Having just attended the first Revitalising Preaching Conference, I’ve got plenty to think through.
Mostly the experience is sharpening rather than forging a blade from scratch.
I don’t want to post a lot about the content here, because it’s all going online some time soon.
But here are seven points Andy Naselli has gleaned from David Helm’s new book Expositional Preaching.
From the looks of these it is very good, and harmonises nicely with what I’ve heard.
To these I’d add the need for a systematic theology, and that number six is probably my favourite.
- Too many of us unconsciously believe that a well-studied understanding of our cultural context, rather than the Bible, is the key to preaching with power. (p. 17)
- [M]y congregation’s needs, as perceived by my contextualized understanding, should never become the driving power behind what I say in the pulpit. (p. 29)
- I intuitively used different strategies to find the essence of the book: reading the book from cover to cover, reading and rereading the beginning and end, looking for important repeated words, concepts, and phrases, and hunting down purpose statements. (p. 48)
- Every text has a structure. The structure reveals emphasis. My sermon should be rightfully submitted to the shape and emphasis of the text. (p. 52)
- [G]et a biblical theology. And the best way to get one is to read the Bible consistently and completely. Nothing will prepare you to make connections better than having a deep and internal knowledge of the whole Bible. (p. 70)
- One need not succumb to the idiotic notion that God loves people who live in cities more than he loves people who don’t. (p. 92)
- Preachers cannot be too simple. We need clarity. (p. 98)
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