How are we to Preach?

I recently heard you speak at Dallas Seminary. I enjoyed your sessions and especially your gentle tone and historical sensitivity. I agreed that the gospel is a story and not just one event or a static doctrinal system that develops around that event. But how is the atonement to be preached, how are we to present Scripture, where are we to place our emphasis, how do we present the accurate message of the cross when it may be fundamentally opposed to the postmodern world? How do we deconstruct the modern elements of our message without losing the essentials?

Wow! To answer these questions, I’d have to rewrite all my previous books, and add about three more! They’re great questions, and I can only offer these three thoughts:

1. Those questions should bring you and others into ongoing prayerful conversation. I believe the answers that count most will not be the ones I give … but the ones you and your friends find as you wrestle in honest, passionate dialogue in the context of spirituality, community, and mission.

2. You note that the postmodern world will fundamentally oppose some aspects of our message. No doubt this is true (acknowledging that “the postmodern world” is actually a world composed of many different worlds, often quite divergent ones). But it is also true that the modern world was hostile to other elements of our message – and I hope that as you seek to understand our message, you’ll remember that we have probably lost or distorted essential elements already in our struggles with modernity. In other words – it’s not that we’re starting with a great understanding of the gospel, and we might lose it in postmodernity: I think we’re starting with a pretty distorted picture already. That’s why I often say that our biggest challenge – before we can preach the gospel to postmodern people, is to discern whether we understand it ourselves!

3. For that reason, our situation is even more difficult and dangerous than your question implies! In light of these challenges, we need to focus on first-order disciplines – prayer, meditation, service, fellowship, sacrifice, and the like. “Who we are” and “who we are becoming in community” will determine so much of what we see, understand, and learn. I wish I could offer more, but perhaps these few brief thoughts will be helpful.