Thanks, Peter Sanlon, for your permission to post a copy of your article from Churchman, entitled The Embers of Preaching and the Flames of Piety.
A stimulating read, folks. It’s easy to point to those outside of evangelicalism, or outside of our bit of evangelicalism, and point out deficiencies in the preaching we find there. It’s easy to exhort one another to address every deficiency that we find in such preaching. But it’s refreshing to find a brother who has had the courage and patience to reflect on the deficiencies within one’s own camp.
To whet your appetite to read the whole thing (13 sides of A5 – not over long!), here’s a paragraph from the introduction:
The anecdotal evidence that was the germ seed of this article was simply the large numbers of people from within evangelical circles who express dissatisfaction with preaching. From Ireland, England, America and Australia, I have heard a large number of faithful, enthusiastic and biblically literate Christians complain that they find the preaching they listen to regularly, to be
of a poor standard and not very helpful to them in their relationship with God. After hearing a number of people talk about this I began to notice common threads in the complaints. Again and again people complained of a ‘dryness’ and a ‘patronising tone’. There are many who feel frustrated that every week they hear a simple issue preached about ‘as if it is a complex issue’. Numerous people are exasperated that they are constantly told the preaching in their church is of a high quality but no matter how attentively it is listened to, God still appears to be distant and cold. Others are told by a friend that the sermon was ‘excellent’ but when they are asked what was so good about it, no meaningful answer can be given. One person put it well, ‘The preacher tells me life is about a personal relationship with God, but then he seems to just give me impersonal facts.’ One can dismiss such complaints as the general ungratefulness of the uneducated, or view it with glee as the inevitable rejection that comes from being faithful. However when the comments are so frequent, so similar and when they come from well respected mature Christians€”could it be worth pausing for a moment and asking ourselves that question again— How strong is our preaching in this present day?
As I have thought about this question I have tentatively come to the following conclusion— Our preaching ministry has been weakened by victories within evangelicalism.
Not every issue he highlights will apply to every church or to every preacher. But he’s onto something…
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