Briscoe: I fear in some quarters there is being put out what could be called a failure of nerve in the efficacy of preaching. I think that is a very unwholesome trend. I fully recognize that educational theory reminds us that people learn in different ways—that not everyone will learn through a deductive monological lecture. I firmly believe that the church should be utilizing all the different educational methods that resonate with the different learning styles of people.
But I think it is a very serious mistake to say that because monologues are probably the least effective way of communicating to bring about change in people, then we should dismiss preaching because monologues don’t really work. If we are doing what we are supposed to be doing—which is explaining, unraveling, laying bare, or expositing Scripture—then what we are actually doing is releasing into people’s thinking eternal truth that is alive, which is in itself life transforming.
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Secondly, preaching—if it is the releasing of life-transforming truth—is also, hopefully, being proclaimed by someone under the anointing of the Spirit. When the Spirit anoints someone, He not only sets that person apart for a function but in that setting apart there is inherent empowering for this function. You have a living, dynamic Word, you have a spirit-empowered agent of that Word, and you are releasing it—hopefully—into a community of people who are praying people.
Now, look at the three very powerful spiritual dynamics that are at play there. If we don’t realize that or if we ignore that, and say, “Well, preaching doesn’t work anymore….” the question that I would ask is: If preaching isn’t working, whatever that means, is it because it is no longer eternal truth? Is it because a Spirit-anointed person is no longer a force to be reckoned with? Or is it because we have a congregation of people who don’t understand what it means to hold up that preacher in prayer? It could be any of those things.
We should be exploring all those areas of spiritual dynamics much quicker than simply saying we should find other ways of doing this. Because the simple fact of the matter is when Jesus, after 30 years in obscurity, burst on the scene, it said, “He came preaching.” And it was a very powerful message He brought: “The kingdom is at hand; the hour has arrived.” And people sat up and noticed.
It is very obvious that He commissioned His disciples immediately to go preach the Word, to heal and to deal with people where they were; but preaching always had primacy. The next generation, Paul burned himself out preaching the Word, particularly to people where they had never heard it before. His legacy to Timothy is very straightforward: to preach the Word. So what happened? What happened in areas where we seem to be diminishing the primacy of preaching? That is a concern I have.
