or early Church. He cites
countless scriptures describing the standard of the early Church. Then he
imagines and dreams of what the Church should be. Followed by quickly pointing
out how far they are falling from those standards and dreams. I think it is a
great sermon. I think it is a great reminder to the community of faith or where
they come from, question where they currently are, and think about where they
are going.
However, I question the setting
and audience behind John Wesley’s Scriptural Christianity. Is this a
sermon you can hand out in a pamphlet or preach to different crowds as you
travel preaching revivals? While I think it is a needed sermon for communities,
I think it is a sermon which needs to come from a pastor who is relation with
his/her community. A certain level of congregational relationship is needed to
preach this message constructively. How do you call out people in public
settings, and you don’t even know their names? It may be great homiletics, it
may be great theology, but is it good pastoral care/leadership? How did a
message like this succeed, and become constructive rather than un-relationally-
destructive
No comments:
Post a Comment