Dynamics of Preaching (Ministry Dynamics for a New Century) , livre ebook

Baker Publishing Group - W. Wiersbe Warren

Découvre YouScribe en t'inscrivant gratuitement

Je m'inscris

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

English

Vous pourrez modifier la taille du texte de cet ouvrage

Obtenez un accès à la bibliothèque pour le consulter en ligne
En savoir plus

A propos
Informations
Extrait

Description

Wiersbe crystallizes the unchanging principles of preaching and applies them in practical and creative ways to ministry in the new century.

Sujets

Philosophie et théologie

Informations

Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	01 novembre 1999
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781441231482
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0960€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

© 1999 by Warren W. Wiersbe
Published by Baker Books a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.bakerbooks.com
Ebook edition created 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means for example, electronic, photocopy, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-3148-2
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Unless otherwise indicated Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Scripture quotations marked ASV are taken from the American Standard Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®. Copyright © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. www.lockman.org
Contents
Title Page Copyright Page Series Preface Introduction
1.

We Preach 2. We Preach the Scriptures 3. We Preach Christ 4. We Preach to Real People 5. We Preach to Be Understood 6. We Preach to Effect Change 7. We Preach from the Overflow 8. We Preach as an Act of Worship 9. We Preach Depending on God’s Power 10. We Preach the Message God Gives Us 11. We Preach with Imagination 12. We Preach to the Occasion 13. We Preach as Part of a Great Tradition

Notes Index Back Cover
Series Preface

The purpose of the Ministry Dynamics series is to provide both experienced and beginning pastors with concise information that will help them do the task of ministry with efficiency, fruitfulness, and joy.
The word ministry means “service,” something that Jesus exemplified in his own life and that he expects us to practice in our lives. No matter what our title or position, we are in the church to serve God’s people. The word dynamics is not used as an equivalent of “power” but as a reminder that nothing stands still in Christian ministry. If it does, it dies. True biblical ministry involves constant challenge and change, learning and growth, and how we handle these various elements determines the strength and success of the work that we do.
The emphasis in this series is on practical service founded on basic principles and not on passing fads. Some older ministers need to catch up with the present while newer ministers need to catch up on the past. We all can learn much from each other if only we’re honest enough to admit it and humble enough to accept each other’s counsel.
I began pastoring in 1950 and over the years have seen many changes take place in local church ministry, from bus ministries and house churches to growth groups and megachurches. Some of the changes have been good and are now integrated into God’s work in many churches. But some ideas that attracted national attention decades ago now exist only on the pages of forgotten books in used-book stores. How quickly today’s exciting headlines become tomorrow’s footnotes! “Test everything. Hold on to the good” (1 Thess. 5:21).
An ancient anonymous prayer comes to mind:

From the cowardice that shrinks from new truth,
From the laziness that is content with half-truths,
From the arrogance that thinks it knows all truth,
O God of truth, deliver us!

Our desire is that both the seasoned servant and the new seminary graduate will find encouragement and enlightenment from the Ministry Dynamics series.
Warren W. Wiersbe
Introduction

