July 4, 2009 by Peter Mead
I’ve written before on the critical subject of mentoring. It’s easy as a preacher to be too busy to invest in mentoring relationships. It’s also easy to miss the heart of what we are called to in ministry. I’ve just started The Making of a Mentor by Ted Engstrom and Ron Jenson. Pointing to Paul’s example in 1Thessalonians 2:7-12, they underline the importance of relationships in ministry. I’d like to share their quote from Harry Stack Sullivan, an eminent psychologist in the field of interpersonal relationships:
“All personal damage and regression, as well as all personal healing and growth, come through our relationships with others. There is a persistent, if uninformed, suspicion in most of us that we can solve our own problems and be the masters of our ships of life. But the fact of the matter is that by ourselves we can only be consumed by our problems and suffer shipwreck.”
Two simple questions. Who are you allowing to invest in you? Who are you investing in?
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion | Tagged Expository Preaching, Harry Stack Sullivan, Mentoring, Ron Jenson, Ted Engstrom | Leave a Comment »
July 3, 2009 by Peter Mead
When it comes to the application of a message, there are many options. One is to ignore it completely and leave it up to the Holy Spirit (not a good option since it’s part of our job as preachers . . . by this logic why do we preach at all?) Another is to be vague and ethereal in application, positing plain platitudes (not a good option since people will affirm any attempt at application, but that doesn’t mean it made any difference in their lives). Another approach, popular in some circles, is to always give a very specific action step in every message (again, this is open to question since some texts don’t lend themselves to facile or purely practical action steps, and listeners can grow burdened by the pressure of ever growing action lists).
So how do we make sure application is specific, without making the grandeur of God’s Word look puny by pathetic pedantry? I would suggest that we make sure we are really understanding a passage as intended by the author, in all it’s beauty and power, before we start trying to come up with applications. We have a tendency to leap to applications and then somehow make every passage into a “witness more” or “live better” kind of passage. Once you’ve come to a decent level of grasping the meaning of the passage, then you have a hope of good application.
It is always worth starting with the original recipients. What was the author trying to do in them by this act of communication? If we can grasp that, then we are halfway to applying it today. If the original intent was to motivate a specific action step, then ours might well follow suit. If the original intent was to convince of a theological truth, then perhaps we should aim for the same.
Still, how do we earth the message in the lives of today’s listener? How do we apply, whether it is to the heart, to the mind, and/or to the actions of the listener? Remember that vague application will float around nicely in the vaulted roof, but it won’t change lives. Think about yourself. What is this passage specifically doing to me as I study it? Think about specific individuals in the church. What is the message of this passage looking to do in the life of Sarah the tired young mother? What is it straining to do in the life of Harry, the retired retailer with financial worries? What will it do if let loose in the life of Josh the recent graduate with no employment but a fiancee to make the future look bright? For specific and helpful application, earth it in the lives of specific people.
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 8 - Message Detail | Tagged Expository Preaching | Leave a Comment »
July 2, 2009 by Peter Mead
The question “why?” is critical for good preaching.
Why did the author write the passage? Wrestling with the intent of the author is critical if the goal is to understand the passage. This means not only asking “what does the passage say?” – that is, content. But also asking “why did the author write it?” – that is, intent. Many people don’t consider the author at all, which is a big mistake. Others consider the content carefully, but fail to ask “why?” This results in incomplete exegesis of the passage, which dooms the message to inherent weakness.
Why are you preaching this message? If this question is not asked, then we may fall into the trap of merely fulfilling routine, filling time, or even “doing our job.” But really, it is important to ask why you are preaching the message. This implies another “why?” question. Why do these people need to hear this passage? Prayerfully considering the needs of the listeners in light of the message of the passage will drive the preacher toward clarity in message purpose. If my goal is to fill time, I am surely a master of that (who among us is not highly skilled in the rhetorical art of waffling?) However, if my goal is driven by the text and the spiritual needs of those who will listen, then this will drive me to my knees in prayer and dependence on God. The “why?” question matters because it forces clarity in purpose and reliance on God.
Why is that there? Not only does “why?” help in the big macro issues of understanding the text and determining the message purpose, it is also helpful in the micro issues of message detail. Why is that illustration there? Why use that quote? Why am I planning to mention that historical detail? Why does that exegetical note need to be stated? Why do I take so long explaining that verse? Why am I not explaining this term? Every detail in the message should pass through the x-ray machine of the “why?” question. Extraneous detail, whether in explanation or illustration, is not neutral, it is harmful. Unnecessary stuffing, pieces without purpose, undermines the bigger “why?” of message purpose.
I’m not sure if it is possible to ask “why?” too many times in sermon preparation. “Why?” matters!
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 8 - Message Detail | Tagged Expository Preaching | Leave a Comment »
July 1, 2009 by Peter Mead
In recent decades many churches have moved from having the Scripture preached with authority to a watered down “talk” so committed to connection and amateurism that it completely lacks authority. While the “watery talk” may have proved ineffective in achieving anything other than a voluntary social club under the name of church, we need to think carefully about the authority that we have as a preacher. Again, reading Al Mohler’s, He Is Not Silent, I see a brief list worth mentioning for your thoughts.
Three forms of false authority of which we should beware:
1. Professional Authority. The task of preaching and teaching the Bible is not a professional task identifiable by degrees and letters after the name. While I would encourage many people to pursue the benefits of formal training, I never suggest that an academic qualification qualifies someone for ministry – the biblical standards are clearly spelled out, for example, in the Pastoral Epistles. Some churches despise formal training (often out of bad past experiences with apparently arrogant graduates, and often because of insecurity among the present leaders). Other churches simply ignore any higher qualification earned (which still seems a bit unfortunate considering what it takes to get through it!) On the other hand, some churches honor the degree as if it confers authority for ministry, which is missing the point of formal training. We don’t need to ignore or despise academic qualifications, but let’s not grant authority based on them either.
2. Positional Authority. Do you lead in the church based on your title? This is also a false authority. Positional titles in church hierarchies are not the source of authority in preaching. This can come from the leader, or from the people in the church overstating the importance of a position. Somehow some people derive security and even identity from revering the pastor, the minister, the vicar, the whatever. But this is not the source of authority in our preaching. Mohler points to Acts 17:11 and the noble Bereans’ response to the Apostle Paul – good example.
