Preaching Across Cultures: An Interview with Stuart Briscoe

Stuart Briscoe began a career in banking in his native England, but at age 29 he and his wife Jill began working with a ministry to young people that took him around the globe. In 1970 he was called to serve as Senior Pastor of Elmbrook Church in suburban Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Over the next 30 years the church grew to a weekly attendance of more than 7,000. After stepping down as pastor, he and Jill became Ministers-at-Large for Elmbrook, and continue their global ministry. Stuart has written more than 40 books and is an original Contributing Editor of Preaching. Editor Michael Duduit recently sat down with Stuart to ask what he has learned about preaching through his years of effective ministry.

 

Preaching: Stuart, you have been preaching a few years now. How has your preaching changed over the years, and how has preaching in general changed over the years you have been in ministry?

Briscoe: I think what would be the most obvious change in my preaching has been in the area of application. My wife—who is a wonderful critic and a good communicator herself—used to tell me, repeatedly, “you need to make more specific application.” And I used to tell her that I really didn’t want to insult people’s intelligence. Surely they would know what to do about the things I was trying to teach. She said, “You are certainly not insulting their intelligence, but I think that you are leaving them floundering at times.”

Things came to a head one day when a lady came to me at the end of a series on the fruit of the spirit. I thought it was a reasonable series on each aspect, and it went on for a number of weeks. At the end she said, “When are you going to say something relevant?” I had to bite my tongue because I could think of something very relevant to say! Of course, I remembered just in the nick of time that I was a pastor.

I said, “Well, what did you have in mind?” She said, “I come here on Sunday morning, and I am hoping I am going to get some help.”

I said “Do you have problems in your family?”

She said, “Yes.”

“Is there a lack of love there?”

She said, “Sure.”

I said, “Has your joy run out?”

She said, “Yep.”

“Would you give anything for an ounce of peace?”

She said, “sure.”

“Is your patience frayed on the edges?”

She said, “right.”

I went through every aspect of the fruit of the spirit, and there was absolutely no connect there. That was a real eye-opener for me. I thought, Jill was right. So I now much more consciously try to make specific application without insulting people’s intelligence.