Michael Quicke has been principal (president) of Spurgeon's College for more than two years, coming to the historic London theological institution following more than twenty years in the pastorate. His most recent pastoral service was at St. Andrews Street Baptist Church in Cambridge.

Through his leadership and teaching of homiletics at the 460-student school -- the largest Baptist college in Europe -- Quicke plays a pivotal role in training a new generation of biblical preachers for Britain's evangelical churches. He will also be a featured speaker at the International Congress on Preaching, April 22-25, 1997, in London, sponsored by Preaching magazine. He was interviewed last year by Michael Duduit.

Preaching: What is the state of Christian preaching in Britain? What particular challenges do you see for preaching there?

Quicke: It would be traditional to say that with the dearth of great preachers since the era of Sangster and Weatherhead -- Lloyd-Jones was, in a sense, the last of the classical preachers -- the mantle didn't clearly fall on anyone and the preaching centers declined. The momentum for preaching was lost, particularly as other disciplines emerged, such as pastoral counseling. In our seminaries there was no modeling of great preaching, and that would have been true for the last 20, 25 years.

The state at the moment is that people are beginning to recognize the value of the sermon -- which has been recognized too often as dead, clearly not a place to expect a word from God. There is a growing perception, from both pew and pulpit, that there is a need for gifted preaching. The Times newspaper has launched a national award for British preacher of the year. People are beginning to expect more, to ask questions about preaching, whereas until the last decade it wasn't even that relevant.

So we're in transition, and within the theological moves taking place in the country -- especially because of the Charismatic renewal, which has influenced mainstream evangelicals a great deal -- there is evidence of some gifted preaching. Also in the contemporary restoration churches, with the use of seeker services, there is a refreshing understanding of the place of preaching. So these are good days for preaching.

There is now a hunger to improve preaching, which just was not there even five years ago. So we're on the move, and I think it's well behind times.

Preaching: What are the restoration churches you mentioned?

Quicke: Emerging from an independent stream of charismatic renewal churches, a large number of house churches developed which have their own network. To start with, they emphasized worship dramatically, with a strongly authoritarian structure. Preaching of the Word has become an essential part of that. Sometimes people parody the charismatic renewal as displacing preaching; in fact sone of the key restoration models have solid expository preaching in the middle of charismatic worship.

It has made dramatic inroads since the early 80's. The independent churches have grown tremedously since the early 80's; they now seem to have stabilized. Within all the mainstream denominations there has been an impact. That's why the charismatic renewal actually wears quite a different face. In some charismatic worship the Bible is not even read, but in other places -- the best models, that have had the most influence --- it has enlivened worship, increased participation, and at the heart of it has driven people back to the Word.