Choosing to Preach: A Comprehensive Introduction to Sermon Options and Structures

Description

Traditional forms of ministry - including the sermon - are being scrutinized and challenged, leaving pastors confused over how best to communicate to today's listeners. This forward-looking textbook delivers a strong call to ministers to indeed choose to preach biblical sermons. But while preaching itself is non-negotiable, the exact form it takes can be much more flexible. Several models of sermon preparation are provided, using questions to guide the way. As you discern your message from the Bible, will you begin with the text (deductive) or with the listener (inductive)? Will you focus on the idea (cognitive) or the image (affective)? The choices you make lead to five possible sermon structures (declarative, pragmatic, narrative, visionary, and integrative), each of which is described in detail and related to well-known contemporary preachers, including John MacArthur, Rick Warren, Eugene Lowry, and Rob Bell. This work includes discussion questions, practical exercises, and accompanying CD-ROM.

Kenton C. Anderson, PhD, is dean of Northwest Baptist Seminary, and associate professor of homiletics of the Associated Canadian Theological Schools (ACTS) of Trinity Western University in Langley, British Columbia, Canada. He is a columnist for PreachingToday.com, a contributor to The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching, author of Preaching with Conviction and Preaching with Integrity, as well as a past president of the Evangelical Homiletics Society and manages www.preaching.org