3. Personal Authority. This is the “small c” charismatic leader who influences by sheer force of personality. Many churches fall for this, or create it for themselves. Again, beware. This should not be the source of authority in preaching.
We should preach with authority. Not an authority based on professional qualifications, nor positional titles, nor personal charisma. We should preach with the authority of God’s Word well understood, well explained, and well applied. The authority is not in us, but it should shine through in our lives and our words.
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion | Tagged Al Mohler, Albert Mohler, Expository Preaching, He is Not Silent | 1 Comment »
June 30, 2009 by Peter Mead
I’ve picked up Albert Mohler’s book He is Not Silent again. In chapter 3 he addresses the issue of defining expository preaching. He urges us to drop the language of “I prefer expository preaching” in favor of defining true exposition, which is true preaching. Mohler has major concerns with the contemporary emphasis on topical and narrative preaching, and urges the reader to understand true preaching as simply the reading and explanation of a biblical text.
(I would agree with Mohler’s concern, but wish to add a couple of qualifiers. I would suggest that true exposition must go beyond reading and explaining a text – a very mind-focused concern. Thus preaching is not only to say what the text says, but to appropriately do what the text does, too. Furthermore I would also suggest it is possible to learn much from the narrative preaching camp, as long as you think through what it means to be expository in your philosophy of preaching. And it is wrong to tar all topical preaching with the same brush…there is a place for periodic expository-topical sermons.)
Mohler goes on to state that where there is a decline in expository preaching, there is first an abandonment of the conviction that the coming of the Word of the Lord is a matter of life and death. Earthing his thoughts in Deuteronomy 4:32-40, Mohler offers three points for the development of both a theology of and a passion for, expository preaching. First, the only true and living God is the God who speaks (present tense – He speaks today through His Word preached.) Second, God’s true people are those who hear God speaking to them. Third, God’s people depend for their very lives on hearing His Word. Thus, preaching is always a matter of life and death!
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 5 - Message Purpose | 6 Comments »
June 29, 2009 by Peter Mead
Martyn Lloyd-Jones held preaching to be the highest calling. Many pastors and church leaders consider it the central calling in their ever increasing list of tasks. In reality preaching is only ever one part of a bigger package. There may also be counsellor, crisis-management, events organizer, team coordinator, small group leader, tension diffuser, visionary leader, committee chair, leadership liaison, building project coordinator, public relations officer, and on it goes.
I’m not affirming or even condoning how much some church leaders have on their plate, but I do recognize it. Monday morning may be a good time to reflect on the non-preaching aspects of the ministry coming up in the days and weeks ahead. For those with a passion to preach there may be a tendency to neglect other aspects of our ministry and move from yesterday’s message(s) to next Sunday’s. Perhaps our preaching could be strengthened by prayerful consideration of the other aspects of church life (not just the task lists, but especially the people involved). Take some time to pray for others in the church and pray through what you know to be their concerns and priorities as they look at the ministry of the church.
As well as taking a break from preaching preparation, this will give greater sensitivity to the priorities God has given to others. The benefits of the rest and the awareness, will also help your preaching too, so in a sense you’re still pursuing your “high calling!”
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion | Tagged Expository Preaching, Lloyd-Jones, Martn Lloyd-Jones | Leave a Comment »
June 27, 2009 by Peter Mead
Definitions matter. They matter theologically. They matter personally. They matter in preaching. I’m not talking about the definition of preaching – although that is a fine word to wrestle with! I’m talking about the basic building blocks of the faith.
As preachers we need to think about the definitions of words and often we need to give the definitions of words. What is faith? What is hope? What is love? What is sin? What is grace? What is salvation?
Never assume that a definition is obvious. You may have had a standard definition in mind for years, but don’t assume it is accurate. Since the defining of key terms is fundamental to understanding, we must poke and prod our definitions.
Is faith believing a creedal statement to be true? Is hope anticipation of the unseen? Is love an act of the will for the good of another? Is sin lawbreaking? Is grace “God’s riches at Christ’s expense”? Is salvation being justified before God?
I hope we would like to add nuance or completely redefine these definitions. I suggest many in our churches either have no definition or these typically limited definitions in their thinking. If we as preachers don’t help people with the basic definition work of core theology – who will?
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail | Tagged Expository Preaching, Theological Definitions, Theological Terms | Leave a Comment »
June 26, 2009 by Peter Mead
Some churches apparently have “topical sermons” every week. Apparently some preachers think they are easier to prepare and easier to listen to. Yes and no. A topical message is easier to prepare if you are simply wanting to say your own thing and bounce off a couple of verses along the way. A topical message is easier to listen to if people have a taste for anecdotal soundbites. However, true topical preaching, what you might call expository-topical preaching, this takes time.
(Incidentally, people may have a taste for lite-topical preaching, but often this is only because they’ve not heard decent expository preachng. It’s never a fair contest to pit engaging topical messages by good communicators against dry and tedious lectures falsely placed under the label of “expository preaching.”)
By topical preaching, I mean preaching that is not initially birthed out of a passage or passages, but rather birthed out of the concept or title. A good expository-topical approach will then select appropriate passages and do the exegetical work in those passages so that the part of the message coming from that passage actually comes from that passage. Hence expository-topical. Rather than using or abusing a bit of a text to say what I want to say, the onus is on me to let that text really speak for itself.
It may be easy to jump through my five favorite verses and link them together with anecdotes, but genuine expository-topical preaching requires me to wrestle with each passage chosen, in context, so that the text itself is boss over that part of the message. True topical takes time.
I’m not of the opinion that every message should be from a single passage (I do think that is a healthy staple diet approach). This week I finish a mini-series on the ‘christian virtues’ of faith, hope and love. A broad title like “Love” takes time. Time to select which of the hundreds of passages to use. Time to understand them and develop a coherent message. Time to cut out and drop material that could so easily fill a series on the subject. If the subject were not so thrilling, I’d be tempted to say that I’m looking forward to preparing a non-topical message again next week!
