Back the other week, I was talking to some Evangelical Anglicans about the state of the CofE. I explained to them the problem. With their “stay in” strategy that it leads to people thinking they have to stay when their evangelical vicar is inevitably replaced with a liberal. One response was to the effect that… Continue reading The deficient shepherd culture
Category: Preaching and Teaching
Responding to a sermon on “why Christians should go on a Tommy Robinson march”
In amongst the responses to the Tommy Robinson march, I came across this one from a pastor who had been part of the march. It’s not an easy listen but worth persevering with. You get an insight into the arguments and methods used by those seeking to justify Christians marching under the banner of the… Continue reading Responding to a sermon on “why Christians should go on a Tommy Robinson march”
Two of the best things that your preaching should do
Let me share two stories from personal experience with you. In the first case, I was the preacher. Imagine the scene. I’ve completed my second year of theological training and my home church pastor has arranged for me to do a summer internship at a little village church (Halling Baptist) without a pastor at that… Continue reading Two of the best things that your preaching should do
You might need to step back to get the point
There’s an old saying about not being able to see the wood for the trees. I wrote the other day about the problems with equating verse by verse with expositional preaching. In fact, a sermon may be expositional when taking a short phrase, a verse, passage, chapter or even whole book of the Bible. I… Continue reading You might need to step back to get the point
Why verse by verse preaching may not always equal good exposition
John MacArthur’s Grace To You ministry describes its purpose as “unleashing God’s Truth, One verse at a time.” It is often assumed that Expository preaching is about working verse by verse through a text. Certainly, good expository preaching does require that we dig into the detail of the text. However, verse by verse may not… Continue reading Why verse by verse preaching may not always equal good exposition
How do we let the preaching of God’s Word do its job?
I recently preached on Luke 8 which includes the parable of the Sower and Jesus’ follow on explanation about how parables work. The surprising thing is that when the disciples come to Jesus and ask him what the parable means, he doesn’t say something to the effect that parables are earthly stories with heavenly meaning… Continue reading How do we let the preaching of God’s Word do its job?
The parable of The Sower with wide angled lens on
My dad used to have an SLR camera. It was novel in those days to have a camera where the view finder looked directly down the main camera lens. It also mean that he could switch between lenses. A telescopic lens enabled him to focus in on detail in the distance, a wide angled lens… Continue reading The parable of The Sower with wide angled lens on
The stories the preacher needs to tell
In a recent sermon on Luke 6, I observed that as we read the Gospel, we can actually see three stories being told. There’s the story of Jesus, the one we obviously expect to be there. However, Jesus is also retelling, or rather acting out the story of Israel. God’s people had experienced exile in… Continue reading The stories the preacher needs to tell
Can ChatGPT preach like me?
There’s been much discussion recently about preachers using AI tools such as ChatGPT to write their sermons for them. I even read a comment from one person who claimed that he now did this all the time and in fact, his church either didn’t notice a difference or preferred the AI option. Well, I thought… Continue reading Can ChatGPT preach like me?
“I have seen the Lord” What difference does Easter make? (John 20)
On Friday the tomb was closed and sealed. We left the disciples deserted, despairing, denying, and doubting. Then came the dawn of that Sunday morning . Some women arrive at the tomb and see angels before heading off to tell the other disciples back at Bethany. On the way, they meet Jesus. Mary Magdalene seems… Continue reading “I have seen the Lord” What difference does Easter make? (John 20)
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