Gospel preaching has a traditional and formalized place in American religion. It takes place is a sanctuary, behind a pulpit, in front of people sitting quietly row after row; it is done by men (mostly), trained in college and seminary, speaking from notes prepared during the week; the preaching is preceded by music and other religious rituals; the preacher is paid for his services.
But this version of gospel preaching is so culturally shaped that it distorts what the New Testament describes as preaching. In that first century Jesus movement, preaching was simply the declaration of the good news of God. From the lips of Jesus, it centered on the kingdom (or rule) or God; later, from the lips of the apostles, it centered upon the role of Jesus in the mission and purpose of God.
But this “preaching” was done in many places: homes, synagogues, streets, public squares, jails, ships….and just about any other place an informed person encountered an interested person: sometimes before a crowd but often one on one. It could be spontaneous or structured, long or short, accompanied by other rituals or standing alone as the testimony of one person to another.
This original preaching was done in a pre-Christian culture; Christian ideas, practices and institutions were novel. Much of the world today is still pre-Christian; preaching thus bears slim resemblance to the formalized ritual it has become in so many of our churches.
Our Christian culture is giving way to a post-Christian era; once again, preaching is becoming less institutionalized, less formalized, less relegated to tall-steepled churches and black-robed professionals. It is once again taking place in bars and beaches, homes and hospitals, streets and shops; it is losing its stylized forms and assuming again more natural forms of speech, and dress, and situation. It is becoming, like Paul the apostle, all things to all people that some of the people might be won to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and life in the rule of God.
But then and now, preaching is articulating the good news of God as revealed in Jesus the Lord. Then and now, it demands intelligence, skill, courage, and the winsomeness that has always been a part of effective communication. But most of it all it requires a personal experience of the living and loving God; only this provides both the perspective and the passion that undergirds a compelling testimony to the resurrection of Jesus and the confession that Jesus is Lord.
NOTE: here is the link to the story about the Academy which appears in the current edition of The Southeast Outlook, the weekly newspaper of Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky.