Preaching With Dialogue... pt 1

First some disclaimers...
I'm not an expert. The only thing I offer in this area is some experience, and some lessons I've learned over the last couple of years. As my friend Mark says, "Your mileage may vary."

Second, I believe in the gift of preaching and its place in the local community. Proclaiming God's Word to a people leaning in to hear what the Spirit is communicating to them through prayerful listening, listening prayers, songs sung and sermons spoken is an awesome thing. I can't think of much in the world I would trade it for...

Third, preaching happens in many ways, from many members of the community. There's no doubt that the elders of the church carry a significant portion of that, and there's usually one elder in particular who does the majority of that, but... the community is responsible to teach one another. I don't want anything I write about preaching to give anyone the impression that I think one person is the teacher and all else the students. We all sit at the feet of Jesus as learners, as seekers. And we all have things to teach one another...

But given that some are particularly gifted for teachings and others not, and given that some devote themselves and their time to the teaching of the community, it seems like a good idea to discuss ways to do that well.

And so we come to dialogue in preaching...

Tomorrow, I'll tell you what it isn't. The straw man criticisms of this practice would be funny if they weren't shouted so loud and with such vehemence... Until then, here are some other things I have written about preaching on the ol' bob.blog. And check out The Cowardly Preacher? as well...