I've just received an email off a good friend of mine in Manchester who has reminded me that i'm supposed to be writing an article on 'my call to preaching' for Headline magazine. I think i agreed to do this about six months ago but now i'm not quite sure what to write. As a methodist preaching has been central to my upbringing and has taught me so much, but the post-modern bit of me is now rebelling (hence the cynical inclussion of a Benny Hinn photo!) and asking whether the didactic model is a) biblical b) effective c) ethical
I found this post on the living room website and although it's a couple of years old it summarises a lot of my thoughts and the discussion is really interested. Increasingly it seems to me that although the bible might support the notion of preaching the word it does not seem to support the idea of a sermon as we know it. Jesus certainly didn't do it and my understanding is that when Paul spoke to the Jews what we have as one long speech will have flowed over a number of days and been way more interactive and involved much more interuption than the text makes out.
I'm looking at taking my youth group to Soul Survivor at the minute and it's interesting that the authoritain model seems to work there (Mike Pilivachi et al preaching for 45 mins+) but i can't help thinking that time goes on and people become more cynical of authority, this becomes a less effect model of discipleship.
When the article is wrote i'll be sure to post it here but until then any advice would be appreciated!
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