Читать книгу A Way with Words - Adam T. Trambley - Страница 8

Introduction

IN SEMINARY, we were taught that the congregation should clearly know the main point we were trying to make. After every sermon preached in class, our professor went to the board and asked, “What did you hear?” Sometimes what the preacher thought the sermon said matched what was heard, but usually, especially at the beginning of the semester, the gap between intent and impact was pretty large.

Exercises like this are essential in helping new preachers learn the art of getting their message across. Even the most experienced preachers can sometimes be amazed by what parishioners tell them about their sermons in the receiving line after service. We all need to be proficient in the art of sermon preparation and delivery. Faithful exegesis and competent rhetorical techniques matter greatly to preachers and their listeners.

Unfortunately, the basic homiletical skills I encountered in seminary or read about in preaching books were not adequate to deal with the reality I faced in my parishes. Sitting in the pews were people who had been in church much of their lives and had a clear sense of what they thought their faith and their congregational life should be. Any “point” I made in a single sermon, however clearly expounded, wasn’t going to alter those expectations. The congregation might learn something new, and some of them might even embark on my important suggestion of the week, but the rubber band of their faith life snapped back quickly. Even more troubling to me, their current understanding of their faith and their congregational life was not leading to a thriving, growing church.

In this context, preaching became vitally important. Where else could I share a message of the reign of God that might move people? Yet, the overarching goal of my preaching had to develop. Instead of choosing one main point each Sunday and working to deliver it effectively, I began to look for a way to think about my preaching that would help me accomplish the larger adaptive task before me. A breakthrough came when I began to think of myself as preaching one continuous sermon over a course of eighteen months, rather than a series of different sermons week after week.

This book is designed to help a preacher think about preaching a sermon that lasts between one and three years. While the topics covered could be applied in almost any preaching context, some situations can most benefit from these concepts. First, I assume that you and your congregation connect frequently. You are the primary preacher and a large portion of the congregation is there more weeks than not. Second, I also assume that your connections are not just in the pulpit, but that you are the primary pastoral caregiver and the leader of the church board. Third, I assume that your congregation needs to make some significant changes to grow and thrive. These changes could be helping a sleepy congregation start evangelizing, directing the congregation to meet a new neighborhood challenge, or convincing a growing congregation to focus on developing the structures needed for the next stages of development. In the rapidly changing environment we live in, every congregation needs to make some significant changes to be who God is calling them to be in the next phase of their life.

However you read this book, I hope that you will have a new perspective on how to approach preaching from a long-term perspective, while being challenged to preach with greater prayer, passion, personality, and physicality. God’s call to us as preachers and as leaders of congregations is too important to take one sermon at a time or to give anything less than our full selves.