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Now we come to the critical issue of how to help people convert to Jesus. Once again, "And" is the key, holding together words and deeds.

Jesus Used Words and Deeds

Jesus attracted huge crowds of gawkers and graspers because of his remarkable deeds—healing the sick, casting out demons, and calming raging seas. While the uniqueness of these events was obvious to all, their meaning was not. Jesus wasn't just a miracle-worker. He was also a preacher.

In fact, he was so focused on preaching the gospel that he once snuck away from Capernaum in the middle of the night to escape his popular healing ministry. "Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out," he told his stunned disciples. (Mark 1:38)

He's building his church by the same pattern. The first church exploded when he poured out the Holy Spirit in a remarkable display. Peter then preached a sermon to explain what it all meant. This words-and-deeds dynamic has been the game ever since (even when herds of pigs and tongues of fire aren't involved).

Not Just Preaching. Not Just Doing.

Unfortunately, we often make mission into a preaching-only event disconnected from the life of the church. In this scheme, "good deeds" are just hooks to gather a crowd, not genuine fruit of the gospel. Right now, I'm having flashbacks to a college mission trip where we swarmed a beach and lured unsuspecting tourists with a 50-foot banana split. Doped up on frozen sugar and cream, we sprung the gospel message.

Jaded by such "evangelism," many people today suggest that mission is showing, not telling. The old Saint Francis of Assisi legend that says, "Preach the gospel at all times; if necessary, use words" is their mantra. The subtle implication, of course, is that words are rarely necessary.

How Words and Deeds Work Together

In reality, neither approach makes true converts; "And" knows a better way. Preaching is always necessary for genuine conversion because confusion and stubbornness are two of the biggest effects of sin. This means that even if spiritually disoriented people are attracted to the church's life, they won't interpret it correctly. Their questions must be answered, misconceptions cleared up, idols challenged, and objections removed. This requires words.

But their obstacles to the gospel aren't just cognitive. They also need to see what life might look like if they become Christian. Will I have any friends? What about my sex life? Will I turn into a foaming fundamentalist? Will I have to listen to cheesy Christian music? The church answers these questions by inviting them in and showing them what a gospel life looks like.

Avoiding False Dichotomies

Strangely, many emerging pastors say that if a church effectively embodies the gospel, then preaching becomes less important. Others fear that if we welcome unbelievers, we have to water down the message. In reality, just the opposite is true!

The more a church embodies the gospel and welcomes unbelievers, the clearer its preaching must be if anyone is to know what a Christian truly is. Vigorous gospel preaching begets changed and attractive lives, which begets the need for more gospel preaching, and on the cycle goes. This words-and-deeds dynamic is the engine of a resurging church.

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The next key to being a faithful and fruitful missionary is the unity of doctrine and life.

The Non-Doctrinal Trap

Pastors are typically good at doctrine or life, but not both. Some of us spoon-feed our sheep lots of practical how-to's, exhorting them to live like Christians but never teaching them to think like Christians. This leaves them vulnerable to being blown by the wind, tossed by waves, and gutted by wolves.

Of course, wolves never dress as wolves. They wear the jacket of a reputable Christian publishing house and speak with the voice of a winsome, half-true preacher. When wolves tickle their ears, gullible sheep roll over and let them scratch their bellies. The few who do fight don't have muscles because they've been eating Cheetos and Twinkies.

So pastors, we must add meaty, vitamin-rich doctrine to our preaching. Our sheep shouldn't have to migrate to seminary to learn theology; they should learn it from our sermons. We must also use the pulpit to proactively deflate popular false doctrines. Just as your son shouldn't first hear about sex when his buddy slips him a Playboy, neither should your sheep first hear about the Trinity when their friend slips them a bad Christian book.

The Heady, Abstract Trap

In our zeal for sound doctrine, we must not become heady and abstract. Intellectually acute pastorsóespecially of the Reformed persuasionócan project a rational, philosophical faith, but not equip people for real life. This was my temptation when I left seminary, gun loaded with new vocabulary words. After boring my fledgling church plant one Sunday with the high Christology of Colossians, a friend told me, "Your boots aren't touching the ground."

Ironically, sterile, theoretical sermons are one of the biggest reasons other pastors are reluctant to preach doctrine. They've never heard interesting and helpful doctrinal preaching. They hear my sermon on the high Christology of Colossians and conclude that doctrine induces sleep. In reality, doctrine is very compelling; I'm just a bad preacher! I need to put down my books and go hang out with people.

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One of the keys to being a faithful and fruitful missionary is the unity of doctrine and life.

Doctrine

"Doctrine" literally means "teaching." It's a morally generic concept, like "food." We have to eat to live, but that doesn't mean we should eat anything. A steady diet of Cheetos and Twinkies will kill us, but a sensible blend of proteins, grains, and vegetables will keep the body humming.

In the same manner, New Testament writers never commend doctrine per se. Rather, they distinguish healthy from unhealthy doctrine. "If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing" (1 Tim. 6:3-4). In other words, "Eat the vegetables, not the Twinkies," says Paul.

Life

But the church is not just a brain. It's a body that's made to do something. Why does Jesus give us teachers who love sound doctrine? "To equip the saints for the work of ministry" (Eph. 4:12). Why does Paul tell Timothy to "charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine?" Because "the aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith" (1 Tim. 1:3-5). Sound doctrine should always flow into a loving and attractive life.

To be continued.

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Continued from Contend and Contextualize, Part 1.

Even though many in the church today fall into the ditch of under-contending and over-contextualizing, I suspect that many Resurgence readers will struggle more to stay out of the right-wing ditch…

Over-contending/Under-contextualizing

We can’t avoid choices about how to “do church”—evangelism strategies, musical style, liturgy, preaching method, and which leaders to put out front. In making these decisions, we become culturally close to some people and culturally distant from others. So the question is not are we contextualizing, but who are we contextualizing for?

