Preacher and spirituality : a diaconiological study in the light of the Pastoral Epistles

Abstract

1. The aim and objectives of the study - For the renewal of the mainline churches today and the recovery of their vitality, the main aim of this study was to research the Scriptural foundation of the preacher and his spirituality diaconiologically in the light of the Pastoral Epistles, and to suggest some Scriptural praxis for the preacher's spirituality in order to equip the preacher spiritually. For purposes of achieving this aim, the following objectives have been pursued: * to study and define more closely 'preaching' in regard to the Pastoral Epistles. * to investigate and define more closely 'the preacher' by way of the Pastoral Epistles. * to investigate and define more closely 'spirituality' in the light of the Pastoral Epistles, especially spirituality in relation to the preacher. * to study and define the 'preacher and his spirituality' in the light of practice theoretical perspectives. * to suggest 'some guidelines for the praxis of exercising the preacher's spirituality' in the light of practice-theoretical perspectives. 2. Basis-theoretical perspectives from the Pastoral Epistles on preaching - Basis-theoretical perspectives from the Pastoral Epistles on preaching can be summarised as follows: * Preaching is deeply rooted in God, in Jesus Christ as Sender of the preacher, and in the truth of the Word and the doctrine based on the Word. Preaching, therefore, is more than just recounting the story about the Word of God spoken by Jesus. In preaching this Word itself comes to the listeners. To sum it all up, preaching is the Word of God coming to man. * The goal of preaching is to help hearers in the world to get salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, to help new converts to grow in their faith soundly, and to help believers devote their strength as the workers of God to the gospel. * Preaching as the delivery of the gospel from century to century has primacy in the church because survival of the church belongs to the Word of God. * Preaching has the power to change and save people in the world even though they are very stubborn and evil sinners. Preaching also has the power which can thoroughly equip believers to be a good worker of God by teaching, rebuking, correcting and training. 3. Basis-theoretical perspectives from the Pastoral Epistles on the 'preacher' - Basis-theoretical perspectives from the Pastoral Epistles on the preacher can be summarised as follows: * The preacher can be defined as follows: the person who has been called by God, who has received the message from God, who has been sent by and for God. The preacher, therefore, must deliver the message given to him by God. In his preaching, he must not express his personal opinions, his own view of things or his own philosophy. He must, without doubt, preach the truth which God gave him. * The preacher should recognize that he is a sinner who must be saved through Jesus Christ before doing his ministry in the local church. He is at first a child of God who must fight the good fight for everlasting life, and then a preacher. * The basic task of the preacher is to preach the Word of God correctly, and to help various believers grow and mature in their faith, and to live for the glory of God in the broken world. * The authority of the preacher is basically rooted in God, in Jesus Christ, the Lord as the Sender of the preacher, and is deeply connected to the ministering of the Word of God. 4. Perspectives from the Pastoral Epistles on the preacher's spirituality - The perspectives from the Pastoral Epistles on the preacher's spirituality can be summarised as follows: * Spirituality, as EVOEBEIA in the pastoral Epistles, can be defined as operational faith, that 'truth' and 'conduct' (life) of the gospel are very closely in harmony. * The preacher's spirituality relating to the truth of the gospel concretely contains the following factors: - Proclamation for the glory of God - Christ-centred gospel - Burning heart for the gospel - Bold proclamation - Faithfulness to the Word of truth * The preacher's spirituality relating to the life of the gospel concretely contains the following factors: - True love - Self-sacrifice - Humility - Holy life 5. Practice-theoretical perspectives on the preacher and his spirituality - Practice-theoretical perspectives on the preacher and his spirituality can be summarised as follows: * The preacher as a pastor plays various roles publicly in the church: as a preacher, teacher, counsellor, visitor and administrator. It means that he always has a lot of work to do. * The preacher as a pastor is in multiple relationships: with family, colleagues, congregation, and society. The result of the preacher's ministry will probably depend most on the quality of his personal and pastoral relationships with the people he serves. * The preacher as a pastor is also a person, who has physical, mental, emotional and social dimensions. Therefore, the preacher is often distressed physically, mentally and emotionally: tiredness, burnout, pressure, stress, conflict, depression, tension, anxiety and loneliness. * The preacher as a pastor confronts various hazards while he ministers in the local church because he is also human. The hazards are self-conceit, laziness, professionalism and sexual misconduct. 6. The preacher and his Spirituality: Basis-theoretical and practice theoretical guidelines for praxis - The following conclusions on the preacher and his spirituality - basis-theoretical and practice-theoretical guidelines for the praxis can be summarised: * The term 'practice of spirituality' does not mean just man's positive spiritual activities, but spiritual activities based on the grace of God. Its basic and primary concern is not an external and technical training for doing well in a certain ministry, but it is rather an internal training for helping the formation of character. * The biblical basis for the practice of spirituality is I Tim. 4:7. The preacher's spirituality does not become mature automatically, even though he is a minister. Accordingly, the preacher must, like an athlete, train himself spiritually. * Guidelines for the preacher's practice in spirituality are suggested as follows: - The preacher must take in the Word of God regularly - The preacher must pray ceaselessly to God - The preacher must rely fully upon the Holy Spirit 7. Final conclusions - * This is the last word of this study. Truly, the preacher must be a deep and mature man spiritually because his mature spirituality can definitely make himself renewable and vital spiritually. If the preacher is renewable and vital spiritually, his preaching will be renewable and vital indeed (the preacher's preaching can never be renewable and vital without the renewal of himself). If the preacher's preaching is renewable, vital and powerful, surely his congregation will be renewable and vital spiritually, and then the church of God will be renewable, vital and revival again. That means that the congregation which is sleeping, will wake up; formalism and superficialism in the church will disappear; those who had left the church, will return; there will be a striking increase of conversion in this broken world.