This is interesting. However, I can't help feeling that the church he is criticising is simply trying to help the people who come. The real difference between the good and bad talks, is that the "good" one deals nearly entirely in abstracts whereas the bad deals almost entirely in application. Bridging that gap is, I feel, the biggest challenge of my preaching and I don't find loads of people offering help!
Fair point - its a bit of a simplistic caricature, and you could probably claim that he's preaching to the choir at a DG conference. I guess the help to me was to remember that the gospel must drive the pursuit of application, and exegesis must drive the desire to address topics.
Oh yes - I wasn't being critical, and it is a great reminder, especially as I have faced a difficult situation this week with someone at church telling us we are "always saying the same thing" ie trust Christ! It's just hard, especially with people who aren't good with abstracts. I genuinely mean that I could do with some help with that!
This is interesting. However, I can't help feeling that the church he is criticising is simply trying to help the people who come. The real difference between the good and bad talks, is that the "good" one deals nearly entirely in abstracts whereas the bad deals almost entirely in application. Bridging that gap is, I feel, the biggest challenge of my preaching and I don't find loads of people offering help!
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ReplyDeleteFair point - its a bit of a simplistic caricature, and you could probably claim that he's preaching to the choir at a DG conference. I guess the help to me was to remember that the gospel must drive the pursuit of application, and exegesis must drive the desire to address topics.
ReplyDeleteOh yes - I wasn't being critical, and it is a great reminder, especially as I have faced a difficult situation this week with someone at church telling us we are "always saying the same thing" ie trust Christ! It's just hard, especially with people who aren't good with abstracts. I genuinely mean that I could do with some help with that!
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Someone needs to offer some help in that area.... um..
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