Good Preaching, 2of3

~ The Mechanics of Preaching ~       

Many believe that the contemporary Christian church in developed countries has become so overly enamored with audience trends, cultural analysis, relevance, process, journey speak, that we have created communicators who are not preachers! 

The first part of this post on preaching started as follows. “How do you define a great preacher? Does the Word of God define what makes a great preacher? If you had a great preacher would it satisfy you? Preaching is something not often discussed except within seminaries.”  That first post mentioned, “there is a huge difference between preaching and communicating.” Finally that post ended as follows, “The bottom line is that the greatest measure a preacher can use is the number of times individuals sincerely remark to him, ‘God spoke to me today!’”

Process, Purpose, and Principle  ~  In the book of Nehemiah we find a key passage. “So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading… And all the people went their way to eat and drink, to send portions and rejoice greatly, because they understood the words that were declared to them” (Nehemiah 8:8, 12).

The process was to use the Word of God to teach God’s promises.  The purpose was to provide understanding to the hearers.  A key principle is that good preaching helps people to understand the Word of God in meaningful ways.

Types of Preaching  ~  There are many styles of preaching, with perhaps the most common in churches today being Topical Preaching. Several decades ago the most common style was probably Expository Preaching. We now look at some of the various types of preaching.

Expository Preaching  ~  This is preaching directly from the Word of God. Typically a portion of Scripture is read and then the preacher attempts to explain that portion of the Word in a way that improves the hearers understanding. Many time expository preachers will deal in successive messages with consecutive portions of the Bible. A great benefit of this type of preaching is that it tends over time to impart maximum Bible knowledge to the congregation.

Topical Preaching  ~  This style of preaching focuses on a specific subject. Many time a variety of verses or passages are utilized throughout the message. Sometimes topical preaching is a series of messages with a common base subject. (Unfortunately, in extreme cases a single proof verse is used to justify a talk about a particular topic.) A danger of using almost exclusively topical preaching is that rarely is the “whole counsel of God’s Word” (Acts 20:27) shared with the congregation.  

Biographical Preaching  ~  This is preaching based on a particular Biblical character based upon what the accounts in the Word of God. Good biographical preaching makes it clear when the preacher is “filling in the blanks” between the pages of Scripture. A benefit of this preaching is it is relatively easy to point out both strengths and weaknesses of Biblical characters and to make good application for today’s everyday living. 

Polemical Preaching  ~  This is the specific type of preaching which is designed to correct error. Generally it is not wise to rely heavily on polemical preaching except during times when specific correction is needed for the particular congregation. The best normal pattern is to teach the truth. When people know the truth they are equipped to spot error for themselves.  

Non-Preaching – This is the difference between preaching and oratory. I have known a number of “preachers” who were great orators but, in my opinion, were not good preachers. These individuals often rely on their charisma and sales-like tactics to keep the attention of their audience. Be very careful if this is the regular style of preaching which you hear—usually the message of these individuals are not heavily based upon the Scriptures (or they are based on a distorted view of portions of Scripture).

In our next post on preaching we will look at examples from Scripture.

~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW

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