LIVING OUT THE CALL BOOK THREE: REACHING OUT TO GOD’S WORLD Paul Beasley-Murray Revised edition 2016 2 Contents Preface to all four volumes 3 PART 1: THE MISSIONARY STRATEGIST 6 1. The call to mission 6 2. Developing diverse mission strategies 19 Sermon: Provocatively attractive for God (1 Peter 3.1-16) 33 3. Going for growth 36 4. Empowering God’s people for mission in the workplace 47 PART 2: THE CHARISMATIC PREACHER 53 5. The call to preach 53 6. Preaching today 60 7. Preparing to preach 70 Sermon: God’s passion for the lost (Luke 15.1-7) 77 8. Preaching Sunday by Sunday 80 3 To Caroline Preface Hockey can be a tough game. People can get hurt. I vividly remember getting hurt in a school hockey match – blood was streaming from my mouth and the pain was intense – but the headmaster who was refereeing the match simply shouted to me ‘Play on Beasley-Murray, play on!’. And play on I did. Ministry too can be tough. People can get hurt. Most ministers go through at least one bad patch in their ministry. Indeed, for me the first seven years of my ministry at Chelmsford were pretty lean. For whereas in my first church in Altrincham everything I had touched seemed to turn to gold and as a consequence the church turned round and began to grow, in Chelmsford everything I touched seemed to turn to dust and the church continued to decline. It was tempting to give up, particularly when there was misunderstanding and even rejection. In that context, however, somebody simply shouting ‘Live out your call, Beasley-Murray’ would not have helped. I needed people around me to help me live out the call. I trust that the four volumes which make up Living Out the Call will prove to be a positive resource to those who have been in ministry for a while and are perhaps finding the going tough. Hopefully the lessons I have learnt over 43 years in stipendiary ministry, 34 of which were spent in leading two local churches, will prove of help to some. Hopefully, too, some of the thoughts and ideas will encourage and revitalise pastors in living out the call. But Living Out the Call is not just for seasoned pastors. It is also for those who are just beginning ministry. Indeed, these four volumes are based on lectures that I have given to students preparing for ministry. They need to learn that it is not enough to be called – the call needs to be lived out, and that is a constant process. Hence the present participle – ‘living’ out the call. Please also note that Living Out the Call is not an instruction manual. I am very conscious that there is no one way to do ministry. Every individual is unique; and what may be appropriate for one pastor may not be appropriate for another. Likewise, every church has its own individual character and its own particular mission to fulfil. God is not in the business of cloning! This does not mean that individuals and churches cannot learn from one another. Indeed, perhaps we can find a Scriptural basis for this, for according to Proverbs 18.15: “Intelligent people are always eager and ready to learn” (GNB), which the Living Bible translates: “The intelligent man is always open to new ideas. In fact, he looks for them.” Over the years I have greatly benefited from seeing how others operate and subsequently adapting the insights gained to my own church. But do notice, there is all the difference in the world between ‘adapting’ and ‘adopting’. To 4 ‘adopt’ an idea from another church fails to recognise the unique character of each church. Each church has its own special calling to be church. We can learn from one another, provided we do not slavishly imitate. Living Out the Call is different from other books about ministry, not least because of the person I am. • It reflects 43 years of ministry, 34 years of which were spent turning around two declining churches and developing them into the strong churches they are today. There are not many books on ministry written by authors with such experience. As I know well from my six years as Principal of Spurgeon’s College, it is very easy to lose touch with pastoral realities. • It reflects a love of ministry. I have enjoyed being a pastor. In spite of some tough times, there was scarcely a day when I did not thank God for the privilege of calling me to be a pastor. • It reflects a critical ability to learn from the experience and writings of others. This is not a book which tells the story of a pastor and his two churches. Rather, I have engaged with what others have had to say. The book reflects an unusual breadth of reading and academic robustness called for by an MA module. • Not surprisingly from one who is still a member of the Society of New Testament Studies, it reflects a delight in relating much of my thinking to Scripture where that is appropriate. • As one who is Chairman both of Ministry Today as also of the College of Baptist Ministers, it reflects a desire to offer something which will encourage and stimulate today’s pastors. I genuinely want to help those who are finding ministry tough to live out the call. • As befits my personality, the style is clear, passionate and straightforward! The initial intention was to produce just one book with the title of Living Out the Call: Rising to the Challenge of Ministry Today. However, my enthusiasm for ministry ran away with itself, so that in the end it became necessary to publish Living Out the Call in four volumes: 1. Living for God’s Glory Ministry today The passionate professional The exemplary pilgrim 2. Leading God’s Church The inspirational leader The empowering team player The effective manager 3. Reaching Out to God’s World The missionary strategist The charismatic preacher 4. Serving God’s People The creative liturgist The compassionate pastor It has been an interesting challenge dividing up what initially was one large book into four volumes – and not least grouping individual chapters under four different headings. The results, however, have been pleasing. • In the first volume, Living for God’s Glory, the topics of professionalism and spirituality go surprisingly well together and reinforce my conviction that professionalism is all about giving God our best. • Leading God’s People naturally encompasses the different ways in which pastors are called to be leaders. 5 • Reaching Out to God’s World proved a little more problematic: along with the need to develop a missionary strategy I felt preaching could also be included, for preaching at its best always has the world in mind. • Although the leading of worship and the exercise of pastoral care must never be restricted to the church, nonetheless to a large extent the focus for both is on the people of God, and so they are naturally grouped under the title of Serving God’s People. Over the years I have enjoyed sharing the fruits of my experience and learning with pastors and theological students in many different countries. Some of the material in Living Out the Call represents courses I taught in 2010 and 2013 at the Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Beirut, Lebanon. However, the immediate inspiration for Living Out the Call was invitations to teach Master’s courses at Laidlaw College in Auckland, New Zealand in 2014; and at the Colombo Theological Seminary in Sri Lanka, and at Vose Seminary in Perth, Western Australia, in 2015. I dare to believe that the diversity of these settings indicates that the principles underlying these four volumes, although for the most part drawn from ministry in England, are of relevance to pastors wherever they exercise their ministry. One further introductory comment needs to be made. Unless otherwise specified, the version of the Bible quoted is the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). Other versions used are the Good News Bible (GNB), the New International Version (NIV) and the Revised English Bible (REB). I have also quoted from time to time from The Message by Eugene Peterson. Finally, in producing these four volumes I am most grateful to my youngest son, Benjamin, who has helped with various technical and editing matters. Paul Beasley-Murray, July 2015 6 PART 1: THE MISSIONARY STRATEGIST 1. The call to mission Mission is of the essence of the church Pastors are called to spearhead the mission of the church, and in so doing they need to be missionary strategists. They are not alone in this task. They need to work with other leaders to constantly define the church’s mission and resultant strategy. In turn this vision of the church’s mission needs to be shared regularly with the church as a whole, as also with everybody seeking membership. Mission is our response to God’s initiative. It is rooted in the action of God for the salvation of the world. This is seen in Mark 1.14,15 which summarises the whole ministry of Jesus (as distinct from presenting a phase of the ministry of Jesus) in this way: “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news’.” “In the proclamation of Jesus the kingdom of God is God’s sovereign action for the salvation of the world.