Who Are You Contextualizing For?

One of the strongest temptations church planters face is to contextualize for the wing of Christendom where we feel most comfortable—Reformed, Charismatic, High Church, Bible Church, Baptist, Presbyterian, or refugees jaded on all of them—instead of the broader culture around us. So we gather our flavor of Christian but don’t make converts to the gospel. As a parachuting church planter from another world (Arkansas) who is very much at home at a Reformed theology conference, I have found this the most difficult temptation to master.

One Gospel, Different Methods

Another temptation is to only have one way of preaching the gospel (usually “the right way”). This works fine when the culture isn’t too complex. But every week, I preach to a mixed bag of progressive West Coasters, transplanted Bible Belters, liberated Yankees, and refugees from Kansas/Nebraska/Wyoming who wanted to come in out of the wind. Their spiritual histories and levels of familiarity with the gospel (not to mention attitudes and accents) are quite diverse. It’s here that I’ve again found Paul’s example helpful. In the synagogue he might have started with, “Open your Bibles to Isaiah,” but in the Areopagus he started with, “As your own poets have said.”

In each case, he came around to the same core gospel, but the starting point was adaptable.

The Sweet Spot

Ironically, both ditches are filled with the same debris: churches that don’t make converts and disciples. One blunts the gospel by never deflating culture’s idols, taking away Jesus’ sword so he won’t offend anyone. The other never wins a hearing to begin with, swinging the sword but always whiffing. But when we do find that sweet spot of contending and contextualizing, Jesus is already there drawing people to himself.

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When we watch the New Testament church at work, we see that there were two impulses. One was to preserve, maintain, and protect the gospel message. "Guard the good deposit entrusted to you," Paul urged Timothy (2 Tim. 1:14). "I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints," pled Jude (Jude 1:3).

The Two Impulses

But preserving the faith was not the mission itself; advancing it was. The same Paul who wrote of maintaining traditions and guarding the deposit was, on other points, extremely flexible. When the essence of the gospel was at stake, he argued fiercely against circumcision (Gal. 2:3-5). But when gaining a hearing for the gospel was at stake, he quickly circumcised Timothy (Acts 16:1-3). "I have become all things to all things to all people that by all means I might save some," wrote Paul at his amenable best (1 Cor. 9:22).

We call these two impulses contending and contextualizing. One is conservative—contend, fight, preserve! The other is progressive—adapt, create, advance! Good missionaries keep both hands on the wheel and always know where the ditches are.

Under-contending/Over-contextualizing

In modernity, the chief cultural sin was to insist on anything supernatural. Eager for acceptance, many preachers whittled away Christianity's sharp edges, giving ground on the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, and the historical resurrection. This was necessary, they insisted, to win over our "cultured despisers. 

But in postmodernity, the cultural scorn has shifted. The supernatural is plausible again, but exclusivity and assertiveness are now taboo. The quickest way to ruffle skirts in our pluralist world is to come off rigid or narrow. So the new breed of preachers is tempted to lop off anything that sounds too exclusive—the Bible as universal truth, Jesus as the one mediator between God and man, and God's judgment, along with its remedy, penal substitutionary atonement. This is where our generation must contend or perish.

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"And" is the most theologically important Christian word. We can't even describe God without it. He is Father and Son and Holy Spirit: three persons, one substance. The same goes for Jesus, fully God and fully man in one person.

Orthodoxy Requires "And"

Like a journeyman point guard, And forged the way to early Christian orthodoxy. The key to And's genius? It held together things that are distinct but inseparable, neither confounding the persons (distinct), nor dividing the substance (inseparable). Most heretical blunders missed this. They either emphasized one thing to the exclusion of another or blended them into an unholy confusion. But And struck the perfect pitch. "So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; And yet there are not three Gods but one God," sings the Athanasian Creed.

The Church Requires "And"

In similar manner, And is essential to building a healthy church, one that makes true converts and growing disciples for Jesus. If we picture the gospel as the bridge between God and culture, then we have to ask, "What are the support pillars that hold the bridge up, making sure it doesn't crack or collapse?" The support structure is not the gospel itself but is essential to ensuring that the gospel stays strong and vibrant—that people from culture cross the bridge to be with Jesus and that the church crosses to do life in culture. The support pillars always include And.

• Contend and Contextualize. The purity of the gospel must be constantly fought for. And the gospel must preached in a way that connects with people in the world.
• Scripture and Tradition. Scripture is our final authority on all matters; it has to be proclaimed, explained, and obeyed. And it has to be interpreted in a way that honors orthodoxy.
• Doctrine and Life. The gospel requires faith in a certain body of teaching about God, Jesus, humanity, and the world. And our creed has to overflow into the stuff of everyday life.
• Words and Deeds. Evangelism requires proclamation and explanation. And it needs to be buttressed by visible good works toward the world.
• Personal Faith and Church. People must be called to an examined, personal conversion. And they must be integrated into an organized, visible church.
• Purity and Grace. The gospel calls us to sanctification from sinful lifestyles and attitudes. And it gives us the power to change when we are weak, the forgiveness we need when we fall short.

Don't Neglect "And"

History is littered with churches and movements that atrophied because they didn't exercise both arms of And. Perhaps they met the need of a fleeting moment, correcting their parents' biases, but once they grew up, they died of their own one-sidedness.

The same thing is happening in Evangelicalism. As we transition to post-Christian America, some are working out the neglected left arm while insisting that the right arm isn't needed for today. Others are still flexing their one good bicep. But churches that lead a lasting resurgence will embrace the full scope of And.

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