Six Tips for Missional Preaching

When I was a church planter in Brooklyn, I wasn’t preaching to the choir. Our worship services were sometimes visited by Muslims, Odinists, Rastafarians, Buddhists, and adherents of the Nation of Islam. In NYC, I had to learn how to preach the gospel to people of other faiths, to secular skeptics, and to deconstructing Christians. There was barely any choir to preach to.

It was in the context of church planting that I developed an approach to preaching that I later termed missional preaching. It’s an approach that I still use now, as a professor/pastor in Portland, Oregon. Missional preaching engages people at the frontier of unbelief and invites them to take a journey towards Jesus.

The goal of our church planting efforts is to meet people on the frontier of unbelief and help them start a relationship with Jesus. Preaching plays a role in that mission. Maybe you are a church planter, and you’ve succeeded in gathering a small crowd on Sundays. And sprinkled throughout that crowd is a handful of unbelievers. You’re wondering how to preach to them in a way that connects. I’d like to offer up the following six tips for missional preaching.

First, your tone matters. How you speak is perhaps as important as what you say. If, for instance, you are preaching from a biblical text that describes false religions, it will be important that your tone is not condescending. Preachers can tend to play to their safe crowd and make jokes about those on the outside. That doesn’t honor God. And if those “outsiders” happen to be inside your church services, your tone will turn them off.

Second, acknowledge the strangeness of your beliefs and invite listeners to momentarily suspend judgment. Some of what we believe as Christians can seem bizarre. Think about it. A virgin giving birth. A man rising from the dead. A talking donkey. Fighting angels. The Bible is replete with stories that stagger the imagination. For many (especially for secular skeptics), these stories seem implausible. I approached these biblical texts by acknowledging that, to many of my listeners, these stories would seem strange.

Here's an example: “Today, as we enter our season of Advent, we’re going to talk about a story that will seem strange, even impossible, to many of you. We’re going to talk about how a virgin conceived and gave birth to One who would change the world. I know what you’re thinking. I know the facts of life too. But I want you to temporarily set aside your doubts and come with me on a journey for the next 30 minutes. I think what you might find, is that this story answers many of your questions, and will provide tantalizing possibilities for a life full of beauty, hope, and justice.”

Third, preach Christianity as a story, and invite listeners to join that story. Our world is captivated by stories. From Instagram to Netflix, we are a story-saturated people. Christianity is the most compelling story ever penned. And it’s an ongoing story, one that we are invited to enter into as participants. When preaching on the missional frontier, it’s good to capture this narrative dimension, and to help your listeners see that, through faith in Christ, they can play a role in “The true story of the world.”

Fourth, demonstrate awareness of objections to the Christian story. If you are preaching to people from other religions, to secular skeptics, or to deconstructing Christians, you can be sure they already have objections to our faith. In your sermons, don’t dodge those objections. Engage them directly. Name the elephant in the room because everyone is already thinking about it. Point it out, and then patiently and tenderly answer that objection. Missional preaching engages in the work of apologetics (1 Peter 3:15).

Fifth, preach the Christian story as true, good, and beautiful. Some people want to know if Christianity is true. Others want to know if God is good. Still others want to know if the way of Jesus leads to a flourishing, beautiful life. In my sermons on the missional frontier, I continually emphasized the true, the good, and the beautiful. These ancient “transcendentals” connect with modern people who are not yet believers.

Sixth, preach Jesus. The point of our missional preaching is to engage people at the frontier of unbelief and invite them to take a journey towards Jesus. We must introduce people to Jesus. That might mean clearing away misconceptions and showing people the REAL Jesus. Present Jesus in his own words using the gospels. Demonstrate how all the Bible is a story with one hero. Preach Jesus.

I love preaching on the missional frontier. It’s here that I rediscover the truth that Lesslie Newbigin stated many years ago: “The deepest motive for mission is simply the desire to be with Jesus where he is, on the frontier between the reign of God and the usurped dominion of the devil.” Standing with Jesus on the missional frontier brings joy, and it makes me want to do more than preach to the choir.