Why do we need a course on preaching now?

Let's be honest: the world might be a little tired of Christians right now.

Fair enough. Christians have been awfully dominant in the Western world - and pretty active and influential in much of the rest of the world - for a very long time now. And despite the claims of persecution which politicians love to make these days, Christianity has been the religion of the powerful and privileged for the most part as well, ever since Constantine painted crosses on his soldiers' shields and "by that sign, conquered."

These days we might be a little sick of hearing politicians proclaiming that "Christianity is back!" Especially given the kinds of things that are being excused, justified, or even celebrated by those claiming allegiance to Jesus.

So why a course on expository preaching, of all things? Haven't we heard enough?

Well, perhaps the answer to bad preaching isn't just ceding the field to the bad preachers. Maybe we need to re-evaluate the ways we have been studying and applying the Scriptures, and maybe we need to do that in a way that takes seriously the people and cultures and communities with whom we are speaking.

The fact is, despite the proclamations of "Christianity's return", the culture in which we live is post-Christian. It is a culture that has gone through Christianity and come out the other side. The cultural assumptions and experiences of most have been entirely transformed and are no longer shaped by Christendom in the same way as before, but nor are they unfamiliar with the general message of Christianity.

This is not necessarily a bad thing. Nor is it always a good thing. But it is a thing, and if we fail to reckon with it then we will be preaching pointlessly, at best. Harmfully, at worst.

Learning to connect the Scriptures with post-Christian communities requires deep listening to the communities that surround us and to the Scriptures themselves. It requires laying down our precious assumptions, the cliched ways we have learned to understand and convey scriptural truths which may have had a lot more to do with our cultural blinders than they did with the words of the Bible. 

When a musician shifts into a new key, they have to remember that the notes they see on the page may need to be played in a new way. They mean something different in a new context. It's the same with preaching in a new key. It can be uncomfortable operating in a new key, and it is likely we will make mistakes. But there is also the possibility that we could participate in creating a new song, new harmonies, new ways of hearing and singing and dancing together.

Good preaching is still worth doing, and vitally important within a confused culture. So it behooves us to try to do it well. This course, created by Rev Dr Mark Glanville, will help us do that.

Preaching in a New Key