Perspective
‘The 10 most satisfying years of my life’
Small-town struggle solved by visitation & a different kind of preaching
By Tom Lentz D
avid Lose’s article “Inspiration for daily life” (April, page
12) unearthed for me the struggle of 10 years of ministry in two small-town Ohio churches. Lose wrote: “In a culture that
is increasingly participatory, our preaching is still primarily a monologue … too oſten [it] draws conclusions for our hearers rather than inviting them into the ques- tions themselves.” Aſter a 14-year interlude in
business, I returned to ministry by taking a call to serve two rural congregations. Average Sunday attendance was 12 at one, low 20s at the other. Most of the faithful were in their 60s or 70s. How could I compete with
nearby Lutheran congregations that had both traditional and contem- porary worship services, live music, youth programs, and a staff to create newsletters and church bulletins? By experimenting and making
mistakes. I struggled with my conscience:
the egotistic desire simply to attract bigger numbers versus seeking spiri- tual guidance to serve the authentic need of ministering to the walk- ing wounded, as priest and author Henri Nouwen might have put it. I decided to proclaim “a healing word
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www.thelutheran.org
for hurting people” as my message.
I went calling … Te first few months were spent calling on members, deliver- ing a small devotional booklet as an excuse for knocking on their doors. Entering their living rooms, I discovered their hopes, dreams, heartaches and troubles. Tese visits enabled me to establish a personal rapport, but also shaped and inspired my preaching. In Nature and Selected Essays,
author Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote: “I once heard a preacher who sorely tempted me to say I would go to church no more. … He had not one word intimating that he had laughed or wept, was married or in love, had been commended, or cheated, or chagrined. … Te true preacher can be known by this, that he deals out to the people his life, life passed through the fire of thought” (Penguin Classics, 2003).
And asked questions … It wasn’t until I listened to the
voices of my people that I could relate it to my own spiritual quest. But how was I to make it participa- tory, as Lose mentions? I started by handing out a short list of questions following the sermon. Folks were invited to anonymously answer questions like these: • What was a primary theme of the sermon?
• How did this message challenge you?
• What will you remember this week about the message?
• Was the sermon helpful, not helpful or boring? On other occasions I distributed
with the bulletin an outline contain- ing several blank spaces that could be filled in as the sermon was preached. Having just emerged from an
entrepreneurial business environ- ment, I found myself approach- ing evangelism from a marketing
MICHAEL D. WATSON
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