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 1 - Passage Selection, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail | Tagged Expository Preaching, Expository-Topical Preaching, Subject Preaching, Topical Preaching | 2 Comments »
June 25, 2009 by Peter Mead
It is healthy and helpful to get feedback on your preaching. Sometimes you might pursue this by asking several people to fill out an evaluation of a sermon preached. Perhaps you ask for specific feedback on handling of the text, or aspects of delivery that you are working on, etc. Another approach is to form a group for feedback and have someone lead the group as they discuss the message and the preaching together. Other times it is very effective to watch yourself on video (and see the things people don’t want to mention to you). But here’s another approach to add to the feedback quiver.
It may be helpful to ask a handful of people for their reflections on your preaching in general. Perhaps do this after not preaching for a week or two (if you never get a Sunday off, pray about whether that is healthy for you or the church). Ask people to give their general impression of your preaching. You could ask specific questions in respect to handling the text, communicating clearly, relevance of the messages, etc. Or you could simply ask for a one or two sentence description of your preaching ministry, along with your top two or three strengths and two or three areas to focus on for improvement. It might be interesting to see what people say – especially if there is overlap between the comments made.
Sometimes we get feedback on a specific sermon and “preach out of our skin” on that Sunday. Now and then it might prove helpful to get a more general impression from some listeners.
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion | Tagged Expository Preaching, Preaching Feedback, Sermon Feedback | 4 Comments »
June 24, 2009 by Peter Mead
There are many exciting parts of the Bible. Last night I was leading a seminar and we thought briefly about the story of Acts. That’s exciting. The problem we have, though, is decades of familiarity combined with a stoic tendency in traditional church settings. Many of us have heard the stories since childhood, and sadly, many times we’ve heard the stories recounted and dissected without any enthusiasm. Now the goal of preaching is not to whip up excitement as if that were an end in itself. However, to faithfully preach exciting elements of the Bible requires us to think about how the tone and import of the passage can be communicated (as well as the truth therein).
Excitement needs to be “taught” – it is not enough to simply ooze enthusiasm and keep telling people “this is really exciting!” It doesn’t work. They need to understand it for themselves. They will appreciate enthusiasm from the front, it might make a refreshing change, however, without understanding it they cannot genuinely enter into it.
Excitement needs to be “felt” – simply understanding the facts about the text is not enough. Our goal as preachers is not just to say what the text says, but to appropriately do what the text does. This means with a narrative, for instance, listeners need to not just know the story, but they need to be helped to see, hear, smell, taste, touch . . . feel the story.
Excitement needs to be “caught” – while enthusiasm alone can be quite annoying, it is necessary. As people are helped to both feel and understand the emotion present in a text, we as preachers need to enter into that emotion in an appropriate but contagious way. If the passage is filled with joyful excitement, but we seem depressed and bored, something is wrong. If the passage is filled with awe and wonder, yet we are communicating as if it is “oh so normal” – we have a problem.
It’s all about congruence really. The accuracy of our words, the effectiveness of our description, the evidence of our emotion – these all need to work together if the excitement, or wonder, or compassion, or righteous indignation, or joy of the text is to be effectively communicated.
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail | Tagged Expository Preaching | Leave a Comment »
June 23, 2009 by Peter Mead
When we are preparing a message there are many ingredients. Biblical explanation, various forms of illustrative support materials, a variety of means of communicating application, etc. A question worth asking ourselves is “where is the burden of the authority in this message?” By this I mean, what part of the message carries the authority of the message? There are, again, various message components that can carry the authority. These are all possible, but are not equal:
Authority Through Illustration – While most preachers will claim that the authority lies in the Biblical text, some will put the burden on an illustration that “drives home” the message. This can be particularly effective if the illustration is especially touching, moving or exciting. It can stir people who may yawn at the same old biblical content, but sit on the edge of their seats for the sensational story or anecdote. But think carefully, while a powerful illustration may be helpful, are you putting too much weight on it? What if the report you read of the revival in such and such a place turns out to be fraudulent or exaggerated? What if the story so overwhelms the message that listeners lose the Bible bit in the flashing brilliance of the illustration? In the end, what authority is there in that moving story? What if a false teacher down the road had a more moving or more exciting story, would people be right to follow them instead of your Jesus?
There’s a weightier version of the same:
Authority Through Personal Experience - There is certainly great need for genuine testimony, both as an evangelistic methodology, and as sermonic support material. However, we need to be very careful not to shift the burden of authority from the Word of God to the experience of me. It can be a hard balance to find. After all, you’ve experienced the power of this teaching in a contemporary situation. People can be encouraged to know that this truth still works today. Just look at what happened during my ministry in such and such a place. Careful. Be very careful. The added weight of the personal experience can make such an illustration carry too much responsibility in the message. It is certainly not wrong to use personal experience in preaching, I encourage it. But I encourage it with a caution – don’t shift the authority from God’s Word to your own word.
Let’s prayerfully strive to never take away from the Word of God the authority for the message, either deliberately, or by accident.
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail | Tagged Expository Preaching | 3 Comments »
June 22, 2009 by Peter Mead
Monday morning. For preachers it’s the day after Sunday (I suppose that’s true for others too?) Whether you are privileged to be in a paid ministry position, or privileged to have “normal” employment, Monday is an important time for a preacher. My suggestion:
Reflect – Take a few minutes at some point to prayerfully reflect on yesterday’s preaching. Whether you were the preacher, or a listener, or both (ie. two services), it is good to reflect on yesterday’s preaching. My mind goes back to the three questions I’ve heard and used so many times in training sessions – (1) What did the preacher do well? (2) What was the preacher’s main idea? And finally (3), what one thing would you suggest the preacher could do to improve that message?
Record – How many helpful insights have been lost over the years like small toy cars under furniture? It’s easy to relish them, then fail to hang on to them and they are gone. I need to make a note of how well Josh did that first-person as Jude writing, um, Jude, sitting at the desk to write with the words appearing on the screen via simple but effective powerpoint, then standing to explain his thinking before sitting to write some more. I need to make a note of how I failed to overtly link my message to the particular situation of that local church, but only spoke in broader terms of “the church” when “this church” would have hit home more directly. I need to record those thoughts somewhere . . .
Relax – Unless you’re very diligent about Monday being a day off, this may not seem possible. But in one sense, it is. For those of us not in other employment, Monday can be a day to genuinely relax, or at least to deal with other matters – administrative, email, desk clearing kind of work. For those who go from the frantic nature of Sunday to the hectic nature of Monday in the office (or on the site, etc.), it is still worth taking a mental break from the pressure of sermon preparation. Don’t immediately get the adrenaline flowing by wrestling with the big idea of your next message. Mentally, emotionally, even physically, we need to release that pressure and relax, even if only for a day.
