Grant English
Grant English is the associate pastor of student ministries at Pinecrest Community Church in Parker, Colorado. He’s a 16-year student ministry veteran with experiences in Texas, Kansas, Arkansas, and Colorado. If he’s not skiing or blogging, he’s saving the universe on his Xbox.
When 1 Metaphor Isn’t Enough
- By Grant English
- Published 11/4/2009
So, I was pretty stuck Monday and Tuesday with the message for Sunday. Frustrating but fortunately I’ve learned to not be quiet about this when this happens. God will use other people to help if you let them all know you need help.
Enter Georges Boujakly and the Creative Team. Georges (is it a French/Canadian thing to put an ’s’ on the end of perfectly good words and not pronounce them??) may be the shortest person I know but he is also the deepest. I told him about my stuckness. We had used the battleship vs. cruiseship metaphor in describing the church last week but there is so much more to the church than just this picture. Where to start? How to communicate this?
Georges handed me the book From Eternity To Here by Frank Viola, who I loved on This Old House. (Okay, not that guy.) He said read this…it’s going to help you. He smiled, hugged me and then said something I already knew but apparently needed reminding of –
“Grant…don’t start with the metaphor then go to the text. Start with the text. You’ve done your best teaching when you simply let the text speak and come alive.”
Well, no duh. Thank you, Georges. Creative Team listened to me ramble and was a place for me to think out loud with the ‘new’ information from Georges.
What was the ‘new’ information? Shockingly nothing new but something very ancient.
When speaking of the church, God uses three main metaphors — all them found in — wait for this — EPHESIANS! God has a ridiculous crazy sense of humor.
What are the metaphors? The Bride of Christ, the House of God, and the Body of Christ. All in Ephesians, all have OT roots, all adding a key piece of why Church. And, that’s the fun that awaits on Sunday.
Enter Georges Boujakly and the Creative Team. Georges (is it a French/Canadian thing to put an ’s’ on the end of perfectly good words and not pronounce them??) may be the shortest person I know but he is also the deepest. I told him about my stuckness. We had used the battleship vs. cruiseship metaphor in describing the church last week but there is so much more to the church than just this picture. Where to start? How to communicate this?
Georges handed me the book From Eternity To Here by Frank Viola, who I loved on This Old House. (Okay, not that guy.) He said read this…it’s going to help you. He smiled, hugged me and then said something I already knew but apparently needed reminding of –
“Grant…don’t start with the metaphor then go to the text. Start with the text. You’ve done your best teaching when you simply let the text speak and come alive.”
Well, no duh. Thank you, Georges. Creative Team listened to me ramble and was a place for me to think out loud with the ‘new’ information from Georges.
What was the ‘new’ information? Shockingly nothing new but something very ancient.
When speaking of the church, God uses three main metaphors — all them found in — wait for this — EPHESIANS! God has a ridiculous crazy sense of humor.
What are the metaphors? The Bride of Christ, the House of God, and the Body of Christ. All in Ephesians, all have OT roots, all adding a key piece of why Church. And, that’s the fun that awaits on Sunday.
