A discipline of the preacher is cultivating awareness of God’s presence and movement. The movement itself needs no special casting. It stands alone. By itself it is powerful enough to forever transform a life. All the preacher need do is point to it and by itself it delivers the hope and the promise.
We then shepherd the people of God toward the light of the place where God is moving. When the cloud settles, we settle. When the cloud lifts, we pick up and move.
One of the reasons our evangelism has become doctrinal is because we can’t completely (or even partially) understand what it means to have a “relationship” with God. So we point to “truths” in scripture and ask people to come into agreement with those truths thinking that at least if they do that they will begin the journey of relationship. “Truths” are easier for us to grab hold of. We can walk people through an understanding of a series of logical truths that interrelate with each other and form thematic structures.
But a relationship. That’s the harder work – mostly because we can only point the way. To invite someone into a relationship with God is to be a third-party broker. The person being invited is required to say yes and then do the difficult work of surrendering to the will and the purposes of God. I can’t do that work for them. The most I can do is offer wise counsel about the “benefit” of the relationship or how it “feels right” or “gives meaning.” But even those things ring hollow. It isn’t until you’ve been called and answer “yes” to that call that you have any notion of what that “yes” actually means or entails.