Renew – Before diving back into sermon preparation, make it a goal to consciously renew spiritually. Look to the Lord, dwell in His love, abide in Him, wait on Him, walk in step with the Spirit, etc. Make it so the next sermon prep is not about getting things going spiritually again (that’s a sign of real spiritual peril), but rather make the next sermon prep an overflow of a close spiritual walk that births a fire in your spirit.
Mondays matter. Have a good one.
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail | 2 Comments »
June 20, 2009 by Peter Mead
Just a few practical thoughts on the issue of finding and using “illustrations” in preaching:
Bring Description to Life, Not Just Application –Listeners will tell you that you have great illustrations in your preaching, even if you technically have none. If you are effective in your description of the narrative, the life situation of the author, the image conveyed in the poetry, etc., then listeners will often feel as though you used what they might call an “illustration.” For more on this, click here.
Don’t Always Aim for the Ultimate Knockout Illustration – Sometimes we get intimidated by a message we hear, or by the pressure we put on ourselves, and we set the “illustrative bar” too high. You know what I mean, the one that is deeply personal, moving, compelling, tension-filled, intersecting with every point of the message, etc. Now and then you may have a humdinger of an illustration when you preach. It’s nice when you get them, but often it will be the passing comments or observations that demonstrate you are a real person rather than a poor history lecturer. Often the “choosing the wrong line in the supermarket” illustration is more effective than the “my death-defying fall from a cliff in a car” illustration (which will almost certainly overwhelm the text and the main idea of the message – warning!) People live normal lives in a normal world with normal issues, so don’t feel like every illustration needs to be supra-normal or extraordinary. Normal is usually ideal!
Describe Application Encouragingly – Don’t waste energy hunting down an obscure, witty, intriguing interchange from Elizabethan parliamentary discourse. Much better to focus your energy on describing what it will look like to apply what you are preaching. How might someone react in the days ahead in light of this passage? What will faith look like when worst fears are confirmed, or when unexpected crises hits? What does living in the light of that truth about God mean for normal life? Describe listeners applying the truth, the instruction, the change of attitude, the deeper intimacy with God, etc., describe them applying it and encourage them with that “illustration.”
One last one, unless you’d like to add other ideas:
Create a Filing System, and Use It - Basic, but most of us don’t do this and should. Make good notes of potential illustrative material, observations, quotes, comments, incidents, clippings, etc. Then file them. Perhaps in a searchable Word document with key words next to each entry. Then use the file. Something from life experience this week will probably not fit with the message for this Sunday . . . but in three weeks time, it may be perfect. Now where was that quote again?
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail | Tagged Expository Preaching, Preaching illustrations, sermon illustrations | Leave a Comment »
June 19, 2009 by Peter Mead
Continuing on from yesterday’s post. How can we who struggle with generating “illustrative” materials do better in this regard (to keep preaching from being historical lecture)?
Prepare Messages with Personal Sensitivity - As you prepare a message, look at your own life. Where do you see the sin, the struggles, the doubts, the hopes, the joys, etc. in your own life, in your own heart? In the past there was an emphasis on trying to keep yourself out of the sermon. I suppose the prayer we sometimes hear, “May the people not see me, but Jesus.” Very well intentioned, but people are seeing you, and hopefully more. Preaching is, by the Brooks’ definition: truth through personality. All that to say, without being a superstar or a buffoon, let listeners see you as a real, genuine, authentic and appropriately vulnerable communicator. This means being sensitive to how the text works in your life, before preaching it for the sake of other lives.
Prepare Messages with Congregation Sensitivity – The better you know the people you are preaching to, the easier it is to intersect biblical truth with present experience. This doesn’t mean preaching a message at someone in particular, nor divulging confidences, or causing embarressment in illustration specificity. However, your listeners are not the same as mine. Tim Keller’s crowd is not the same as Andy Stanley’s. Preaching usually calls us to pastoral care of our listeners, which means knowing what their life is like. Being a student of people needs to combine with being a student of the text in order to preach effectively. This does not require us to make every Biblical text into a mundane how-to list, but rather to help humans love, know and respond to a God who chooses to engage with us. (If you are new to the site, I’d encourage you to click on Audience Analysis in the categories menu to the right and see previous posts related to really knowing to whom we preach.)
Rather than looking through endless lists of “potential illustrations” in books or online, we have very fertile ground in our own lives and in the lives of our listeners. We should being looking there with real sensitivity in order to find the points of intersection that will help give our messages a contemporary and relevant feel.
More practical thoughts tomorrow, but feel free to add your thoughts . . .
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail | Tagged Expository Preaching, Preaching illustrations, sermon illustrations | Leave a Comment »
June 18, 2009 by Peter Mead
Thanks to Sarah for commenting on the post about Illustration Saturation. As I mentioned in the post, many of us struggle with finding and using “illustration” material. Sarah asked how to improve at intersecting life experiences with the text. Here are a few random thoughts to get us going. Certainly this is no developed strategy, but it is a start:
Read Bible With Sensitivity to Humanity – When studying the Bible, it is right to be theocentric in our reading because the text itself is theocentric. God is the main character of the Bible and should be the central focus of our preaching. However, some preachers preach as if humans are irrelevant to the Biblical story and all we need to preach is God / Christ. The reality is that the Bible is all about God as He interacts and engages with humanity. Consequently, as we read any passage, we will also catch continual glimpses of human reality. Bryan Chappell refers to the Fallen Condition Focus. Are the characters doubting or trusting, in what, why? Are they loving or hating, who, why? What is the effect of the Fall in these people, what is God’s provision, what is their response? These kinds of questions help us to look at people in the text and see that they are people like us. Once we see them as real people rather than flannel-graph characters, then it is easier to highlight intersection between the characters in the text and our own life experiences.
Read Life with Biblical Sensitivity – As a preacher you are not always reading the Bible. Once in a while you do other things too. Whether it is watching the news or entertainment, people watching at work or in the store, enjoying the joys of parenting or whatever . . . try to read life with a sensitivity to what the Bible teaches. Why are they acting this way? What is this attitude called biblically? What character in the Bible does this person remind me of? We need to read the Bible as it is, real and living revelation of reality. We need to observe life around us as it is, a living out of the Biblically described reality.
