Sermon Tone Analysis

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Anger
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Anger
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Eric Meyer
CMN 7713: Biblical Foundations Of Ministry & Leadership
John Brown University
Professor: Dr. Robert V. Cupp
October 14th, 2008
 
Aubey Malphurs, “A New Kind of Church: Understanding Models of Ministry for the 21st Century,”  Baker Books, 2007.
*SUMMARY*
 
*Introduction:*  *The* *Purpose of this Book*
·         *New Model Churches:* “The major issue we must address is wrapped up in this question: Is there a standard model for doing church?
Does the Bible give us a correct, prescribed model to follow?” (9)
·         *Why Write This Book: *
o   Malphurs’s love for the local church
o   Malphurs’s has spent much time studying the subject
o   He wants to pass on his experience as a consultant
o   The local church is in serious decline in America
·         *Who Should Read This Book:* “…this book is must reading for those congregations that are going through church renewal or church planting.”
(11) “Finally, this book is for seminarians and others who are preparing for ministry.
It’s important to the future of their ministries that they think through the issues of this book so that they know why they’re doing what they’re doing and can at least articulate the reasons they minister in the context of a particular model, whether it is traditional or contemporary.
(11)
·         *Malphurs’s Perspective:* “What is important is what the Bible teaches or doesn’t teach on these maters.
My authority is the Bible.”
(12)
·         *The Book’s Plan:*
o   /Part 1:/ Addressing our changing times
o   /Part 2:/ Seeks to provide the reader with information necessary to make wise decisions about new-paradigm churches.
*PART 1: CHANGING TIMES*
*Chapter 1: Who is Changing?
Churches Are Changing*
“The question in the title of this chapter is important because the answer affects increasingly how a growing number of churches do church – whether they stay with an older model or search for and embrace newer ways of doing church.”
(17)
·         *The Changing Church*
o   /Plateaued and declining:/ “…churches experience a beginning, some initial growth, and in time plateau.
And if something doesn’t change the situation quickly, they will then begin to decline and eventually die.”
(18)
o   /Dying:/ An article in /Ministry/ predicted that , of 350,000 churches in America, as many as 100,000 would close their doors,” (19)
·         *The Unchurched, Cults, and Religious Groups*
o   Unchurched People: “In 1991 there were thirty-nine million compared with seventy-five million unchurched in 2004” (19)
o   /Those involved in cults and non-Christian religions:/ “Not only have the ranks of unchurched people increased, but many cults and religious organizations are growing as well” (23)
o   /Religious Groups:/ “I believe that the information above is evidence that people are most interested in spirituality, but they aren’t looking to today’s typical neighborhood church for answers to their spiritual questions.” (25)
*Chapter 2: Why Are Churches Changing?
The Buck Stops Here*
“Often we Americans find it difficult to accept the blame for our mistakes.
Instead, we follow the time-honored tradition of passing the buck.”
(29)
·         *Why American Are Not Attending Church*
o   /People think differently:/ “Young unchurched adults are asking a different question: Which God is real?” (31)
o   /Faith is no longer tied to church/
§  /Authority:/ “Far too many American are individualists who are convinced that “religious authority lies in the believer – not in the church, not in the Bible…” (32)
§  /Poor Ministry/:  “An important current movement among Christians is either dropping out of church altogether or adding other alternatives to church gatherings because they view traditional church involvement as harmful to their faith development.”
(32)
o   /Sunday morning is no longer sacred:/  “…and a number of rivals have surfaced to compete with the church for the hearts and souls of the American citizenry on Sunday.”
(33)
·         *Where Churches Are at Fault*
o   /Too slow to change:/ “The question every church faces is, What can and must change, and what must never change?”
(36)
o   /Failure to take advantage of opportunities: /“Our assessment is that churches succeeded at putting on a friendly face but failed at motivating the vast majority of spiritual explorers to connect with Christ in a more intimate or intense manner” (38)
o   /Lack of value of evangelism:/ “America is clearly becoming less Christian, less evangelized, and less churched.
Yet too many of those in our churches seem oblivious to this reality.
The problem is that the overwhelming majority of American churches aren’t committed to evangelism.” (40)
o   /Not recruiting gifted leaders:/ “My experience in working with churches as well is that if the senior pastor doesn’t have a leadership gift, then often the church moves to plateau and eventually slips into decline.”
(42)  “Remember, the church rises or falls with godly, gifted leadership from top to bottom.”
(42)
*Chapter 3: Should Churches Change?
Arguments against New-Model Churches*
“My goal in this chapter is two-fold.
First, I want to address the concept of Christians policing their own ranks.
Second, what are the arguments being used by those who attempt to police the church ranks for us, especially those who are most suspicious and critical of the new church models?”
(45)
·         *Who Should Address Error?*
o   /Churches must address error: /“The answer is the body of Christ.
In other words, Christians must police their own.”
(46)
o   /How to address error:/ “The church in general and leaders in particular need a biblical-theological grid or sieve that consists of several filters through which they run any and all teaching that claims to be of God.” (49)  “In essentials, unity; in differences, liberty; in all things, love.”
(54)
§  /Filter 1: The essentials of faith-/ “There are five essentials: The Bible is the inspired Word of God; there is only one true God as three coequal and coeternal persons (namely, the Trinity); the deity and substitutionary atonement of Christ provide for salvation by faith apart from baptism or works; Christ was bodily resurrected; and Christ will physically return to earth.”
(50)
§  /Filter 2: The nonessentials/ – “The nonessentials are views that we hold that may be based on scriptures, tradition, or on both.
The nonessentials aren’t clear biblically, and that’s why evangelicals disagree on them.”
(51)
§  /Filter 3: In all things love/ – “The final filter addresses both the essentials and the nonessentials.
It argues that we must always treat others with love.”
(53)
 
