Planting Churches among the City's Poor - Volume 1

P ART III: P LANTING U RBAN C HURCHES • 367

What Shall I Preach, How Shall We Grow? The Urban Pastor’s Dilemma Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis • www.tumi.org/churchplanting

Recently, I met with a precious urban pastor who was wrestling with one of his greatest challenges of any pastor – what strategy should he use to lead the church toward spiritual maturity. He struggled with the trendy, odd kinds of themes used in churches today, and wondered if a more biblical alternative existed. He is not alone; many urban church pastors and their congregations have no clear plan to make disciples, and are often confused about content, that is, what themes and truths ought a growing vital congregation focus on to mature in Christ. For many, the choice of what to cover is a week-by-week decision, a hit and-miss affair that all too often leaves both the preaching and discipleship subject to the whims of the latest fads and curiosities, without depth or focus. In order to resolve this problem, TUMI has encouraged pastors to follow the Church Year, a Christ-centered, biblical approach to spiritual formation and Christian education. Also known as the Christian Year, the Church Year is a strategy used by Christians worldwide to help congregations concentrate on Jesus’ life and ministry through specific seasons that correspond to the biblical drama: Advent (his coming), Christmas (his birth) Epiphany (his manifestation to the world), Lent (his lowliness and ministry), Passion (his death), Easter (his resurrection), and Pentecost (his sending of the Spirit and headship over the Church). When understood from an evangelical perspective, the Church Year encourages Christians to practice the spiritual disciplines throughout the year, and to integrate all preaching and activities together for the sake of participating in the life of Christ according to the storyline of the Bible! TUMI’s Annual Theme As we do every year here at TUMI National, we are encouraging urban churches to follow Christ on the his journey from promise to incarnation to passion to resurrection and ascension through the Christian Year. On our website we are making available a host of resources (e.g., a Christian calendar, original artwork, a daily devotional guide, book readings, info on sermons, retreats, and meditations, etc.) to encourage pastors and their churches to probe the meaning of the Cross as they follow through the seasons of the Church Year. Through our classes, workshops, and consultations we hope to help urban pastors discover the power of a Christ-centered focus of the Church Year, filtered through the lens of the power and wonder of the Cross.