Biblical Exposition: Becoming a Lost Art?

Christian leaders say a lack of good pulpit work is a big reason for society’s moral decline.

Last month’s first national Congress on Biblical Exposition (COBE) in Anaheim, California, served to encourage but also to warn the American church community. More than 3,000 pastors and lay leaders from ten nations attended the four-day event. An urgent message surfaced in its major sessions and nearly 200 seminars and panel discussions. That message was that the church must return to true biblical preaching or the Western world will continue its descent toward valueless culture.

Participants included James Montgomery Boice, Stuart Briscoe, Charles Colson, Os Guiness, Richard Halverson, Jack Hayford, Howard Hendricks, David and Karen Mains, Lloyd Ogilvie, J. I. Packer, Ben Patterson, Haddon Robinson, John Stott, Chuck Swindoll, and Ray Stedman.

Stedman, pastor of the Peninsula Bible Church in Palo Alto, California, chaired the Anaheim COBE. Since 1982, he has directed a nonprofit parachurch organization—also called COBE—that has conducted 14 regional conferences in the U.S. over the last four years.

The perception among some of the leaders in attendance is that in recent years the Bible has been misused or not used. Stedman said surveys indicate “more than 75 percent of the churches in America are no longer growing or are actually experiencing a decline in membership.”

Stedman added that most who have stopped attending cite “boring and irrelevant worship services” as the reason. Stedman said the surveys, along with society’s moral decline, speak of a need to “return to true biblical exposition.”

Highly respected theologian John Stott made it clear in his opening remarks to COBE that while good preaching is important, it is not a magical cure for society’s problems. “After all,” he said, “it would be safe to say that if there was an epitaph on the tomb of the children of Israel, it would have probably been ‘They wouldn’t listen.’ ”

But the emphasis at COBE was on preaching. In one seminar, author and sociologist Os Guiness said, “America is utterly exceptional in the community of nations because of its deep religious roots and opportunity for public expression of faith. But in all my studies I have yet to see a Western society where the church pews are so full and the sermons are so empty.

“There are four possible outcomes for the future of American Christianity,” he continued. “First, faith will wither in the sun of liberal secularism; second, faith will wither gradually in a period of its own crisis and decline; third, evangelicalism will stabilize, but will be exploited by the political Right for its own purposes; and fourth, Christianity will be revitalized as a way of life through revival.” He said the fourth scenario “won’t happen unless the Word is made relevant and preached profoundly.”

Some who attended COBE, however, questioned the premise that American pastors have abandoned expository preaching. Also, one speaker, who preferred anonymity, said the notion that moral decline is directly related to poor biblical exposition is too general, that it precludes determining “to what extent secular culture is drowning out the message.”

John Perkins, director of the Foundation for Reconciliation and Development in Pasadena, California, emphasized the need to act on the Word of God in addition to preaching it. “You could probably find a lot of Bible preaching going on right now in white South Africa,” he said. “But I doubt if there is a whole lot of application theology being taught.”

David Mains, director of the “Chapel of the Air” radio program, added, “The scribes and Pharisees were people who had a lot of knowledge, but Christ came along and was specific about what he wanted people to do.”

COBE’s organizers say the higher-than-expected attendance and the enthusiastic feedback of speakers and participants make another national event likely. They feel the conference went a long way toward highlighting the role of expository preaching in the renewal of local churches. Preparations for a Canadian version of the Anaheim event are already under way, as are plans for additional regional COBE conferences.

BRIAN BIRDin Anaheim

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