·         *What the Critics are Saying*
o   /The proclamation of scripture:/ New model churches soft-sell scripture
o   /The focus of Sunday morning worship:/ Incorrectly focused on the unsaved
o   /The church and evangelism:/ The Gospel has been weakened in their teaching
o   /The church’s means or methodology for ministry:/  Too marketing focused
o   /The motive’s for the church’s ministry:/ More concerned about numbers than purpose
o   /The church’s goal for ministry in general:/ Bring in lots of people
*PART 2: CHANGING CHURCHES*
*Chapter 4: Doing Church.
Interpreting the Biblical Passages*
“I have divided this chapter into two parts.
The first presents the problem – that various people view church ministry differently.
The second proposes a solution – a solid biblical hermeneutic for handling the passages that address church ministry.”
(61)
·         *The Problem of Different Views of Church Ministry*
o   /The influence of tradition:/ “These are non-biblical practices, because Scripture doesn’t clearly mandate them and in some cases doesn’t even mention them.
And the church comes to observe and value them to the extent that they become an integral part of the church’s culture.”
(62)
§  /Traditions based on the Bible:/ “Traditions that are supposedly based on the Bible are those that many congregants believe are the clear teaching of God’s Word.
It is a dangerous situation when we don’t recognize these practices as traditions and, instead, believe they are biblical mandates demanding our allegiance.”
(63)
§  /Traditions not based on the Bible:/  “There are good and bad church traditions.
What is the difference?
Good church traditions is always subservient to the Bible” (64)
o   /The Church’s need for a hermeneutic:/ “I am arguing that we need a proper biblical hermeneutic to interpret not only the Bible in general but the passages that address the church’s ministry in particular.”
(65)
·         *A Special Hermeneutic for Church Ministry*
o   /The Descriptive versus Prescriptive principle: / “A major question facing contemporary church leaders is whether certain first-century practices are normative for churches today simply because they appear in the Bible.”
(66)
§  The descriptive principle: All 1st century churches functioned the same way, and a biblical description of one will describe all.
§  The prescriptive principle: “Prescriptive, not descriptive , passages are divine precepts that address and mandate how churches are to conduct their ministries.”
(67)
o   /The Negative versus Positive principle:/ “Contemporary church leaders must also consider whether church practices can be legitimate if they are not found in the Bible.”
(68)
§  /The negative principle:/ “The negative principle argues that is a practice isn’t found in the Bible, we can’t do it.”
(68)  “There are several reasons, however, why this principle isn’t correct.”
(68)
§  /The positive principle:/ “The positive principle argue that the church is free to pursue practices that aren’t found in the Bible, as long as they are not prohibited by the clear teaching of scripture.”
(69)
o   /The Pattern versus the Principle approach:/ “Another question for the contemporary church to ponder is whether we must follow the practices of the early church or just the principles behind these practices.”
(70)
§  /The pattern approach:/ “General proponents of the pattern approach argue that the practices or patterns of the apostles and the early church are universal and binding on al congregations everywhere at all times.”
(70)  “Patternism assumes wrongly that all early churches shared the same practices and patterns.”
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