God’s Story or Ours
Thanks to the TheoCentric Blog for a pointer to this article by Michael S. Horton entitled “Are you in God’s story or is God in Yours?”
Horton writes in part:
God’s Story or Ours Read More
Preaching
Ending the Sermon Series
How should you end a sermon series? That is the question that the Biblical Preaching blog deals with in its latest post. Pastor Mead provides three possibilities:
- Summarize the “end matter” in the last sermon.
- Dedicate a full sermon to the “end matter”
- Review the whole series in the final sermon.
Now Mead is explicitly speaking of preaching through an expository series based on a book of the Bible, but it can be helpful in any sermon series.
Ending the Sermon Series Read MorePreaching Patterns – Topical Preaching
The next preaching pattern is the topical sermon. The topical sermon is usually based on a doctrine, teaching, or contemporary issue affecting the congregation. The preacher attempts to help the congregation understand and interpret the topic from the perspective of the gospel.
Preaching Patterns – Topical Preaching Read MorePreaching Patterns – The Funeral Sermon
The next preaching pattern presented in Ronald Allen’s book is the Funeral Homily.
Preaching Patterns – The Funeral Sermon Read MorePreaching Patterns – The Wedding Homily
The next pattern that Ronald Allen speaks of is the Wedding Homily.
Preaching Patterns – The Wedding Homily Read More
Preaching Without Notes – Immersion in the Bible Language
An Evangelical Lutheran Blog run by a Father Eckardt has a post up on Extemporaneous Preaching.
In the post there is first some discussion of the Eckardt’s theology and understanding of Preaching. What was of particular interest to me however was his methodology.
Preaching Without Notes – Immersion in the Bible Language Read MoreSermon as a Jigsaw Puzzle
The next pattern found in Allen’s book Preaching Patterns is the jigsaw sermon. Here the sermon is split up into small pieces that are related to each other but the congregation can’t see the connections till much later in the sermon.
Sermon as a Jigsaw Puzzle Read MoreSermon As Portrayal of Biblical Character
As we continue looking at Preaching Patterns from Ronald Allen we come to Preaching a Sermon on a Biblical Character. In this method the preacher looks for information on one character of the Bible throughout the Bible as well as in history and other Biblical Reference Materials. Then the preacher tells constructs the story of the Biblical character from all that material.
Sermon As Portrayal of Biblical Character Read MoreNovel Authors and Sermon Preparation
In many of the other sermon patterns, we looked at approaches to structure a sermon. However, this pattern is a way of sermon preparation. How do you go about preparing a sermon? This method attempts to follow a method much like that which many novelists use.
The Novelists Approach
Novel Authors and Sermon Preparation Read More
Robert Smith Lessons In Whooping
Here are 4 5-8 minute videos by Rev Robert Smith entitled Lessons in Whooping.
Robert Smith Lessons In Whooping Read MoreSermon as Work of Art
The next pattern found in Allen’s Preaching Patterns is entitled Sermon Drawing from the Arts. Allen notes that preachers have drawn from the arts for illustrations of sermons often. However in this mode of preaching the art form is allowed to create a world that the people will participate in.
Sermon as Work of Art Read MoreSermon as Movement of Images
The next pattern described in Allen’s work Preaching Patterns is Thomas H. Troeger’s approach. In this approach you preach a sermon that is composed of images described verbally. You can see the method in his work Imaging a Sermon
Series of Images
Sermon as Movement of Images Read More
Preaching from First Naivete to Second Naivete
The next pattern in Ronald Allen’s book entitled Preaching Patterns is the Moving from First Naivete’ through Critical Reflection to Second Naivete’. The idea comes from the hermeneutical theorist Paul Ricoeur. Here the sermon takes three steps.
First Naivete’
Preaching from First Naivete to Second Naivete Read More
Four Types of Sermons
The Talking the Walk Blog has a post up on four ancient sermonic forms.
There is
- Kerygma – Preaching the plain facts of the Gospel.
- Didache – Preaching the implications and siginificance of the gospel.
- Paraklesis – Urging on humanity the need to live out the implications of the Gospel Teaching.
- Homilia – Treat an issue in the light of the Gospel message.