Bible Preaching
AICMAR is a resource for evangelical scholars and church leaders, providing opportunities for advanced biblical and theological research, encouraging the study and debate of contemporary African issues, and offering training in biblical expository preaching and other ministry skills.
Although located in Butere (Western Kenya), AICMAR aims to serve the academic and spiritual needs of African theological colleges, churches and church leadership beyond national borders.
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"Contemporary people too can find their hearts burning as they hear God speak through the Old Testament texts. However, preaching from this part of the Christian Bible brings significant challenges and raises a number of issues, and hence can be neglected."
This volume offers guidance for expository preaching from the Old Testament, and practical suggestions for how to understand the message of its diverse literature and to apply it today. The chapters cover narrative, plot and characters, along with the main Old Testament genres and two special topics: preaching from 'difficult' texts, and preaching Christ.
"The aim is to encourage use of all the Bible's rich resources, in the power of the Holy Spirit, in preaching the good news of the kingdom of God worldwide." [more...]
"The Africa Bible Commentary Series builds on the vision of the acclaimed Africa Bible Commentary — to reach African pastors, students and lay leaders, with top notch biblical and theological scholarship, by Africans, for Africa, and the world."
The first in the series has been published, a commentary on "1 & 2 Timothy and Titus" by Samuel Ngewa (professor of New Testament Studies at the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology, NEGST).
[more...]"These commentaries are divided into preaching units that contain detailed exposition of each passage as well as contemporary applications. The unit is not intended to be preached as a sermon, but as a resource for sermon preparation. Each unit is followed by two or three questions that could be used for a small group or personal study. Academic issues relating to the Greek text and disputes about interpretation are dealt with in extensive end notes."
Pastors who have studied in a language other than their mother tongue can have difficulty using the local language Scriptures. When they preach, they sometimes borrow words from the language in which they studied, rather than thinking about the word that will communicate best in their local language.
For this reason Bible Institutes, seminaries and churches should encourage those who study the Bible to use the translation in their own language and investigate how important terms were translated.
On completing this 43 lesson course, a speaker with the Scriptures in their own language will be able to:
- identify how key terms in their language are translated;
- use the terms when they teach or preach;
- better understand the doctrine based on or related to the key term;
- attach greater value to the Scriptures in their language since they know that there are appropriate ways to communicate key terms in their own language and that it may change according to the context;
- use the Scriptures with more confidence and motivate other people in their ethnic group to do so.
The course is also available in Spanish and Portuguese. [more...]
Part of the Langham Preaching strategy is a three-level, practical seminar for those who teach the Bible regularly as pastors, lay preachers or evangelists. Offered in the local situation, initially at a fairly basic level, the seminar is conducted over a few days. A three-level curriculum is being developed for those who might be able to sustain the project over several years. [more...]
Pray Prepare Preach (PPP) is a series designed to help Bible teachers worldwide explain God's Word clearly and accurately. Each guide provides basic sermon outlines, written in simple English.
They provide:
- a study section to help the preacher understand the passage context.
- a basic talk outline, with suggestions for headings, illustrations and application.
Three titles are now available, to download for free as PDF documents or to order as printed booklets: Preaching Mark, Preaching Philippians, Preaching Job, Preaching God's Big Story. [more...]
The vision of the Proclamation Trust (UK) is to encourage ministry that seeks above all to expound the Bible as God's Word for today.
Their website includes information on preaching resources (books, MP3 audio downloads and DVD courses), conferences for preachers, and the Cornhill Training Course (which trains men and women to teach the Bible).
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"Why aren’t we laying subversive charges of Bible Semtex everywhere that blow people’s minds - blasts like Creation, Fall, God’s Master Plan, Adam and Christ, The Cross, Trinity and Relationships, Christ’s Glorious Achievements, and much more? Our goal isn’t to teach bland moralism but to re-shape millions of minds with God’s ‘do-my-head-in’ story of Creation, De-creation, and Re-creation in Christ. Only then can relationships, moral decision-making, and our brief lives be done fully to the glory of God.."
Published as part of the Biblefresh initiative, this free downloadable e-book is a compilation of articles by preachers in the UK. They seek to answer the question: "What does preaching need to look like in our multicultural, digital, image-soaked, biblically illiterate, global age? Does preaching need a refresh to be refreshing?"
Authors include: Greg Haslam, Krish Kandiah, Vaughan Roberts, Chris Green, Peter Mead and Derek Tibdall. [more...]
"Many people feel the Bible is irrelevant for the modern world and unfortunately the sermon can underline that perception in two ways. First if we preach the text but do not apply it to our context, we confirm people’s suspicions that the Bible has nothing to say today. On the other hand if we preach without allowing Scripture to set the core heartbeat of our message but instead rely on holding people’s attention through great story telling or multimedia clips – this again implies that we believe the Bible has nothing to say today."
Krish Kandiah (Evangelical Alliance UK) encourages preachers to adapt their sermons to model how to read the Bible, showing their listeners an appreciation for the Bible that can help increase biblical literacy. He argues that "raising the level of biblical literacy does not mean simply giving people more information about the Bible, or helping them find more time to read the Bible, but imparting skills that will help people enjoy the Bible in its depth and diversity, bridging the ancient text with our contemporary context and inspiring worship for its Author."
This article is part of the Lausanne Global Conversation on Scripture in Mission. [more...]
"Clear, simple and readable - very practical, fully supported with further reading ... exactly the kind of thing that is needed."
Chris Wright, Langham Partnership
A tried and tested resource that encourages meaningful Bible use in multi-lingual contexts through both written and oral media.
Individual chapters can be used as a standalone interactive workshop in church or mission contexts. Chapters (with further reading) are also appropriate as a text for graduate studies. Includes activities, assignments, further reading resources and links for useful websites.
Also available as an e-book for Kindle. [more...]