Rob Bell and Preaching

Rob Bell has perhaps become most well-known in New Zealand through the series of short videos that go under the general title of Nooma.

Other people may have seen his much longer videos in which he uses a huge chart and gradually fills it in piece by piece while speaking non-stop.

We've probably had less opportunity to hear about him as a preacher, and in an article in the latest Leadership Journal online, there's an interview with him about his methods, his philosophy of preaching and a variety of other related issues.

It's well worth reading in terms of getting a different perspective on preaching (he often preaches exegetically, but not quite in the way most would), and in particular on his view that everything in the world can be brought into the sermon - rather than being narrow in your approach.

Read Tying the Clouds Together here.

How do YOU read the Bible?

In a talk at this year's 'Catalyst' Scot McKnight outlined five flawed ways many people read the Bible. I'll only include the headings and a brief note; the fuller version can be read here.

The Morsels of Law Approach: searching the Bible for all the commandments, and then only obeying those that suit.
The Morsels of Blessings Approach: doing the same thing with the blessings - although probably tending to believe more of the blessings than the commandments.
The Rorschach Approach: reading the book from your own political/psychological/whatever perspective.
The Systematic Theology Approach: pulling all the relevant bits together into an organised whole, but leaving out all the 'other' bits.
The Maestro Approach: in which one 'master' book of the Bible is taken as the focus for all other books.

McKnight's says: These five approaches are all very common, and all very flawed. We must read the Bible as a story. But it’s not just a story that we read, it is a story that we live. “We must let the Bible’s story become our story,” he said, “so that it becomes us, and we become it.”