This is the un-official blog of the Queensland Theological College Preaching Class - but others are welcome to join in! We're exploring the mechanics of clear and effective Bible Teaching.
This is the un-official blog of the Queensland Theological College Preaching Class - but others are welcome to join in! We're exploring the mechanics of clear and effective Bible Teaching.
Jay E. Adams has written a really helpful book Preaching with Purpose responding to what he saw as a preaching crisis in America in the 80's- too many boring, confusing, abstract sermons. Anyone else read it?
ReplyDeleteI agree Phil. I found as a new preacher I spent most of my time making sure I was saying the right thing - ie getting my exegesis right. This took most of my week which left little time for thinking about "how" i was going to say what I said.
ReplyDeleteAfter 18 months I became more confident that I could exegete soundly (most of the time) and then I started to spend more time thinking about how to package the message.
I liked the explanation of speech-act theory today - i didn't understand when Sam Chan explained it. Thinking about what actions my words are doing in people is helpful when choosing them.
I reckon Matt raised a really interesting question in class today. How to keep a talk simple and yet maintain depth.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking about this question and wondering what is the primary task of the preacher...Is it necessary for the preacher to leave out the complexities of the biblical passage so that there are no tangents that detract from a clear and memorable talk that helps the congregation come to grips with the big idea of what scripture is saying to them?
Or is it important for the preacher to explore the difficulties a passage raises and model how to deal with them. To recognise that God speaking to us, and real life, is not always 'nice' and 'neat'? Does it stop people from engaging with the talk because they're sitting there thinking 'yes...but what about....' when the preacher doesn't anticipate and respond to the possible objection/difficult issue the passage raises?
Do you think you could do that and still have a well packaged sermon? Ah, well, perhaps the sermon is not the place for all of that. I don't know! Maybe it's about time I just hit the sack. Yes I will cos I'm starting to freak out. This is only the 3rd post I've ever written on a public forum on the internet. I'm way out of my comfort zone!!
I've read Preaching with Purpose (funnily enough) and it's fantastic. Sure, it's dated and you'll skip some stuff, but there's gold in there. Leigh recommended it to me as a racy read, if I recall correctly.
ReplyDeleteOh, and he goes further than Bryson, Phil. He half-prepares his sermon 6 months in advance, not 6 weeks! *crazy*
As a backup to Matt's question in class, I've been wondering about the implications of the Campbell method.
ReplyDeleteMy question is whether or not within that model exegetical transparency (and therefore modelling to your people how to read their Bible well) is something that's the preacher's responsibility. Phil? Is it something that you think is a priority for the preacher?