Category: Preaching and Teaching

Preaching around

I mentioned the other day the debate about whether or not you should reuse sermons. The assumption there is that you will get a lot of your preaching experience from going to various different churches, perhaps a different church each month for six months and then visit the same churches again the following six months.… Continue reading Preaching around

If you know, then you know

The other day, I commented on this tweet about those training for ministry and the benefits of reading the Brontes, Austen and other literary classics. It’s probably worth me clarifying to avoid any doubt that my article wasn’t intended as a direct response to the specific argument the original tweet was making. Indeed, as I’ll… Continue reading If you know, then you know

Re-preach your sermon

I’ve picked up on a little debate between preachers recently about whether or not you should reuse sermons when speaking at other churches or prepare a fresh sermon every time.  I suspect this has been prompted, at least in part by this brilliant article from Tim Wilson.  There are a couple of things I’d differ… Continue reading Re-preach your sermon

How do you develop a healthy teaching and preaching diet for your church?

On one level, this is quite simple, especially if your leaning is towards systematic expository preaching and if you believe that the church family needs to hear the whole counsel of God. My practice in pastoral ministry has been to try and ensure that over time, the church covers as much of Scripture as possible. … Continue reading How do you develop a healthy teaching and preaching diet for your church?

Why I won’t be using ChatGPT to help me prepare my sermons anytime soon

There seems to be a lot of discussion about whether or not Christians should make use of AI in sermon and service preparation. Some people have expressed fear that allowing AI to take over could be dangerous.  I have no worries on that score.  See my article here.  In fact, to be clear, I’m very… Continue reading Why I won’t be using ChatGPT to help me prepare my sermons anytime soon

A last word on note taking – what do I really care about?

Some of you will be following a little debate I’ve been involved in on whether or not we should be encouraging people to take notes during sermons.  Alistair Chalmers wrote positively in favour of note taking here, I responded with the case against note taking here and finally, Steve Kneale offered this conclusive response, taking… Continue reading A last word on note taking – what do I really care about?

Why the purpose of preaching matters

I’ve written recently about listening to sermons and taking notes.  My main reason for being against note taking is that it shapes and is shaped by our view of the purpose of preaching.  Note taking is more associated with treating the sermon as primarily intellectual, educating, sharing information, applied to the mind.  We are also… Continue reading Why the purpose of preaching matters

Is it best to use a knife and fork?

I’ve enjoyed and appreciated the discussion that has followed on from my articles about note taking.  Responses have ranged from those who find it helpful to have the pressure to make notes taken off them through to those who have found note taking helpful and don’t intend to stop. A lot of you really don’t… Continue reading Is it best to use a knife and fork?

Instead of sermon note taking …

Yesterday I wrote about why I prefer people not to take notes when I’m preaching. So, how do we encourage people to retain, remember and apply what we preach.  Here are some alternatives to note taking. Active engagement: One of my concerns with note taking is that it places the focus on intellectual processing and… Continue reading Instead of sermon note taking …