More thoughts tomorrow. Feel free to comment, this issue could be addressed from many angles.
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 8 - Message Detail | Tagged Expository Preaching, Preaching illustrations, sermon illustrations | 3 Comments »
June 17, 2009 by Peter Mead
It can be the environment. It can be the seats and their position on the relative scale of personal discomfort. It can be the ambient temperature. It can certainly be the noisy and distracting child (parents should never underestimate the distracting power of a noisy child!) The environment can certainly be a key factor in the clock-watching, shuffling, fidgeting, sighing and window gazing.
Some of these factors can be changed or avoided. Some can’t. But there is another factor that is not the environment. This one can be changed. You.
The preacher is a massive factor in levels of distraction. Are people gripped and compelled to listen by well-planned, well-told, well-described, well-applied preaching? Or when you preach are you background noise? Most people (apart from children) will sit politely and many will even look in your direction, but don’t assume that means they are listening. A significant factor in whether people sit gripped by the preaching or suppressing yawns and shuffling to see the clock is you.
Be sensitive to attention levels while preaching. Listen and observe. Perhaps even ask a few people if others around them seemed to be listening or not. Then perhaps some tweaking of your preaching may be necessary. It’s not all down to the preacher, by any means. There is a massive Holy Spirit element that must be considered, even if this post is not focusing on that aspect of preaching. So it’s not all down to the preacher, but it’s certainly not always the environment, either.
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion | Tagged Expository Preaching | Leave a Comment »
June 16, 2009 by Peter Mead
I’d like to ponder those things generally known as “illustrations.” I tend to refer to them as “support materials” to recognize their function. Or even better, I prefer to call them what they actually are, either “explanations” or “proofs” or “applications” since that forces me to be purposeful in how I use them. Notice I don’t call them “fillers” or “entertainers” or “treading waters” or “favorite anecdotes” or whatever. They are there either to explain, prove or apply what I am saying, otherwise they are not developing the thought or moving the message forward. Anyway, back to the point of the post – there seem to be two types of preachers when it comes to “illustrations.”
1. There are those who struggle to find, record, keep, select and use illustrations. After all, it does seem to take quite a discipline to create, use, maintain and then access a personal illustration library or database. I take my hat off to all who achieve this and use it well, but I know that many preachers are like me – illustration strugglers. Generally speaking, and this is very general, people in this category should probably do better with illustrations. Having said that, and it was only in general, but nevertheless, there are other ways to “illustrate” a message than the standard array of notes, quotes, anecdotes, personal experiences, etc. But that is for another post. For now, this category could probably increase the frequency and quality of their illustrations.
2. There are some, perhaps a select few, who seem to constantly overflow with illustrations. Every way they turn there seems to be three or four brief illustrations or passing comments that relate to the word currently before them. While it may be superficially something to envy for the majority of us in the former category, I would like to offer one observation to illustration fountains. It is possible to achieve illustration saturation. Sometimes in the preponderance of “interesting” materials the text itself can be lost.
Some struggle to illustrate. Others struggle to stop illustrating. Remember the goal of preaching is to effectively and faithfully explain and apply the Bible passage(s) for life transformation. The goal is not to bounce from important term to important term, filling the gaps with a string threaded with pearls of interest and offset with other biblical quotes in order to illustrate the gospel . . .
Some of us, perhaps not many, but some, need to be very wary of illustration saturation.
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail | Tagged Expository Preaching, Preaching Anecdotes, Preaching illustrations | 2 Comments »
June 15, 2009 by Peter Mead
Unity. Order. Progress. Three essentials in effective communication of a message. Yet it strikes me that we can sometimes take these for granted when we are preaching on a single passage. Unity? One passage. Order? Moving through the passage. Progress? Getting closer to the end. If this is all we have, then I suspect our preaching may be bordering on boring, among other things.
Unity. It takes more than simply having a single preaching text. After all, the content of a message “united” by a single passage can be totally random in examples, references, illustrations, etc. If we work at grasping the distilled single sentence main idea of the passage, then there is hope of unity in the preaching. But if we simply bounce off the text and go where our thoughts lead us, then there is no limit to the disunity that can result in our preaching. How often do we hear preachers supposedly preaching from one passage that seem to feel compelled to refer to fifteen others?
Order. It takes more than simply having a single preaching text. For example, if you are preaching a ten-verse chunk of text, simply moving from the first to the last does not guarantee a sense of order. If we fail to wrestle with the text and grasp the essential flow of thought in the passage, then we may simply jump off apparently disconnected thoughts in each successive mini-chunk, resulting in an apparently disordered collection of thoughts. Surely the biblical writers were not presenting disconnected mini-thoughts? Yet how often do we hear preachers supposedly preaching from one passage, yet at the end we as listeners have little grasp on the flow of thought in the text, little sense that the passage itself actually makes sense?
Progress. It takes more than simply having a single preaching text. As we preach, listeners should be moving with us through the combined explanation and application of the text in the experience we call a sermon. There should be a start. Then there should be the sense that we’re heading toward a finish. If we fail to wrestle with the text enough to grasp the movement and purpose of the passage, if we fail to craft the message into a plot or journey that goes somewhere, then what happens? We end up with a pedantic and plodding presentation. How often do we hear preachers supposedly preaching from one passage, yet all around we sense that others are looking at the text, as we are, to see how much more of the message there is still to come? These things ought not to be!
Unity, order and progress. These are evident in each unit of biblical text. But the onus is on us as preachers to make sure they are clearly present in our message on that text – the text alone will not guarantee it!
Posted in Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 4 - Passage Idea, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline | Tagged Expository Preaching, Order, Progress, Unity | Leave a Comment »
June 13, 2009 by Peter Mead
I am meandering through Al Mohler’s book, He is Not Silent: Preaching in a Postmodern World. He begins the book with a chapter on worship. Not in the way that many churches begin the service with worship (i.e. music) and then get to the preaching part. No, rather he begins by making it clear that preaching stands at the heart of the worship of the church. He rightly points out that you can tell much about the theology of a church by the way it worships (indeed, you can tell much about the theology of Al Mohler as he writes about worship).
