Peter Davis, Lecturer in Practice of Ministry, Wesley Institute.
“You could say I know Saul as well as anyone. Saul and I first met as students, studying the Torahtogether under Gamaliel. They were exciting times. Young, enthusiastic, each day was anadventure. It was clear to all of us that the master had a soft spot for him; Gamaliel knew talentwhen he saw it and it was clear to him from the start that Saul had what it takes…”
See the full sermon manuscript (PDF): On the road to Damascus
Tim MacBride, Lecturer in New Testament & Preaching, Morling College
‘Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the way things are done, just as they were handed down to us by those who were foundation members of our particular denomination. Therefore, since I myself have carefully confirmed my own prejudices from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write a prescriptive handbook for you, most excellent twenty-first century reader, so that you may know for certain that you are right in how you do church*.’
[*Some authorities add: ‘and that anyone who disagrees with you is wrong’, here and everywhere else throughout their ecclesial practices.]
Although this may be an unfair caricature, it never ceases to surprise me the number of times I hear Acts preached as though it were primarily a manual for how we should do church. An issue of practice or strategy arises, and we thumb through its pages to find out how they did it back then – often with the unchallenged assumption that this will tell us precisely how we should do it, too. Unless, of course, it doesn’t fit with our own cultural preferences, denominational heritage, or the latest strategy in church growth to emerge from North America – at which point we mumble something about ‘cultural context’ and try our luck in the pastoral epistles.
Even if we are able to shed the lenses of our own ecclesial prejudice and come to the text as impartially as possible, is the Acts of the Apostles intended to be the definitive guidebook for how all future generations organise and conduct themselves as the people of God? More simply, is Acts prescriptive as well as descriptive? Entire denominations have been built on this premise, but is the premise itself valid?
See the full article (PDF): Preaching Acts
Adrian Lane, Lecturer in Ministry Skills and Church History, Ridley College.
This paper urges preachers to train others, multiplicatively. A training frameworkbased on the homiletical quadrilateral of Word, preacher, sermon and congregation isprovided. Requisite competencies are then identified for trainers, whether serving inseminary, jurisdictional, congregational or parachurch contexts. These competenciesinclude skills in self-understanding, gift recognition, character formation, theologicalreflection and the development of creativity, as well as technical skills for theproduction of the sermon. The paper argues for named intentionality in the trainingprocess so that students are likewise equipped to train others.
See the full article (PDF): Training the trainers of tomorrow’s preachers
Adrian Lane, Lecturer in Ministry Skills and Church History, Ridley College.
Much good attention has been given of late to the sermon’s content, with thecommitment to faithful exegesis of the text, to understanding the text in its Biblicalcontext, and to thinking through the ramifications of the text for the preacher and thesermon’s audience. Much good attention has also been given to the form or shape ofthe sermon, with the recognition that different Biblical genres call for a variety ofshapes, as do different audiences, places and purposes. In the Spirit’s power,preachers will also be gifted differently and will each bring a unique creativity to theirsermons. The integration of insights from the study of narrative and narrative formhas also complimented the classical commitment to propositional forms. However,not much attention has been given to the sound of the sermon. On reflection, this isstrange, given that sermons are primarily an oral medium, for the ear. Moreover,despite the plethora of preaching texts, there are few resources to train students forthis aspect of homiletical practice, which encompasses far more than “delivery” or“the use of the voice”.
See the full article (PDF): Training for the sound of the sermon: orality and the use of an oral text in oral format
Adrian Lane, Lecturer in Ministry Skills and Church History, Ridley College.
Ridley Melbourne celebrates a centenary of training for ministry in 2010. It istherefore timely and apposite to name and examine some of the core pedagogicalprinciples undergirding the current program at the College, with particular focus onthe Department of Ministry and Practice. These principles are examined with a viewto facilitating further discussion on the pedagogy of ministry training more generally,both in Anglican and other contexts, as theological education enters an exciting andstrategic new phase in a multicultural and pluralistic world.
See the full article (PDF): Towards a Pedagogy of Training Ministers
Adrian Lane, Lecturer in Ministry Skills & Church History, Ridley College
Evangelicals have a strong commitment to the Bible. They believe it to be God’s word: authoritative, powerful, life-bringing, life-sustaining, and life-determining. They are keen to study it; to work hard at determining its meaning. They seek to submit to it, claiming that by doing so they find peace, joy, and favour in God’s sight. And they work hard at bringing the Bible’s message to others, claiming that only by submitting to the Bible will the world find life, both in this world and the next. Why then are so many sermons so boring? Why do so many sermons fail to engage their audience? Why do congregations go home with a ‘ho-hum’ response, rather than experiencing and being transformed by the Bible’s re-creative and life-giving power? After all, it does claim to be ‘living and active!’ (Heb 4:12). And why do so many preachers lack a confidence in their preaching, turning instead to liturgical practice or counselling, for instance, to find the heart of their ministry?
Read the full article (PDF): Please! No More Boring Sermons!
Welcome to the Australasian Academy of Homiletics. This site is currently under construction, and will be launched shortly.
Our 2011 conference will be held from Wed 27 – Fri 29 April at Canisius College, Pymble NSW. Enquiries: Peter.Davis@wi.edu.au
