I don’t particularly agree with some of the things done by the Episcopal Church in North America, and I am no great fan Brian McLaren, but here is something worth pondering. Here is Brian McLaren’s sermon at the recent Episcopal convention, what is worth considering is how he is using the both current problems and issues to point the convention to the Bible and Jesus Christ and in that to call them to evangelise.
If you consider both the audience and the heart of his message it is a great example of contextualisation. He is really cutting through (or ignoring) alot of the issues and showing a way forward.
Here is an interesting article by Peter Sellick ‘On Preaching.’
I think Peter would define me as a Fundamentalist and with that out of touch, yet it is interesting to see what he sees as the weaknesses of contemporary preaching.
Here are a few good quotes to wet your appetite:
- There is a danger that, in these days of the almost universal failure of the church and the consequent loss of nerve that goes with that failure, that preaching becomes an exercise in damage control.
- Part of this domestication of the Word may be put down to the church being so much on the back foot and the concern not to frighten the punters.
- To hear the Word is to find that your most certain conclusions about life are overturned.
- It is the preachers business to indulge in truthful speech even if that speech, or particularly if that speech, scares the bejesus out of his listeners.
- It is often the case that poor preaching is just a mouthing of the commonplace in what is a domestication of the transcendent.
- the position of the preacher in today’s church is precarious because the gospel is captive to the status quo, the ordinary, the therapeutic and the uplifting, not to mention the sentimental.
This is my sermon from Sunday 27/7/08 at Sans Souci Anglican Church.
Don’t shrink back: Heb10:19-38
The sound is a bit dodgy in places, but it is good if you want to get an idea of how I preach.
If you want to download it, right click on it and select ’save link as’.
This is an evangelistic sermon of mine from our college mission with Glenmore Park Anglican Church in may this year.
There’s more to life than lying down
It is based on Luke 10:25-34.
If you want to download it, right click on it and select ‘save link as’.
