Conference Report March 2005

Speaker: Rev. Dr. David Smith, Former Principal Northumbria Bible College

Venue: Falkirk Baptist Church

Morning Session 1200 - 1315

The Context in which we Preach

What has caused the sense of uncertainty we are facing as preachers?

The preacher in the 19th century faced a very different culture from the preacher in the 21st century. Charles Spurgeon, for example, preached in a time when preaching was an accepted and effective means of communication, when preachers themselves were respected, and when sermons were published and eagerly read.

This respect was due to a number of factors:

• People knew the Bible
• The Bible shaped the culture
• Church going was normal
• The attitude to Sunday was different
• The status of preaching and the preacher was high - seen as a respected calling

None of the above factors exist today.

What has brought about this change?

Three books whose titles illustrate this change in culture:

• Steve Bruce, God is Dead: secularisation in the West
  In terms of our culture, it is as though God is dead.
• Calum Brown, The Death of Christian Britain
  Britain is no longer a Christian country.
• Craig Gay, The way of the (modern) World or Why it is tempting to live as if God doesn't exist
  In the richer West, it is easier to live our lives without needing to depend om God. God sometimes seems less real.

Preachers can feel not much is being achieved through their preaching as they minster to small church groups, as Helmut Thielicke says:

"The preacher has the feeling he is performing this ministry to the exclusion of any public notice whatsoever."

The church has also seen significant changes in those attending.

Some people in church, particularly younger people, want to challenge the idea of preaching: they no longer see it as an appropriate method of communication.

Why is this the case?

• The shift from modernity to post-modernity has made people suspicious of absolute truth. People have moved away from the idea of a teacher who has knowledge to pass on, to the idea that we learn together through discussion and listening to each other. Critical importance is given to the idea of learning through listening to stories.
• There are changes to teaching approaches in our education system which means traditional preaching is very difficult for young people who are more used to different forms of learning.
• Today there is a quest for spiritual experience which finds sermon-centred worship difficult and unsatisfying. There is a spiritual hunger but people don't feel that the church will satify that hunger.

Preaching at its best involves dialogue with the listeners. Preachers need to listen to the response to ensure that people are hearing what the preacher intended.

Afternoon Session 1415 - 1515

The Preacher's Task

How do we approach preaching in an age of uncertainty?

• Preachers needs to understand the context in which they speak and need to make the message relevant to the context. They need to listen to what is going on around them by, for example, reading newspapers and listening to people. the "lay" element of the lay preacher can be a strength here.
• Preachers need to be honest about their own struggles and uncertainties. They must not give hte impression tat they are detached from the reality of people's lives. In the Psalms, the questions "why?" and "how long?" were as important as the shout of Halellujah.
• Preachers must find resources in the Bible which resonate with the culture and preach them with honesty.

Examples of how Bible passages can speak to our culture.

Genesis 3:8 & 9 "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day and they hid from the Lord god among the trees in the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, 'Where are you?'" (NIV)

The context of our culture is similar to the context of Genesis 3 in that men and women have decided they want to go their own way and think they can do without God. God asks the question "Where are you?" - where are you spiritually now that you have gone your own way?

Luke 24:21 "... but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel." (NIV)

Here the disciples were on the way to Emmaus and did not recognise that hte risen Jesus was walking with them. There are many contemporary themes in this story: people's failure to recognise the real Jesus; the general lack of hope people have and also their sense of disappointment about Christianity; in the later part of the story the disciples go back to the place they had abandoned.

The Preacher's Prayer

Ephesians 6:19 "Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel." (NIV)

Paul recognised his need to be given the right words.