Preaching from the inside

We watched a Rob Bell video in our 6th grade Sunday School class yesterday. The series is called Nooma. This particular one was called Sunday and it involved a talk from a restaurant or diner about the church and what makes it relevant and irrelevant sometimes. During the discussion afterward, one of us shared about how it was weird to have preaching from a restaurant booth.

When asked how one knows if somebody is preaching, the response was "When somebody talks to you about God."

It pointed up among other things that for the most part (at least in the 6th grade) we think what we hear about God comes from preaching- from somebody else telling us about God.

We often (even years hence 6th grade) might think that what we hear about mission and ministry comes from somebody else telling us about it too.

Maybe we are the appointed ones to do the telling.

So we should hone our craft and study our discipline.

But we should also remind ourselves that just like the best preaching (allows us to learn about God from inside our selves) maybe the best bits about mission and ministry allow connections with and among people from the inside.

The quality of ministry shouldn't be contingent on how much we know about it or how well we can tell people about it.

Whether the message comes from a pulpit, a conference table, e-mail, blog, website or bulletin (or a restaurant booth) it should only be limited by it's authenticity and our vulnerability (to be wrong, to be changed, to say "We'll miss you", to say: "It was a gift", to realize true strength lies in gentleness, to think- that's a deal breaker for me, etc.).

At least, that's what's coming from inside me.