Any truly, contemporary preacher would agree that preaching is a form of dialogue. John Stott argues that "true preaching is always dialogical." He goes on to say, "It refers to the silent dialogue which should be developing between the preacher and the hearers. For what he [the preacher] says provokes questions in their minds which he then proceeds to answer." I'm sure that most of us would agree with Stott. Dialogue with listeners is essential.
However, Stott quickly dismisses any form of verbal dialogue between the speaker and the audience as being more suited to Bible studies than public worship. For Stott — and numerous others — preaching equates with verbal monologue. This preserves the authority of the Scriptures and therefore the authority of the preacher.
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Yet we have a postmodern generation crying out for interaction. They are no longer content to silently ponder and respond to the ideas of the preacher, but are desperate for real interaction.
So is verbal interaction with our listeners a possibility? Can we allow the audience to have part of the sermon and still maintain the authority of Scripture? These are difficult and somewhat uncharted waters, but the pleas of postmoderns cannot be ignored. I would like to tentatively explore the possibility of interactive preaching.
The first issue is to consider whether interactive preaching is actually a form of biblical preaching. So let's look at one definition of a biblical sermon and see whether an interactive sermon fits within its boundaries. I define a biblical sermon as one that is governed by both the content and the form of the biblical passage; has direction and cohesion; and communicates with and influences an audience through the power of the Holy Spirit.
The last factor, communication with an audience, is not a problem because certain audiences, at least, will find that communication is enhanced by a degree of interaction. However, factors one and two impose limitations on the form of dialogue in an interactive sermon because a biblical sermon needs to be governed by the content and form of the passage and to have direction and cohesion. You can see that these factors exclude interactive sermons that are unstructured (no cohesion), open-ended (no direction), or that involve the sharing of unchallenged opinions that may not be biblical (not governed by the passage).
But a sermon that has a main preaching idea governed by the passage, a purpose, and structure and direction, can still profitably use interaction for explanation, illustration, and application. So here is my definition of biblical interactive preaching:
Interactive preaching is authentic, biblical preaching when it involves a passage of Scripture, a sermon theme derived from the Scripture, a preaching intention, and a cohesive structure. The additional dimension of an interactive sermon is a genuine, spoken interaction with the audience that contributes to the preaching idea and the intention of the sermon.