WELCOME TO
PREACHER'S MAGAZINE

We hope you are getting oriented to the new format of the Preacher's Magazine. Thanks for the early feedback and keep it coming. You will see some changes in this issue and more in the issues to come. For those that missed the premiere issue, here is a modified version of the orientation to this new format.

The headings of each section list the seasonal Sunday, date, selected Scripture, and possible title for the sermon (e.g., Second Sunday of Easter. April 22, 2001. "You Call This a Church?").

Following the headings are three categories for reflection on the passage: "Listening to the Text; Engaging the Text; and Preaching the Text. Because the purpose of the Preacher's Magazine is to aid in sermon preparation, each section will have just enough material to begin the process, allowing the preacher to shape and direct the sermon according to the needs of the congregation.

One full manuscript is included as an example, but for your convenience a sermon for each text can be downloaded from the Preacher's Magazine web site at www.preachersmagazine.org.

The following are some helpful insights to understanding our method in each category:

LISTENING TO THE TEXT: There are at least three questions that help a preacher listen to the text: (1) What is the context? (2) What is the form? (3) What is the content? For a detailed discussion of how to ask each of these questions of a particular text, go to www.preachersmagazine.org and click on Past Issues. The article "How to Use the New Preacher's Magazine" from the Advent 2000 issue will give you guidance.

ENGAGING THE TEXT: Once questions of context, form, and content have been answered, the preacher will move to theological reflection on the text. We have chosen three simple questions that serve as cornerstones to bridge the gap from exegesis to preaching.

1. What is the need of the passage? This refers to the basic human problem or question that a passage of Scripture is addressing.

2. What is God's answer to that need? Just as every passage deals with a basic human dilemma, so every passage also offers God's answer to that problem.

3. How does the passage call us to respond? While hope for human need rests in God's grace and not our endeavors, good preaching insists that people respond to God's activity in their lives. The faithful proclamation of God's Word always calls forth a decision.

A passage of Scripture can be explained without answering these questions of theological reflection, but it cannot be proclaimed until we understand the human problem, God's answer, and our response to God's grace.

PREACHING THE TEXT: Once the preacher has listened to and engaged the text, it is time to write the sermon. This becomes the natural time to consider contemporary analogies or illustrations that will highlight and make clear an important aspect of the passage. The preacher now begins to strategize creative and imaginative ways in which the sermon can refunction its message to the contemporary audience and communicate the original intent of the passage.

This is only one method that leads to effective preaching. Another method may work for you. The ultimate goal of the Preacher's Magazine is not to make preaching easier. It is to make preaching better, and thereby bring glory to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.