Preaching that connects.

I believe that our preachers need to be preachers who connect. To connect with those we are preaching to, we need to  know  their narrative story. Who are we preaching to. What are their age. What is their current circumstances. And armed with that knowledge we can start the process of connection.

Firstly though a word of caution. By using the terminology of ‘connection’ I don’t mean ear tickling sermons that allows for a licentious form of living. Nor do we want to come under a form of peer group pressure in which our preaching conforms to the uniformity of the pressures of faithlessness in which we live.

My usage of the ‘connection’ is that one that recognises who we are, where we are at and what is going on in our lives. And from there the preacher is one who can connect the hearer to God. And within this framework, the preacher is one who comes alongside and lifts their hearers up. In the connection process I believe the preacher needs to employ a three fold approach. One that is in a upward, inward and outward direction. The preacher connects upward to God. He connects inward by connecting God in us and works outward by sending out.