He looks at Isaiah 6 and suggests the following observations: (1) Authentic worship begins with a vision of the living God, (2) authentic worship leads to the confession of sin, (3) authentic worship leads to the proclamation of the gospel, and (4) authentic worship demands a response.
To be honest the chapter felt a little flat to me, I’m hoping that the next chapter on the Triune God will move the feel from rigid responsibility to something more engaging and alive. Nevertheless, beginning a book on preaching with a chapter on worship seems like a good approach. We need to think more about worship. We need to think about the central role of preaching in the worship of the church. We need to be careful not to limit worship to music and somehow separate it from the preaching of the Word, to which worship should be the response, both in the moment, and in the rest of the week.
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion | Leave a Comment »
June 12, 2009 by Peter Mead
Continuing the list begun yesterday from the preface to Al Mohler’s 2008 book, He Is Not Silent: Preaching in a Postmodern World. Six reasons why preaching has been undermined in the contemporary church and is weakened at this point in time. Here we go:
4. Contemporary preaching suffers from an emptying of biblical content. When preachers do preach a text, they often empty it of its content, choosing not to wrestle with the meaning of the text, but rather to use it as a point of departure for their list of pithy points. Not only does this fail the text itself, but it also fails to present the text in its broader context, thereby not presenting the broader scope of God’s message.
5. Contemporary preaching suffers from a focus on felt needs. Following the course charted by Harry Emerson Fosdick, many contemporary preachers seek to counsel the perceived needs of contemporary patients in the pew, rather than addressing the real needs of sinners. So, consequently, much preaching is concerned more with career advancement or financial security, than it is with the real need of sinners before God.
6. Contemporary preaching suffers from an absence of the gospel. Too much preaching fails to stand up as Christian preaching.
While Mohler does recognize and affirm a contemporary resurgence in expository preaching, both in younger generation preachers, and in some seminary programs, he remains deeply concerned about the general trends in contemporary pulpit ministry. Is his evaluation accurate? Is it complete?
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion | Tagged Al Mohler, Albert Mohler, Expository Preaching, He is Not Silent, Postmodern Preaching | Leave a Comment »
June 11, 2009 by Peter Mead
In the preface to his 2008 book, He Is Not Silent: Preaching in a Postmodern World, Al Mohler lists six reasons why preaching has been undermined in the contemporary church and is weakened at this point in time. Let me list the reasons with brief explanation:
1. Contemporary preaching suffers from a loss of confidence in the power of the word. People today are bombarded by more words than ever before. Words have become very cheap and are increasingly replaced by the use of images or sound tracks. Generally people have lost confidence in the power of the spoken word, any spoken word.
2. Contemporary preaching suffers from an infatuation with technology. Well intentioned moves to incorporate visual media technology have inadvertently changed the core shape of the message – a message intended to be heard rather than seen.
3. Contemporary preaching suffers from embarrassment before the text. With the ongoing and repeated attacks on the biblical text from all sides, not least the current politically correct climate, many preachers are hesitant to preach the whole Bible since some parts are so offensive to contemporary sensitivities. Consequently many stick to the more comfortable, palatable and non-confrontational passages, while shuffling nervously around the rest.
Tomorrow I will finish the list.
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion | Tagged Albert Mohler, Expository Preaching, He is Not Silent, Postmodern Preaching | 2 Comments »
June 10, 2009 by Peter Mead
As John Broadus once wrote, “Preaching is characteristic of Christianity. No other religion has made the regular and frequent assembling of groups of people, to hear religious instruction and exhortation, an integral part of divine worship.” This is fine, as far as it goes, but I would suggest this quote alone does not go far enough.
Why might we suggest that Christianity is almost preaching-centric? Not because preaching is somehow an end in itself, but rather because Christianity is Theo- and Christo-centric. And what is the critical feature of our God that enables us to come to Him in relationship and worship? It is that He communicates. God speaks. God’s speech is action. He has acted through His Word written and He has acted through His Word incarnate. God’s saving work has been fully accomplished in the person of His Son, His final revelation and message. Consequently we gather together in worship and response to a communicating God. Preaching is not mere instruction and exhortation, on a par with a guided tour of a museum, or a journalist’s report of an incident, or a teacher explaining a theory, or a lecturer sharing their insight, or a coach rallying a sports team, or a motivational speaker stirring salespersons to do better, or an actor reciting a poem, or a judge reviewing the facts of a case, or a politician restating a promise, or a comedian drawing a laugh.
Preaching is unlike any other speech, either instructional or exhortational. When we preach, our goal is to preach the Word, so that the Word of God itself speaks. When the Bible speaks, God speaks. When God speaks, He is at work. Preaching is not just talking about God at work. Biblical preaching is God at work. Perhaps we need to rethink our view of preaching, for too often and too easily, our view of preaching is much too small.
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion | Tagged Biblical preaching, Expository Preaching, John Broadus | 3 Comments »
June 9, 2009 by Peter Mead
Yesterday I was reflecting on Dr John Lennox’s concerns as Christians add fuel to the fire of Richard Dawkin’s faulty logic. Faith, by his definition, is knowingly trusting in something which cannot be proven – believing against reason. Yet Lennox yearns for people to understand that the faith is always a response to fact, and the Christian faith is firmly founded on trustworthy facts – not least the resurrection of Jesus. Yesterday I shared his concern over the “leap in the dark” language used in some Christian circles as a very poor explanation of faith. Today I’d like to share his second concern.
2. An over-emphasis on faith as a gift given from above. Now it would be very easy for some readers to dismiss this, or to get into a theological slanging match. I certainly don’t want to take sides or position this site on one side or the other of the debates this touches on. Whether we agree with his own position or not, I think we must engage with Dr Lennox’s concern. Could it be that an over-emphasis on faith as a gift received is inadvertently undermining the truth that Christianity is founded on fact, not least the fact of the resurrection of Jesus? Could it be that internal theological debates undermine the presentation of the gospel to a culture now influenced by new atheism? Could it be that irrespective of our stance on the so-called “free-will” debate, that we need to consider underlining, rather than undermining, the facts on which our faith response is built?
