Improving Discipleship on Sunday Morning: Interactive Teaching/Preaching as a Discipleship Model for Adults

2020·0.92 MB·English

by  JILL M. RICHARDSON

IMPROVING DISCIPLESHIP ON SUNDAY MORNING:
INTERACTIVE TEACHING/PREACHING AS A DISCIPLESHIP MODEL
FOR ADULTS

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
JILL M. RICHARDSON,
MAY 2020
Copyright © 2020 by Jill M. Richardson. All Rights Reserved.
To Brent and Emily for living with me through this, and to the congregations of
Resolution Church and Greenville Free Methodist Church for their belief in and
assistance with the project.
We are like the hobbits who “liked to have books filled with things that they already
knew, set out fair and square with no contradictions.”
--Jeffrey D. Arthurs, Preaching as Reminding
CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................. viii
ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................... ix

CHAPTER ONE: THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING ................................................. 1
A. The Problem: Lack of Discipleship .............................................................. 4
1. Church Attendance as a Measure of Discipleship ......................................... 4
2. Behavioral Change as a Measure of Discipleship .......................................... 8
3. Worldview and Wisdom as a Measure of Discipleship ............................... 10
4. Preaching as a Means to Discipleship .......................................................... 14
5. Problematic Discipleship Models ................................................................ 17
6. Interactive Discipleship Models .................................................................. 20
7. Discipleship and Kingdom Implications ...................................................... 27
B. The Setting: The Resolution Church Context .......................................... 29
C. The Proposal: Sunday Morning Interactive Worship Events ................. 30

CHAPTER TWO: THEOLOGICAL AND BIBLICAL IMPLICATIONS OF
PREACHING AND DISCLIPLESHIP ............................................................................ 37
A. A Theology of the Church ........................................................................... 37
1. The Church as Called out Ones ................................................................... 39
2. The Church as Exile ..................................................................................... 40
3. The Church as Sent ...................................................................................... 43
B. A Theology of Preaching ............................................................................. 46
1. Preacher as Leader ....................................................................................... 46
2. The Function of Preaching ........................................................................... 50
3. Preaching in Scripture .................................................................................. 53
4. Defining Preaching and Teaching ................................................................ 57
5. Preaching for a New Age ............................................................................. 59
C. A Theology of Discipleship ......................................................................... 68
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CHAPTER 3: LITERATURE ANALYSIS ...................................................................... 73
A. Competing Values in Adaptive Change of the Preaching Event ............. 73
1. Control versus Generosity ............................................................................ 73
2. Clarity versus Mystery ................................................................................. 88
3. Simplicity versus Excellence ....................................................................... 91
4. Participation versus Consumerism ............................................................... 94
B. Preaching Methods and Discipleship ......................................................... 99
C. Methods of Preaching for Discipleship .................................................... 105
1. Sensory Detail and Emotional Experience ................................................ 105
2. Stories and Narrative Preaching ................................................................. 107
3. Dialogical Preaching .................................................................................. 110
D. Discipleship Results in Preaching ............................................................ 122

CHAPTER FOUR: PROJECT DESIGN ........................................................................ 123
A. What Is Interactive Preaching? ............................................................... 123
B. Phases of the Experiment .......................................................................... 125
1. Phase One................................................................................................... 125
2. Phase Two .................................................................................................. 127
3. Phase Three ................................................................................................ 128
4. Phase Four .................................................................................................. 129
5. Mission Statement Sermons ....................................................................... 131
6. Final Experiment Sermons ......................................................................... 137

CHAPTER 5: PROJECT OUTCOMES AND CONCLUSION ..................................... 145
A. Measuring Outcomes ................................................................................ 145
1. The Congregation prior to the Experiment ................................................ 146
2. The Congregation after the Experiment ..................................................... 150
B. Applications and Questions for the Future ............................................. 158

APPENDIX A ................................................................................................................ 166
APPENDIX B ................................................................................................................ 169
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APPENDIX C ................................................................................................................ 173
APPENDIX D ................................................................................................................ 174
APPENDIX E ................................................................................................................ 178
BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................... 179
VITA…………............................................................................................................... 186

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you first to my husband Brent, for encouragement and faith in me. After Jesus,
you’re the best commitment I’ve ever made.

Thank you Becca, Emily, and Beth for being my biggest cheerleaders. Your certainty that
I could do this and your willingness to tell the world how much you believed in my
leadership and vision have been a blessing. I am a very fortunate mother.

Thank you to Deb Somerville for arranging my work at Greenville FM Church. You, too,
have been so encouraging to a fellow woman in ministry. Thank you, Greg Groves, for
your assistance as well.

Thank you Jen Guerra Aldana at Fuller Youth Institute for meeting with me and giving
me your insight. You are an extraordinary preacher yourself and God’s gifted advocate
for mercy and truth.

Thank you Women’s Holiness Clergy Conference for giving us all time to listen to God
in Charlotte—that is when I heard the voice that said, “Now is the time. Go get that
degree.”

Thank you Dana Allin and Jim Singleton for your practical insights and your visionary
wisdom. I am well aware that your persistence in critiquing this work made it far better.

Thank you Resolution Church. You are the most giving, welcoming, accepting body of
Christ I’ve ever known. You willingly and happily let me experiment on you, even when
it looked completely crazy. It is such an honor to be called your pastor.
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ABSTRACT

This thesis project examines whether interactive preaching is a more effective method of
discipling congregations than monological preaching. A review of literature on the
subjects of adult learning, preaching, and discipleship suggests that adults learn better as
they are invested in, make choices about, and participate in their own education, or
discipleship. Interactive methods were tested on two groups in the summer and fall of
2019, concurrent with surveys about their experiences with learning from sermons prior
to and after each experience. Data indicated that self-reported levels of discipleship and
immediate application improved after the three-month study.

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CHAPTER ONE: THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

The Christian life is a spiritual pilgrimage. It is a not a journey to a shrine which
has limitations of space and time. It is a journey into life, a life so rich no
limitation of space or time is able to contain it. But is this how we perceive the
Christian life? We go to church, worship, study your Bible, etc. But where do they
call for the high-adventure?
—Francis DuBose, God Who Sends

Introduction
Since the Reformation, Scripture and preaching have been central to the
Protestant church. The style of preaching, for Western Christians, has almost universally
been the monologue. It is historically believed that adults learn best, and are discipled
most deeply, through a lecture format in church. This belief has permeated classroom
pedagogy as well; it is a staple understanding in teaching/disciple making, whether the
person is being discipled into the Christian faith or a particular field of study. This format
in the church has traditionally focused on hearing the word of God and its explanation as
the primary means by which people are discipled. The primary tool for explaining God’s
word is the sermon, though classroom teaching, missional communities or mall groups,
and one-on-one relationships, for instance, also play a large part in discipling methods.
In other cultures, other senses are often employed to learn discipleship, and
preaching can be more interactive. In Hispanic culture, according to Pedrito Maynard-
Reid, there is an understanding that preaching is meant to touch mind and body, person to
person, including the totality of the person, not merely her ears.1 The same author

1. Pedrito Maynard-Reid, Diverse Worship: African-American, Caribbean, and Hispanic
Perspectives, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2000), 1945, Kindle.
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