Marking the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible we will be commencing this Autumn a
School of Biblical Preaching
Its aim will be to encourage good Biblical preaching in the Church in Wales.
It will be open to all clergy & Readers; to those in training for clergy or Reader ministry; to lay people who (with the support of their minister) would like to develop potential gifts in this area.
It will function on a very simple basis with meetings twice a month on Tuesday evenings (2nd & 4th of month in term commencing 13th September) at St Mark’s Church from 7.30pm finishing 9pm.
One meeting will focus around a key-note address on some aspect of Biblical preaching, followed by discussion. These talks will be recorded and will be available via the St Mark’s website.
The other monthly meeting will be a practical expository workshop involving input from participants, usually focussing on one or more of the passages from the following Sunday’s lectionary readings, or occasionally reviewing sermons in the public domain
We will work on the basis of the following premises:
(1) That preaching is still a vital part of worship
(2) That a good sermon is a Biblical sermon
(3) That the preacher’s role is to speak under the authority of scripture rather than over it, though that will entail wrestling hard with its meaning and context.
Notes:
* Within this framework the School is intended to be ‘non-party’; it will focus on preaching & its biblical basis & issues of styles of worship etc will not be discussed.
* Those who participate in workshop sessions should be willing to give and accept gentle criticism!
* People are welcome to come to whatever sessions you are able. We fully understand the pressures.
School of Biblical Preaching – Update Nov 2011
Notes: Attached are the notes from the session on Tuesday 22nd November.
School of Biblical Preaching – Update Sept 2011
We have had the first two meetings of the School of Biblical preaching based at St Mark’s. Remember that clergy, Readers, those in training, and those recommended by their church leaders to consider preaching ministry can come along whenever you want. On the second Tuesday of the month we have a teaching session taking a preaching theme.
The Why of the Word
School of Biblical Preaching 11th October 2011
Thank you for coming again to the school of Biblical preaching – whether here this evening or tuning in at some stage via the website. I want us to think this evening about what I’ve called ‘The Why of the Word’, and I guess to some extent this is a kind of Apologia for theSchoolofBiblical Preachingand the terms on which we’ve set it up.
It would have been simpler just to call it the ‘SchoolofPreaching’; and that might not have been a problem for many, hopefully, would take the fact that preaching is Biblical preaching as read. However I find increasingly it is the ‘Biblical’ aspect that needs most affirmation today. And we have tried to summarise this in two clauses of our statement of the ‘premises’ under which we meet:
- That a good sermon is a Biblical sermon
- That the preacher’s role is to speak under the authority of scripture rather than over it, though that will entail wrestling hard with its meaning and context.
The complete notes from this lecture are available in PDF format:
notes
And on the fourth Tuesday we have a practical preaching workshop looking at lectionary passages for the following Sunday. The next one of these is on Tuesday 25th October, also 7.30pm at St Mark’s. Please look over the following two readings: Matthew 24:1-14 & Micah 3:5-12 (Kingdom 1).
We hope to have the first of our teaching sessions on “Observing the Passage” by Rev Rosemary Aldis available on the St Mark’s website as an MP3 recording before too long, and apologise for the delay due to a faulty recording.
Notes from 27th September
Questions to ask on a Bible Passage
In addition to the notes on “Observing the Bible Passage” (file also available on the website), with their observation questions, these questions are helpful to ask about a Bible passage we intend to preach on:
- What kind of literature is it? (eg history, parable, letter, prophecy etc)
- Where does it come in the salvation story?
- What did it mean to the first hearers?
- What has happened since? (eg if in the OT, the coming of Jesus)
- What does it mean now?
Also, if it is an Old Testament passage, what clues do we get in the New Testament about how to interpret it?
If it is a New Testament passages, what clues do we get from any references to the Old Testament?
Two further things to ask
- What is the context?
- What is surprising/unexpected/difficult about the passage? (often gives clue to the message)
