I still believe in preaching

I heard someone preach for the first time today. He did a great job too. It brought me back to the first time I preached, which was a memorable event for no-one but me. Well, it may have been memorable for others, but not for the right reasons. It’s not fashionable to say, but I still believe in preaching. By preaching, I don’t mean a 40-minute monologue from the expert up front. I include other forms: not just lectures (by non-experts, by the way), but also the teaching of God’s Word in house churches, in discussion format, through creative forms of proclamation – who knows? I’m not sure we should exalt the preacher as much as we have, but the fact remains: some are going to be more gifted to communicate the Bible than others. For those of us who have been exposed to those who are gifted to teach and preach, in whatever format, we can’t imagine doing without it. We can’t imagine doing without the other gifts either. They’re all important. It’s easy to get discouraged about preaching. There’s so much preaching that isn’t good, perhaps because there are so many pastors who aren’t good at preaching. Some of today’s methods and assumptions have to go. But I’m still hopeful. Today, I saw the first brave steps of someone who thinks he just might be called to preach, and it made my day.