As part of a training with several churches in Austin, Tim Hawks, the lead pastor at Hill Country Bible Church shared about moving from an informational model to an incarnational model.
Informational Model
The spiritual leader teaches the Bible to the church so the church tries to teach the Bible to the world. As a result, the church comes across as hypocritical and judgmental.
In this model, the Bible can become a barrier to connecting with people.
Incarnational Model
The spiritual leader studies the Scriptures and lives it out so that he or she can pass it along relationally. The message comes across as “if it wasn’t for Jesus, I would still be stuck.” The world sees the church as imperfect people trying to live a new life following the Scriptures.
The Scriptures are supposed to be living within us. This was God’s approach through Jesus.
If we needed to see Jesus in order to know and follow God, it makes sense that others would need to see Jesus in us.