Just about everything useful ever written about preaching has attempted to answer two questions: What good is preaching? and What is good preaching? This book is no exception.
More than one preacher has asked himself (or the Lord), What good is preaching? Preaching worked for the apostles in the first century and for a few “great preachers” in succeeding centuries, but does it still work today? Do I have the right to expect people to listen to the sermons I preach? If God promises to bless the preaching of his Word, why don’t we see more changed lives and dynamic fellowship in our churches?
What is good preaching? is the question that gnaws away at the heart of the devoted preacher who wants to give God the very best. Is preaching good because it produces visible results or because parishoners compliment us or because church attendance increases? Was a sermon good because some people got angry and left the church? It’s not easy to measure ministry, especially the ministry of speaking sounds into air, invisible words that only God can propel effectively into needy hearts.
In the spirit of the apostle Paul, expressed in Philippians 3:12, I want to review the basic principles of homiletics and help both beginning preachers and veteran ministers apply them to their own preaching situations today. During nearly half a century of preaching, teaching, and writing, I’ve followed the counsel of a bit of doggerel that a seminary professor dropped into a dull lecture one morning and thereby rescued what might have become a totally wasted hour:
Methods are many, principles are few; Methods always change, principles never do.
The emphasis in this book will be on unchanging principles and not on passing fads.
Henry Thoreau wrote on the first page of Walden: “In most books, the I , or first person, is omitted; in this it will be retained. . . .” Students in the classroom and pastors in seminars have often asked about my personal approach to preaching, not because my way is the only way or even the best way, but because they were interested in knowing what has worked for me. You must find the approach that best works for you. But I hope you will find in these pages a hint or two that will help make your preaching more enjoyable and effective.
Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
1 Corinthians 9:16
At some point in your ministry, you may have asked yourself the same questions many of us have asked ourselves: Why all this emphasis on preaching? What is there about preaching that makes it so important to the ministry of the church?
We really need to answer those questions, because if we don’t sincerely believe in the importance of preaching, we won’t be able to do our best and will be functioning in a religious masquerade. If there’s one thing preaching demands it’s authenticity.
The Experts Speak
Let’s begin with some of the respected homileticians. John A. Broadus ranks at the top. His Preparation and Delivery of Sermons, first published in 1870, is a classic text in the field. The book opens with this declaration: “The great appointed means of spreading the good tidings of salvation through Christ is preaching words spoken, whether to the individual, or to the assembly.” [1] In short, preaching is important.
Seven years later, Phillips Brooks gave his famous Lectures on Preaching at Yale Divinity School. He wasn’t five minutes into his first lecture when he said:
I cannot begin, then, to speak to you who are preparing for the work of preaching, without congratulating you most earnestly upon the prospect that lies before you. . . . Let us rejoice with one another that in a world where there are a great many good and happy things for men to do, God has given us the best and happiest, and made us preachers of His Truth. [2]
John Watson (whose pen name was Ian Maclaren) gave the Yale Lectures in 1896. He opened his first lecture by reminding his hearers that “the most critical and influential event in the religious week is the sermon.” [3] Preaching is not only important; it’s critically important.
But perhaps these ancient texts are prejudiced. Back in those days people didn’t have television sets and computers and weren’t plugged into the Internet; so let’s turn to some recent books on preaching such as Preaching and Preachers by Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones. The Doctor immediately nails his colors to the mast by calling chapter one “The Primacy of Preaching.” In the very first paragraph he says that “the work of preaching is the highest and the greatest and the most glorious calling to which anyone can ever be called.” [4]
That’s quite a claim for a vocation that television comics parody and the general public ignores. Let’s confess that not every preacher feels “high and great and glorious” after preaching on Sunday. More than once we’ve gone home wondering if we should spend less time preparing sermons and more time attending committee meetings or organizing small groups. But Dr. Lloyd-Jones is right: Preaching God’s Word is a high and glorious calling.
We turn next to Dr. John R. W. Stott’s Between Two Worlds: The Art of Preaching in the Twentieth Century and find that the first chapter is entitled “The Glory of Preaching.” Dr. Stott writes, “That preaching is central and distinctive to Christianity has been recognized throughout the Church’s long and colorful story, even from the beginning.” [5] Preaching is critically important and preaching is central. The moderns agree with the ancients!
Finally, Dr. Brian Chapell opens the first chapter of his book Christ-Centered Preaching with the caption “The Nobility of Preaching”; and he quotes with emphatic approval Dr. Robert G. Rayburn’s statement to seminary students, “Christ is the only King of your studies, but homiletics is the queen.” [6] God save the queen!
The Stock Reasons
The people who sit in the pews probably haven’t read Lloyd-Jones, Stott, or Chapell. Like too many church members, perhaps they still believe the old deacons’ tale that pastors are supposed to wait on tables and not devote themselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:1–4). It may not really matter to them how the pastor pre