Preaching

Anyone who's ever stepped into the pulpit knows that preaching is anything but easy. Speaking a word from God that is grounded in the biblical witness, theologically responsible, and true to contemporary experiences is one of the most difficult things one can do. Advice on how to do this is as old as preaching itself, and there are as many opinions on preaching as there are preachers. Where does a preacher begin? What basic understanding and practices are necessary? In the new addition to the Essential Guides series, Ronald Allen seeks to answer these basic questions about preaching. He does so through the use of an inductive method. Starting with a sample sermon, he uses that sermon to illustrate the process of moving from the first thoughts about what one will preach to the delivery of an actual sermon. Each chapter raises a question about the sample sermon that leads into a discussion of the practical and theoretical issues related to this particular aspect of the sermon.