Friday, September 25, 2009

Sharing vs. Preaching

I was recently came under the fun-loving yet wise correction of a missionary from our church. He rightly chastised me for using the term 'sharing' when I should have been using the term 'preaching'. I had invited him to 'share' but he was interested in 'preaching'. And truth be told, I prefer the 'preaching' to the' sharing'. A few days later I came across this quote from D. A. Carson's book called The Cross and Christian Ministry-Leadership Lessons from 1 Corinthians:

Many preachers, afraid of being thought arrogant, avoid talking about preaching. They prefer to think of what they do as ’sharing.’ In some limited contexts, doubtless there is nothing wrong with ’sharing.’ But something important is lost if we never speak or think of preaching and proclamation. That is our job, our calling. It is not arrogant to re-present as forcefully as we can God’s gospel; it is simply faithful stewardship. Further, if we focus on the powerful proclamation of the gospel, we shall be less likely to be seduced by siren calls to soften the sheer non-negotiability inherent in preaching. (37)

2 comments:

  1. Good post Jude.

    I find myself doing this alot. Perhaps it has something to do with my age, and a bit of not wanting to sound arrogant, but I always catch myself refering to my own preaching as sharing and my own sermons as messages.

    Thanks for the quote.

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  2. Great post and comment. Also helpful as these are thing you only consider seriously when you have to 'preach'!

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