We preach the faith. We preach for faith. Obviously there is much to ponder in a world influenced by a whole smorgasbord of thinking, from the clear to the fallacious and deceptive.
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 8 - Message Detail | Tagged Apologetic Preaching, ELF, European Leadership Forum, John Lennox | Leave a Comment »
June 8, 2009 by Peter Mead
I was not alone in really appreciating John Lennox’s preaching and teaching at the recent European Leadership Forum in Hungary. As someone who has been focused on debating Richard Dawkins and other “new atheists” in recent years, Dr Lennox has a lot to say about faith and apologetics. He points to a foundational plank in Richard Dawkins’ logic, his erroneous definition of faith. I’m quoting from memory, but essentially faith, according to Dawkins, is belief in something where you know there is no evidence. Consequently it is not possible to really discuss reality with a “person of faith” since by definition they know they are committed to that for which there is no evidence. It is sad to see the strategy Dawkins has created for his own purposes, but perhaps even sadder to see some Christians rushing headlong into the illogical snare.
The critical role of fact. Faith is a response to fact. If the facts are shaky, so is the faith. If the facts are the tall tales of an untrustworthy teenager, then the faith is relatively worthless. But if the facts are genuine facts, then faith in response to those facts is not so easily dismissable. The Christian faith is founded on fact. The central fact is that of the resurrection of Jesus, interestingly the central feature of early apostolic preaching (when there were plenty of eye-witnesses still around to corroborate or to refute the preaching).
As preachers we have a key role in being able to help our hearers understand that their faith is founded on fact. Yet Lennox points to two common errors, as he sees it, in contemporary Christianity:
1. The tendency to present faith as a leap in the dark. We hear this from uninformed testimonies where the person speaking is nervous at having so many eyes trained on them and quite naturally feels unable to fully and eloquently explain the whole Christian faith and so simply pulls out the “I don’t really get it, I just took a leap in the dark and now I can testify that something has changed in me” card. While it would be nice to hear testimonies that are somewhat better informed, there is something compelling about a testimony that is still a work in progress, someone who stands like the blind man in John 9 and cannot compete with the theologians, yet can speak with the authority of personal experience. However, as preachers we need to make sure we are not giving more of this “leap in the dark” error through our preaching, or even implying it. Christian faith is a response to fact.
Tomorrow I’ll share Dr Lennox’s other concern in how we preach faith today.
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail | Tagged ELF, European Leadership Forum, John Lennox | 1 Comment »
June 6, 2009 by Peter Mead
Probably it’s a combination of attending an apologetically driven conference and being scheduled to preach on faith this Sunday, but I’m pondering preaching for faith. I suppose that is always close to the heart of the matter in Christian preaching. Anyway, here are a couple of thoughts, although this could be a series of posts for the rest of the month.
The critical role of God’s Word. Right back in Genesis 3 everything “went wrong” when? When they doubted God’s Word and listened to another “authority.” Surely God’s Word couldn’t be trusted since this impressive creature had disobeyed it and yet still lived? So they ate and they died spiritually, they began to die physically and the whole creation began to suffer death. From that decisive moment on, the Bible is full of narratives, all of which have a big question mark hanging over them like an unfurled banner – “will people trust God’s Word or not?” Interestingly, when God’s Son steps into the world to make a path back to deep relational intimacy with God, He comes as God’s Word. Will he be trusted? Doubting God’s word in the first place led us away, now there is a symmetry in the remedy in that we are asked to trust God’s Word (incarnated and inscripturated) in order to be brought back. Consequently Paul writes to the Romans that faith comes by hearing, so the Word of God must be preached. Peter tells his readers that they were born again through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and through the living and enduring Word of God. Hebrews urges the believers to remember their leaders who spoke the Word of God to them, and thereby imitate their faith. In John 17, Jesus prays concerning the Word of God that He has given to His followers, and prays that they will be sanctified by the truth, which is the Word. I could go on pulling example after example, but the point is critical – the preaching of the Word of God is absolutely central to the purposes of God in redeeming a lost world.
So the simple question is this – as you look at your message this Sunday, what is the appropriate faith response to God’s Word as preached in your message? Is it clear? Is it central?
In the next post I’d like to share some provocative thoughts on faith from Dr John Lennox.
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 8 - Message Detail | Tagged Christian Faith, Expository Preaching, John Lennox | 1 Comment »
June 5, 2009 by Peter Mead
Yesterday my wife had to spend the day in the hospital having blood taken every hour. So I received regular updates by text message (SMS). She was listening to some CDs she’d been sent. Teaching on the subject of the family. I received a sort of running commentary by text message. The bottom line? This preacher had taken a long time to say nothing. Sort of a safari through Scripture making passing observations about families in the Bible (“Oh look! There’s another one!”). A great opportunity, but he’d essentially just filled time.
I am not one to spend hours trying to fix a broken pipe. I tend to think that if I can afford to have someone else do the work, then I will, because my time is also worth something (and because I’m rubbish at fixing things and will end up paying anyway!) If I spend four hours to save fifty pounds ($75), have I really saved any money? Likewise, when we are preaching, we are asking people to sit and listen to us for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, however long you preach. Please don’t just fill time. Say something. Study the text until you grasp it, until it grasps you, then say the text’s something.
Perhaps it would be a good idea to scan over this Sunday’s message once it is ready to roll out. Is there any filler? Is there any pointless meandering? Is there any “saying something and nothing?” Why is that line there? And that paragraph? What about that illustration? In the past I wrote a post entitled “Please only powerpoint on purpose.” I suppose I could steal my own line to conclude this post – please only produce preaching prose on purpose.
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Delivery, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 5 - Message Purpose, Stage 8 - Message Detail | Tagged Expository Preaching | 1 Comment »
June 4, 2009 by Peter Mead
Okay, that should be “developmental questions,” but they are dynamite. Sunukjian and others have followed Robinson in making quite a fuss of these three questions. I would encourage you to do the same. The questions represent the three ways in which a stated idea can be developed. There are no other ways to develop an idea than in these three directions:
1. What does it mean? (Explain)
2. Is it true? (Prove)
3. What difference does it make? (Apply)
The great thing about knowing these three questions is that they are so versatile:
Use them in studying the passage - Unless the writer is moving on to a new idea, these three questions can help you understand what is going on in the passage. Not only do they move you toward an understanding of content, but also authorial intent – which is so valuable as you wrestle with a passage.
