People of the Word

John Neufeld

Pastor John Neufeld has a passion that reaches far beyond his own church. He has zeal to see the resurgence of expositional preaching, following nearly two decades of its decline. Neufeld is senior pastor of Willingdon Church, the largest Mennonite Brethren church in the Vancouver area, and is acting on his passion.

Last April, Willingdon hosted its first-ever preaching conference under the title of “reFocus Canada.” The event drew some 400 pastors from all four western provinces and beyond. It also brought together pastors from a wide diversity of denominations, ranging from Mennonite Brethren to Anglican traditions. The declared aim of the conference was to “unite pastors around a resurgent historic evangelicalism and to equip them to preach the full counsel of God in an age of relativism.”

Expositional preaching, distinguished from other forms of preaching, is based upon a single Biblical text. The scriptural text, and not a topic, forms the subject of the sermon. Many expositional preachers believe that contemporary sermons, caught up in “church growth” or “felt needs,” end up repetitive and incomplete.

“Expositional preaching assumes the unique and final authority of Scripture for the life and practice of the Christian church,” says Neufeld. “So, Scripture alone, not felt needs, practical advice, or contemporary concerns, form the basis of all preaching from the pulpit.”

The conference featured such notable evangelicals as John Piper, J.I. Packer, Mark Driscoll, and Bruce Ware. The theme focused on giving a “reasonable, biblical explanation of why evangelicals should hold that salvation is not possible outside of explicit faith in Christ, and in his atoning work on the cross.”

“This subject is extremely relevant in multi-religious, post-Christian Canada,” says Neufeld. “Pastors need to have a clear, articulated, and biblical response for the question of why Christians preach Christ alone, when the pressure to acknowledge other ways of salvation is overwhelming.”

Although the overall response to the conference was positive, there were some critics. Some Mennonite Brethren participants were concerned that the theological orientation of the conference was Reformed and not Anabaptist (see “Hidden beliefs”), a fact not made explicit by organizers.

“This wasn’t a Mennonite Brethren conference,” says Neufeld. “It was, in fact, a conference that sought to bring together pastors from a wide perspective and united them by what we have in common.”

Neufeld emphatically believes Reformed theology and Anabaptist theology aren’t mutually exclusive. “The Anabaptists criticism of the Reformation was that the Reformers (Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli) had not gone far enough.” Hence, Anabaptist theology is a necessary correction to Reformed theology, a correction that includes the need for a believer’s church (with baptism upon a believer’s confession of faith rather than infant baptism) and radical discipleship.

“None of this is at odds with Reformed theology,” says Neufeld. “Reformed theology needs Anabaptism, and Anabaptism needs Reformed theology. As Anabaptists, we have much to learn from Reformed theologians’ stress on the sovereignty of God and the necessity that God be glorified in everything.”

Although the conference stressed the need for expositional preaching, none of the main sessions featured an expositional sermon. Neufeld laughs, and admits it’s true. “Although the conference was biblical, it should have included more expositional preaching. We will correct that next time.”

Next year’s conference, to be held April 16–18, will be entitled, “Leading with biblical authority.” It will feature such theologians as Bruce Ware, D.A. Carson, and Kent Hughes. “And yes,” says Neufeld, “all main presentations will be expositional sermons.”