I appreciate your taking the time to look at this book. I hope that the title doesn’t frighten you.
The word preach might indicate that this book is for professional preachers or for seminary students. Certainly, that is true.
This book aspires to influence the next generation of professional preachers along with those who are long established in their ministries. But this book is not only for the pros.
Preaching takes place whenever and wherever God’s people open God’s Word with the idea that they might help others hear what God is saying.
That can happen anywhere — a small group Bible study in your living room, a ladies’ tea on Friday night, a weekend youth retreat at the ski hill, or at the local coffee shop Overall, this book affirms expository preaching with a lowercase e. It encourages preachers to expose the Word of God but does not demand that a particular form or approach be used.
In fact, this book offers a variety of sermon forms in the understanding that God did not create us all alike and we don’t all listen the same way.
The preacher’s job is to help people hear from God. That sometimes means translating the message into languages and forms that the listener is able to hear. The primary concern is that people hear from God as they hear his Word preached.
This book takes a gender-neutral approach, not to take any strong position on the ordination of women but simply to acknowledge that different readers will have different perspectives on the issue.
This approach again affirms that preaching, properly defined, can take place in many contexts (Sunday school classes, women’s meetings, etc.), some of which present no gender barrier for even the most conservative evangelical denominations.
Throughout the text, I have sprinkled discussion questions, practical exercises, and insights and ideas. As an added feature, the discussion questions can be actively engaged on my website, www.preaching.org. A variety of website tools will allow you to take your study of these themes to a deeper level.
Use the sermon-building instrument as a step-by-step guide through the process of preparing to preach. Post your sermons on the sermon forum and offer helpful critique on others’ sermons as well.
Purchase of this book entitles you to a free six-month subscription to the website. I hope you will take advantage of this opportunity.
