Back in 1997, Mark Greene carried out some research into the outcomes of preaching, and found that ‘it was clear that for some people a sermon could be excellent – but irrelevant’.1 His findings indicated that the reach of the sermon was largely limited to the church premises: ‘the further Christians get from the church building the less likely they are to have an adequate basis of teaching to lead their lives in a godly manner.’ That’s quite an indictment!
S adly, the passing of two decades does not seem to have improved the situation much. As a recent major study carried out by the Church of England, published under the title Setting God’s People Free reports, ‘one of the most common reflections we heard from frontline congregations was that people lacked “confidence” in applying their faith into their Monday to Saturday lives’.2 So, how do we preach in a way that people are equipped for the challenges of life, obeying Jesus and functioning as salt and light in their part of God’s world? And how do we prepare ourselves as preachers, so that we are not simply the messengers but also the embodiment of the message of whole-life discipleship?
