A renewed emphasis on exposition is not the only influence on preaching in recent years. As John A. Huffman, Senior Pastor of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach, observes, “I see two developments in preaching during the past twenty years.  On the one hand, I see a major return to expository preaching, while, at the same time, I see a major move toward narrative preaching.  The two are not necessarily exclusive of each other, but it takes a most unique person to bring these two together.”

The narrative preaching model was sparked in the 1970s and 1980s through the work of Fred Craddock, Professor of Preaching at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology (now retired). Other notables in this tradition (who have also retired from the classroom) include David Buttrick, Professor of Homiletics and Liturgics at Vanderbilt Divinity School, and Eugene Lowry, Professor Emeritus of Preaching of St. Paul School of Theology.

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Initially, the emphasis on narrative and “inductive preaching” was primarily championed in the mainline schools and pulpits. Over the past two decades, however, the influence of narrative preaching has moved into evangelical seminaries and pulpits as well. While some have been critical of such an approach, others — like Tom Long, who now fills the instructional shoes of Craddock at Candler — see a continuing role for narrative preaching. Long says, “One major trend I see, namely the challenges to narrative preaching now arising from the right, the middle, and the left. I am chastened by all of these challenges, but finally persuaded by none of them. I think narrative arts will still be important in the preaching of the next generation.”

In a recently published essay, “What Happened to Narrative Preaching?” in the Journal for Preachers, Long adds, “But, at its best, the narrative impulse in preaching grows out of a deep sense of the character, shape, and epistemology of the gospel. If preaching is a sacramental meeting place between the church and the word, the hearers and the gospel, then the substance of preaching is shaped by scripture and by human experience under the sign of grace, and both of these aspects call for narration. If we are to be faithful to the biblical testimony, we will not always speak in a narrative voice — humanity does not live by narrative alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God — but finally we are compelled to tell the Story and the stories of the God who has acted mightily in many and divers ways and most profoundly in the raising of Jesus of Nazareth from the dead.”

While these two models — exposition and narrative — are often described as standing in sharp contrast to one another, in recent years there has been an increasing blend of the two approaches. As Ron Allen notes, “Recognizing that human understanding and communication is quite diverse, now there is much more emphasis on preachers finding their own voices and doing so in ways that honor the various ways that people hear and speak, and the different contexts in which preaching takes place.” The use of various models by a single preacher seems to be more pervasive and prevalent today.