As I understand and try to practice it, preaching the Bible involves trying to hear from God through scripture for others, and to communicate to those others what I believe I am hearing. It is part of my responsibility to try to know and understand as far as is possible the people to whom I [...]
listener
brett jones – preparation: prepared and revealed
The dichotomy between careful preparation and spontaneous delivery in preaching has consumed many a congregation as they pursue authentic revelation. For some, the discipline and detail of extended preparation offers due recognition to the great responsibility of preaching. Other times it has seemed that the voices promoting the spontaneity of the Spirit’s inspiration have been [...]
rod thompson – living in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation
Miroslav Volf contends that God’s people in current times and places must choose to live “against the tide” – a tide characterised by the inner pull toward self-absorption and away from care for others, impelled by what he calls a “culture stripped of grace” (Volf, Against the Tide (Eerdmans, 2010) xi-xii). In different ways, in [...]
myk habets – peculiar preaching
We hear so often today in diverse ways and places, that preaching needs to be ‘seeker sensitive’, that the language and the concepts used in our sermons have to be accessible to the unchurched in such a way that they will immediately comprehend the content and be gripped by the message. If we don’t do [...]
sean du toit – serving your community
Through a series of circumstances, my wife and I have had the privilege of joining a newly established community of faith. Throughout this process, a key question is: “How much does the community itself affect the content, style and type of preaching in that community?” This is the question that has plagued me over the [...]
geoff new – the rising cost of electricity
I wonder how many sermons could still be preached this week if the national power grid failed early Sunday morning. I wonder how many preachers would be wailing and gnashing their teeth because their sermon depended upon PowerPoint, YouTube or that must-see-movie-clip? But now there is no data-projector which means there is no multi-media which [...]
lynne baab – preaching about friendship
Alert! Blatant, unashamed (but brief) self-promotion coming… My book, Friending: Real Relationships in a Virtual World, was recently released and is available in bookstores and from online book sellers. It focuses on friendship as a Christian spiritual practice in this Facebook age, and I hope and pray it will help people grow in showing love [...]
greg liston – getting the congregation you deserve
Just recently in the middle of a seminar on “Growing a Culture of Prayer” I was talking about the close link between the prayer life of a church and the prayer life of their pastor. And I wondered (out loud) whether congregations end up getting the pastor they deserve. “If you are an overly demanding [...]
george wieland – “who’s getting their ass to church on Sunday?”
What follows is a Facebook conversation between a group of young adults in NZ, Friday 11 March 2011, while watching TV coverage of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami (names changed, but their comments remain). Amy All these natural disasters lately are scaring me and making me feel uneasy! Ben the world’s coming to an end! [...]
