The seven streams of church – a sermon podcast
Originally posted on 7 August 2008
Last week, I preached my final sermon at the church my family has attended for the past 5 years. I relied heavily on a sermon preached by John Broom, of Meadowridge Baptist, on the occasion of his last sermon after over 20 years of ministry at the church.
The sermon was the final part of a series on “What Jesus would say to…”. The essence of the sermon was that “church” has been expressed in at least 7 distinct ways over the course of church history. Today, as the church in the West enters a “post Christian” world, it needs to recaptures the “instincts” expressed in these seven streams, and become the holistic church God intended.
Listen to the sermon by downloading it here (7 Mb, MP3 file).
The summary of the seven streams is below…
Seven streams of church
- Evangelical – instinct for truth
- Charismatic – instinct for experience
- Traditional – instinct for stability and community
- Holiness – instinct for goodness
- Aesthetic – instinct for beauty
- Social action – instinct to achieve and do
- Contemplative – instinct for meaning
