Expository preachers are also using new insights of public address theory (putting much more emphasis on conversation and identification) and technology (valuing visualization and multi-media impressions). These expositors may not seem to echo the oratorical sounds of a previous generation of biblical preachers, but the ethic is the same: say what the text says! The true expositor will always have the goal of opening his Bible before a congregation and (even if the text is in power point) saying, "I will explain to you what this text means and how it applies to your life based on the author's intent as determined by the text's language, culture, genre and context."
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We must confess that this new emphasis on expository methods is a result of various cultural forces as well as biblical commitments. We can be cautiously thankful for some of these cultural influences knowing that the societal waves can shift again. One societal wave that is shifting to the benefit of the Gospel relates to our two-decade-old concern about alternative spiritualities. The popular pursuit of spirituality in unorthodox and eclectic religious forms has, for some, become a more focused search for certitude.
The intellectually honest know that all forms of religion cannot be compatible or interchangeable. This honesty is leading to some re-investigation and re-validation of historic Christianity. In addition, rapid changes in popular culture, national economics, moral values, church traditions, political alliances, educational levels, and global stability (since 9/11) have created a reflex neo-Conservatism. Many in our churches demand expository preaching simply because it reminds them of an older and simpler church world. Such motives if they are not carefully addressed, however, will ultimately lead to mere cultural traditionalism rather the spiritual transformation that expository preaching seeks.
We should not minimize the opportunities for the Gospel made available by our society's search for anchors amidst the waves of cultural storm. Still, to navigate the storm, we must recognize that the church is herself being divided by the waves' effects. At the same moment that some of the Evangelical church are addressing the storm by lowering the barriers between church and world (with greater informality and more accessible worship forms), others in the Evangelical world are questioning why bother to be a church if it doesn't seem like church. Not just the older but "The Younger Evangelicals"4 are seeking solace and certitude in the ancient forms of worship and communication.
The impulse to lower barriers, as seen in the Willow Creek, Calvary Chapel, Vineyard and "Purpose Driven . . . " movements, may soon reach its apex — and may already have. At the same time, the urge to "make church be church" is creating new interest in formal liturgy and swelling the ranks of traditional churches (including many Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Reformed and Episcopal communions). This urge to go "backwards into the future" is also creating new commitments to ancient forms in traditionally informal denominations (Baptist, Methodist and major African-American denominations).