What does it mean to “preach the gospel”?

I’d been planning to hold off on launching regenerateCulture.com until my semester ended later this month, at which time I would have regained a firm grasp on sanity.  However, after all of the reading I’ve done for my preaching class, I just couldn’t resist any longer.

I’ve been reading homiletics (preaching) books and have grown increasingly frustrated with those who equate “preaching” with “delivering a sermon” and define the “gospel” as “the Biblical text.”

Granted, I haven’t pulled out the Greek and Hebrew, but I’m pretty certain that “to preach” is simply “to proclaim,” and I would argue that you can do that in other (and often more effective) ways than delivering a sermon.  As Francis of Assisi supposedly said, “Preach always.  If necessary, use words.”

Similarly,  “gospel” means “good news.”  Yes, the Bible is the inspired record of that good news, but putting the good news into your own words, as the apostles did, does not negate its goodness.

So what does this mean?  This means that we can “preach the gospel” (or “proclaim the good news”) through our art just as effectively as a pastor can through a sermon.

This has been especially brought home to me by the final book I’m reading for class – Experiential Storytelling: (Re)Discovering Narrative to Communicate God’s Message by Mark Miller.  Here he is on the influence of story:

Storytelling is powerful because it has the ability to touch human beings at the most personal level.  While facts are viewed from the lens of a microscope, stories are viewed from the lens of the soul.  Stories address us on every level.  They speak to the mind, the body, the emotions, the spirit, and the will.  In a story a person can identify with situations he or she has never been in.  The individual’s imagination is unlocked to dream what was previously unimaginable.

And on the Church:

While there are many reasons why the Church in America is in decline, the most striking reason is that people are no longer connecting with the redemptive story of the Bible.  We live in a culture that is craving narratives, metaphors, and images — anything that can provide some meaning to their nihilistic lives.  The Church has the greatest story ever told.  That story, Scripture tells us, is the power of God to transform lives.  Yet few are listening.  What is wrong with this picture?

Several years ago I led a men’s small group using a curriculum which contained within it a single page outline of the Biblical story.  I don’t have it on hand right now, but will type it up at some point.  Anyway, it struck me when I saw it contained in that encapsulated form that it was THE story.  I suspect that every work of art today that resonates with and speaks powerfully to the human heart does so because it in some way reflects THE story.

The world needs more works of art such as those.  Go to it.