Equipping YWAM Missionaries for Balanced Christ-Centered Preaching from Old Testament Narrative

2020·7.2 MB·English

by  JU KWANG CHAE

EQUIPPING YWAM MISSIONARIES FOR BALANCED CHRIST-CENTERED
PREACHING FROM OLD TESTAMENT NARRATIVE

A THESIS-PROJECT
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF
GORDON-CONWELL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE
DOCTOR OF MINISTRY

BY
JU KWANG CHAE
MAY 2020
Copyright © 2020 by Ju Kwang Chae. All Rights Reserved.
CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS v
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii
ABSTRACT ix

Chapter
1. THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING 1
Introduction 1
The Problem in the Context of YWAM 6
Purpose 16
The Framework for This Thesis-Project 17
2. BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK 20
Introduction 20
Biblical Foundations of Christ-Centered Preaching 20
Theological Foundations of Christ-Centered Preaching 40
Opposition to Christ-Centered Preaching 54
Conclusion 64
3. LITERATURE REVIEW 65
Introduction 65
The Literature on Author-Centered Preaching 65
The Literature on Christ-Centered Preaching 73
The Literature on Preaching from Narrative 83
iii
Conclusion 90
4. PROJECT DESIGN 93
Introduction 93
Verifying the Problem in the Context of YWAM 93
Training the Participants 95
Testing the Effectiveness of the Training 102
Conclusion 109
5. PROJECT EVALUATION 110
Introduction 110
Analysis and Evaluation of the Outcomes 110
The Strengths of the Thesis-Project 124
Challenges and Weaknesses 126
What I Would Do Differently 129
Conclusion 130

Appendix
A. SURVEY QUESTIONS 132
B. SELECTED LECTURE MATERIALS 134

BIBLIOGRAPHY 148
VITA 154

iv
ILLUSTRATIONS

Figures
1. Inductive Bible Study in the Twentieth Century 68
2. Clowney’s Rectangle 76
3. Five Key Features of Plot 86
4. Responses to Survey 1, Question 1 104
5. Responses to Survey 1, Question 2 105
6. Responses to Survey 1, Question 5 111
7. Responses to Survey 2, Question 1 112
8. Comparison of Students’ Understanding of Exegetical Preaching 113
9. Responses to Survey 1, Question 6 114
10. Responses to Survey 2, Question 2 115
11. Comparison of Students’ Understanding of the Big Idea 115
12. Responses to Survey 1, Question 7 117
13. Responses to Survey 2, Question 4 118
14. Responses to Survey 2, Question 5 119
15. Comparison of Students’ Understanding on Christ-Centered Preaching 120
16. Responses to Survey 2, Question 3 121
17. Responses to Survey 2, Question 6 122
18. Comparison of Students’ Outcomes, Surveys 1 and 2,
on Author-Centered Preaching and Christ-Centered Preaching 123

v
Tables
1. SBS Responses to the Question about the Canonical Perspective
from Old Testament Narrative Books 7
2. SBS Progressions from Old Testament Narrative Books 8
3. SBS Views about Christ-Centered Preaching 13
4. Comparison of Pelton’s Approach and SBS’s Literary Context 82
5. Christ-Centered Approaches According to the Development of Plot
in the Biblical Narrative 90
6. Responses to Survey 1, Question 3 105
7. Responses to Survey 1, Question 4 106
8. Responses to Survey 1, Question 5 106
9. Responses to Survey 1, Question 6 106
10. Responses to Survey 1, Question 7 106
11. Responses to Survey 2, Question 1 107
12. Responses to Survey 2, Question 2 107
13. Responses to Survey 2, Question 3 107
14. Responses to Survey 2, Question 4 108
15. Responses to Survey 2, Question 5 108
16. Responses to Survey 2, Question 6 108
17. Responses to Survey 1, Question 5 111
18. Responses to Survey 2, Question 1 112
19. Responses to Survey 1, Question 6 114
20. Responses to Survey 2, Question 2 115
vi
21. Responses to Survey 1, Question 7 117
22. Responses to Survey 2, Question 4 118
23. Responses to Survey 2, Question 5 118
24. Responses to Survey 2, Question 3 121
25. Responses to Survey 2, Question 6 122

vii
ABBREVIATIONS

BTPS Biblical Teaching and Preaching School
CanBi Canonical Big Idea
CFC Christ-focused connection
ConBi Contextual Big Idea
CTC City to City
DMin doctor of ministry
DTS discipleship training schools
ESV English Standard Version
FCF Fallen Condition Focus
GCTS Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
IBS inductive Bible study
LXX Septuagint
MDiv master of divinity
RHP redemptive-historical preaching
SBL GNT Society of Biblical Literature Greek New Testament
SBS school of biblical studies
TextBi Textual Big Idea
WLC Westminster Leningrad Codex
YWAM Youth With A Mission

viii
ABSTRACT

The primary purpose of this thesis-project is equipping YWAM missionaries for balanced
Christ-centered preaching from Old Testament narrative. Chapter 1 introduces the problem in the
context of YWAM relating to balanced Christ-centered preaching from Old Testament narrative.
Chapter 2 discusses the biblical foundation and the theological foundation for Christ-centered
preaching. Chapter 3 reviews the core books by representative scholars on author-centered
preaching, Christ-centered preaching, and preaching from narrative. Chapter 4 explains the
design and implementation of the thesis-project. Chapter 5 analyzes and evaluates the outcomes
of the thesis-project.
ix
CHAPTER ONE
THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Introduction
The world of evangelical homiletics has two streams relating to the meaning of the text.
One stream emphasizes that the meaning of the text is what the human author intended to deliver
through the text, and the other stream emphasizes that the meaning of the text is what the divine
Author intended to deliver through the text. It is hard to divide those groups with sharp
dichotomy because the position of most evangelical homileticians is on a spectrum between
those two streams. While these groups try to preach the Bible emphasizing one stream, their
hermeneutical commitments result in differing sermons on the same passage of Scripture. One
group emphasizing human, author-centered preaching considers it essential to find the message
the human author is trying to convey, taking into account the grammatical analysis, historical
background, and literary context of the text. However, the other group emphasizing Christ-
centered preaching considers it essential to reveal the meaning of the text in the context of the
redemptive history of Jesus Christ running through the whole Bible. So, it is important for them
to reveal the implication of the text in the redemptive-historical perspective. Sometimes, the two
groups draw out the same message. However, they occasionally present quite different messages.
How then do we properly deliver the truth of the Bible? We need to think about the definition
and the nature of the sermon and what is the biblical message we should deliver to an audience.
What is preaching? The core of preaching is speaking the truth of the biblical text to
audiences today. John Stott sees preaching as building bridges from the divine Word to the
contemporary audience in the real world. He explains,
1