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Driscoll on Preaching
This afternoon Mark Driscoll spoke at college about truth and contextualisation. It was absolutely sensational. He was incredibly insightful in diagnosing Sydney culture - particularly our worship of restaurants, leisure and shopping. He knew more stats concerning our city than I do - quite impresive given that he’s only been in the country for three weeks. He’s obviously spent a lot of time getting to know our city.
There was so much to like about his seminar. Here’s a few things I took away, in a random recollection order.
- We need other avenues for gospel ministries to go alongside the parish ministry of Sydney, as geography is no longer the primary way which our inter-connected citizens define themselves.
- Staff teams shouldn’t be filled with only the one type of people - you need prophets, priests and kings.
- As the Bible guys we have a tendency to be boring.
- We need to know our city better - to go out and spend more time in it (something I’m not complaining about!)
- Taking photos of everything is a good idea.
- Matthew 9:36 is a great verse to keep us excited about evangelism.
- Older men and women have a valuable role to play in discipling younger men and women on matters of both faith and life.
- 10 converts should be required before you get a theological degree.
- Preaching for 20 minutes isn’t enough. We need to develop our preaching skills so that we can preach for longer. We need to faithfully preach, explain, apply the passage that we’re dealing with - and take our time doing this.
- Letting young people exercise leadership will help grow congregations - both in numbers and maturity.
I’m on the AV committee at college, so I’m going to try and get my hands on the MP3 and post it up if they’ll allow me to.
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© 2008 the fountainside.. 
10 converts should be required before you get a theological degree.
It’s disappointing that a guy like Driscoll throws away a great talk with a comment like that.
Converting people isn’t our job. Sure, we want passionate guys who can explain the gospel clearly. But let’s not take over the Holy Spirit’s work.
Indeed, Christianity isn’t about converting people.
Thanks for the summary Sam. I agree, that talk was amazing… I’ve not heard much of his preaching, but I can begin to understand the hype around his work. He has a real way with communicating Gospel truths in an engaging manner.
As for the mp3… I eagerly await news of it.
In reference to “10 converts should be required before you get a theological degree” I think some clarification is required. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I understood Driscoll as reminding us that we need to be proactive in evangelism. His concern was that we remain in an isolated Christian community and don’t engage with the world. If we are serious about Gospel proclamation, which is the work of Spirit, we need to remember our role in that too, that there must be someone to proclaim the Gospel to those who are perishing, and be drawing people to Christ through God’s work in us. Evangelism is a gift - that we are graced with the opportunity to be involved in his work - and “10 converts” I think is Driscoll’s way of reminding us to get our hands dirty in this work, rather than the mere academic knowledge of the Gospel.
EBHG
Hey John,
I think he was speaking in hyperbole. Encouraging us not to lose touch with the outside world while at college…
He also told us to watch lots and lots of TV with our children. I’m pumped for that one.
But his talk was great. The first thing I wanted to do after was read my bible and pray. I’m not an huge Driscoll fan (meaning I don’t download much of him, I do like him) but a lot of what he said really stung (in a good way)
Like John I was a bit put off by the ‘10 converts statement’, but I think you’re right about it being hyperbole. Whether or not it was a good thing to say, the question I was asking myself was how many relationships am I currently cultivating where I am now with prayerful expecatation that they will be saved?…..ouch…..
I wonder how many people in the hall felt uncomfortable at that comment? Heaps I reckon. If our best and brightest at theological college are no good at evangelism, who is going to be doing it?
Lairdy said Driscoll made a similar point at SMBC. He was telling how Mars Hill had baptised about a hundred people the Sunday before he flew out. He believes that we, evangelicals in Sydney, have lost our belief in the power and willingness of God to bring many many people into the Kingdom. Our expectations are just plain low…
Amen to all of this!
I would love to hear that MP3 Sam. Coming from Burn Your Plastic Jesus last night, I am so excited about reaching this city with the good news about Jesus - with being culturally relevant, missional, servant-hearted, proactive and Spirit dependent as we work this harvest:)
Thanks for posting these comments - it’s so encouraging and kind of makes me see that there is a point to my job that goes beyond the paycheck (I actually do read magazines, watch TV and analyse ads for a living!!)
And John, I think that’s a helpful reminder - that it’s not our work but the Holy Spirit’s, lest we get ahead of ourselves.
brilliant talk.
thanks for posting some comments.
“He believes that we, evangelicals in Sydney, have lost our belief in the power and willingness of God to bring many many people into the Kingdom. Our expectations are just plain low…”
Describes me to a T.
Describes me to a T.
hayesy… i disagree.
you are the one who said we should do ‘driscoll on the coast’ not in the 650 seat auditorium, but in the 20,000+ seat stadium!!!!
http://davemiers.com/2008/03/27/driscoll-on-the-coast/
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It’s easy to say that.
If you followed me around you’d see what I mean.
I posted this comment on DM’s blog, but I’d be interested in people’s thoughts here too: Wasn’t it a little embarrassing to be told that (apparently) you’re mostly dorks who don’t get out much, and need to, you know, watch TV & be engaged with the culture you live in?
hey sam,
so cool to hear that you were so encouraged and learnt so much from Driscoll.
on an aside - your 1st point is what dominic has been saying for 10 yrs! I can hear it ringing in my hears ….”many people no longer live in their suburbs, they live in their industries…”
hope engage was great!
Hey Luke,
It’s only embarrassing if it’s true.
Personally I think Soph and I are not too bad on culture. I think our church Christians in the Media is better than most when in comes to engaging with culture too.
But I honestly despair at how little many of my friends at college know about the world that they live in, and how few friendships they cultivate with unbelievers.
Am I embarrassed by this? Yep. I want it to change. Desperately.
Hey sam
i’m a little slow on this but I was there and thought it would stinging.
at the south Sydney Regional council last night it was put on the table which is a good start. I even heard that St Mark’s DArling point (hardly a bastion of refomred and missional radicalism) is using some of the Driscoll stuff for their PC planning.
and some of the old guys are listening too- they know we need to reform structures.
I also heard that only 10% of people come away from a conference and do anything about it whilst over 70% forget it and move onto the next fad within a month. the other 20% wait for others to take the lead. interesting.
i’ll post on how I am responding to these challenges
[...] month move onto the next fad I thought I would share some changes for me and our elders. Thanks to Sam who summarised a few of his challeges at [...]