What is Missional Preaching

All preaching is contextualized, to some degree. Every preacher is a cultural relativist, to some degree? Do you preach from an English text? Do you ever use an illustration in your sermon? Do you use any songs in a praise service prior to your preaching, songs that are not one of the Psalms? Did you use translators when you preached on the mission field to people who did not understand your language or did you just trust the Holy Spirit to reveal your sermon to their heart? Every preacher that has ever preached has cared about whether his sermon was clearly understood by his audience. He desired all to hear and heed. The missional attitude is one of great concern that people hear and understand the preaching of God’s Word. Missional preaching does not remove any of the offensive essentials of the Gospel, but it absolutely removes any non-essential language or actions that offends or confuses the listeners. Missional preaching preaches the Cross, preaches Christ, preaches repentance, preaches holiness, but it leaves out personal soap-boxes, politics, legalism, fundamentalism, pragmatism, arrogance, and pride.

No truth has ever been communicated in a culturally transcendent way but that does not mean that truth does not transcend culture. Even the original manuscripts of the Bible were given to the church in a way that was culturally relevant to the age in which it was given. But that truth transcended culture. Indeed, all great expositors can explain the truth of Scripture in light of the historical context of its original audience and in the context of its contemporary audience.

Tim Keller believes that “missional churches” realize that the postmodern persons do not necessarily understand traditional preaching the same way that traditional conservatives do. Thus preachers should consider ways to be more clear about definitions and concepts. Make sure that people understand today that the gospel is not just morality wrapped in a religious package.

Ed Stetzer says, “Before anything else, the church and its ministry must be biblically faithful. A lot of great conferences on creativity and ministry are helpful. But, we need to remember that our purpose is to apply that creativity in biblically and culturally relevant ways. The reason we engage culture is not to be cool, trendy, contemporary, or cutting edge—words that have become idols to us—but so that those who live in culture can hear the message of Jesus. That message is more than just “come to Christ,” it involves how we live and structure our lives, and it matters deeply. Our churches should share the gospel message wherever they are and whatever their cultural context. They should be known as people who love God’s Word and seek to live differently because of it.”

“Too often we say, “I want to make the Bible relevant.” No need. It already is. Our job is to present it in ways that help the hearer see that it is relevant—in this and in every culture. Churches that are biblically faithful to God’s mission will work to relate to people in culture. We who are Christians should look similar to, but not be identical to, our culture. If we don’t, people will assume that being a Christian simply means being different—dressing differently, listening to different music styles, and voting the same way. They’ll confuse Christianity with a change of clothes, music, and political party registration. That means that Christians should use language, dress, and live life in the “house” of culture, while living differently because they are in the family of God.”

“When we begin at the point of relevance, it does not in any way nullify the importance of rightly dividing the Word of God. We think that a common mistake many seeker-driven churches made early on was trying to communicate relevant messages that had little or no biblical content. It seemed that the sermons were basically explanations of common-sense wisdom or perhaps biblical principals, but the Bible did not set the shape or agenda of the message.”