Use them in developing your main idea – Consider your listeners in order to determine which of the three developmental questions are needed to develop your message. If they don’t understand the idea, there’s no point jumping to application without further explanation. Just because people understand what you are saying, it doesn’t mean they are convinced – perhaps proof and support is needed?
Use them in developing each movement in the message – What works on a macro level also works in the chunks. With these three questions as keys to developing your ideas as you communicate, you need never scratch your head for things to say (few of us struggle with that), or simply pad the message with pointless filler materials (some of us may struggle with that!)
I don’t advocate a predictable and slavish repetition of these three questions under each point of a message. I know some that do and the result is both predictable and often unengaging, not to mention how it can turn every genre into a dissected discourse. However, it is not a bad discipline to be asking yourself these three questions, both in study of the passage and in preparation of the message.
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, How to . . . ?, Preaching, Religion, Stage 2 - Passage Study, Stage 3 - Passage Purpose, Stage 6 - Message Idea, Stage 7 - Message Outline, Stage 8 - Message Detail | Tagged Developing an Idea, Developmental Questions, Donald Sunukjian, Haddon Robinson | Leave a Comment »
June 3, 2009 by Peter Mead
A couple of years ago we had the relatively short-lived hype of The Da Vinci Code movie. While the hype soon dissipated, the effects of Dan Brown’s book and then the film have surely continued below the surface for many uninformed readers. How many in our churches are under the impression that Jesus’ deity was a decision made by a vote three centuries after He was on earth, or that the New Testament canon was formed in a smoke-filled room by leaders with a hidden agenda? The absolute historical fallacies promulgated by The Da Vinci Code called many of us to address them directly at the time (special Da Vinci Code messages). However, the effect of such teaching is longer lasting and perhaps we need to think through whether we need to subtly address underlying false assumptions about the Bible, Christ and history?
In a recent seminar I used a video clip wherein members of the public were giving their personal views of the Bible. Most of them saw very little value in the Bible and so didn’t read it for themselves. Several times the same fallacy came through. “So much has been lost in translation,” and “it is poorly translated” and my favorite of all – a mini-beard stroking “intellectual” who stated, as if every informed person would know this information, that “the Bible has been translated over five million times!” This kind of misunderstanding is common in the streets and even the universities of our towns. The so-called “New Atheists” love to take pot-shots at the Bible, as do other major world religions that do not advocate the translation of their “holy book.”
While the Bible has been at least partially translated into over 2000 languages, we need to make it clear that the Bible people are looking at as they listen on a Sunday morning has been translated once. From the original language text into English – direct, by highly competent linguists, once. We do not have the end result of a two-thousand year game of Chinese Whispers. We do not have the last link in a chain of translation and mis-translation. Once. We have very accurate translations of original language texts based on overwhelming manuscript evidence, the likes of which no other historical work can even come close. Just once.
In a culture where peoples’ understanding of the authenticity and authority of the Bible cannot in any way be presumed, we as preachers need to think about how to establish the trustworthy nature of the text that we preach. A great message is so easily undermined if there is no confidence in the text from which it comes.
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion, Stage 8 - Message Detail | Tagged Bible, Bible Translation, Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown, Translation Errors | 5 Comments »
June 2, 2009 by Peter Mead
Yesterday I was really reflecting on a couple of specific messages given. But here are two very important overall reflections on this great event:
6. Remember that the Bible is not second class to apologetics/theology/counselling, etc. Several speakers really stood out in their emphasis on the Bible (not just in the Bible Teachers Network). It is easy to fall into thinking that the Bible is somehow intellectually second class to top level apologetics or systematic theology or even a discipline like counselling. In reality the Bible is at the core and these other “disciplines” should be around the edge seeking to reflect the teaching of the Bible accurately. When they fail to do so, they surely fail, period. Are we robustly biblical, or have we fallen for the lie that something else is superior in power and value?
7. Expository preaching feeds the soul in ways other presentations of truth do not. I was reassured to both experience and hear from others that expository preaching does a work in peoples’ lives in a way that non-expository approaches do not. Those who were present will probably reflect on the same contrast, although perhaps in different words. By this point I do not mean that preaching has to be done in a particular form or way. What I do mean is that the Bible text needs to be boss of the content, rather than hand-maid; communication has to be effectively engaging, rather than agonizing; relevance to listeners needs to be demonstrated and emphasized, rather than assumed; and everything needs to be very much done in reliance on the Spirit, rather than on personal “authority” (academic, professional or experiential).
A great week, a great event, a great vision. I’ve come home physically tired and spiritually energised. I’m thankful for the forum and hope it goes from strength to strength. And, on reflection, I’m thankful for expository preaching and hope it also gets stronger and stronger across Europe and the globe. We need it, both at the forum, and in our countries.
Posted in Christianity, Homiletics, Preaching, Religion | Tagged ELF, European Leadership Forum, Hungary | 1 Comment »
June 1, 2009 by Peter Mead
On Saturday I shared a couple of reflections on the ELF in Hungary as related to preaching. Here are a few more to ponder together:
3. Watch your language for second language listeners. In some ways I’d expect this to be obvious, but obviously it wasn’t for one or two speakers. When there are people in the audience that are listening in their second language, watch yours. While they may understand the words, they may not be familiar with local figures of speech. What does it mean that “the apostles made a killing on the God-fearers!”? Always be aware of who is listening when you speak.
4. Affirm as well as rebuke. Along the same lines, actually reflecting on the same message, it is important not to simply generalise and rebuke without some affirmation too. Perhaps the majority of your congregation never witness to anyone, but be sure to recognize that some do, whether or not they feel effective in doing so. It is much easier to blast, it stirs and maximises effect. But with any group, and especially an international group, be sure to affirm the good that is happening today.
5. Delivery matters. You cannot turn good content into a good talk without good delivery. (At the same time good delivery will not sanctify weak content.)
I was going to complete the list today, but actually I’ll save the last thoughts for tomorrow. As ever, feel free to comment. I’d love to hear the reflections of those present at the ELF too.
Posted in Audience Analysis, Christianity, Homiletics, Preacher's Personal Life, Preaching, Religion | Tagged ELF, European Leadership Forum, Hungary | Leave a Comment »
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