Much traditional expository preaching attempts to march to the same regular beat in the twenty-first century as it did in the twentieth. Its high view of scripture demands that preachers be faithful as they exegete the ancient text in its original setting and then give contemporary exposition to the listeners. Increasingly, however, irregular rhythms are being heard. The electronics revolution has not only made impact on worship styles but has raised subversive questions for preaching.

For example, in The Spectacle of Worship in a Wired World, Tex Sample argues that the convergence of image, beat and visualization require new ways of worship. Yet he devotes only two pages to preaching, and in his detailed example of electronic worship "the sermon is ten minutes long ... most of the sermon, about six minutes, will be given over to a story" (1998, 117). Len Wilson in The Wired Church contends that as the sermon mutated from story telling to exegesis in the mass-print age, so now it must mutate again for the electronic. "Although ministry in the age of the printed word was largely individual, ministry in the electronic age is like a television studio operating with a number of specialists" (1999, 74). This means "giving up control of the most powerful icon of a pastor's leadership, the pulpit" (41).

Beneath these disturbing and sometimes strident claims there lies a range of issues about culture and communication which deserve attention.

Culture and Paradigm Shifts

Unsurprisingly, many recent preaching textbooks make reference to culture and the need to understand and relate the gospel to it, as in Christ-Centered Preaching by Bryan Chapell (1994, 169-170). Most of us are all too well aware of how we live in changing times. We often use "culture" to describe what the New Testament calls "the world," but there are at least three dangers to which we should be alerted. We may be too narrow in definition, too naive in our hopes and, especially as preachers, too unclear in our understanding about the impact of communication shifts within culture change.

The word "culture" may be used in many contexts, sometimes very local, to characterize attitudes and behavior. H. Richard Niebuhr in Christ and Culture argued that "culture" should be regarded as a wide concept, indeed it should be as inclusive as the term "civilization." "It comprises language, habits, ideas, beliefs, customs, social organization, inherited artifacts, technical processes and values" (1951, 32). He outlined five models to describe how Church may relate to culture. Recently, Jimmy Long in his book Generating Hope has represented these in simplified form as contemporary options in the United States (1997, 19-35, see fig. 3). He commends the last option. "We can take the road of influence, being prophetic in the culture and providing hope for Generation X and the coming postmodern generation" (34).

However, in widening the definition of culture and in making optimistic observations about the church's relationship within it, there is a further danger of naivety. Too easily it can be presumed that the church itself can escape acculturation. Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon in Resident Aliens gave a provocative warning about Niebuhr's book. "We have come to believe that few books have been a greater hindrance to an accurate assessment of our situation than Christ and Culture ... Niebuhr failed to describe the various historical or contemporary options for the church. He merely justified what was already there - a church that had ceased to ask the right questions as it went about congratulating itself for transforming the world, not noticing, that in fact the world had tamed the church" (1989, 40-41). Further strident warnings come from The Gospel and Culture movement, associated with Lesslie Newbigin, who urged that Western culture should be seen for what it is. It is not a secular society, 'it is a pagan society and its paganism having been born out of the rejection of Christianity, is far more resistant to the gospel than (the) pre-Christian paganism' (1986, 20). Western culture now needs a missionary movement. The traditional church is in much greater peril than it realizes.