Sep12 Written by:Kayle
9/12/2009 4:18 AM
The pastor at our church asked me if I'd be willing to co-lead a seminar on "Foundations of Teaching and Preaching" at their denomination's annual conference in Harare this weekend. I said sure! Being a woman, I'm not always asked to preach depending on denominational views of this particular issue, so anytime I'm asked to do anything connected to preaching, I jump on the opportunity. When discussing what to talk about, the pastor and I agreed we'd teach about the use of "story" in preaching. Here in Africa stories are often told around fires or under shade trees to communicate morals, values, principles and lessons. What an appropriate tool to use for preaching in Zimbabwe as well! So I acted as Bathsheba and told the story of David's sin with Bathsheba from her perspective. After the story, we had question and answer times to look at why telling biblical stories from a first person perspective can be powerful and how it can be used effectively in preaching. I also told a modern day story of the parable of the unforgiving servant. We talked about how we can tell similar stories relevant to today's audience that can bring alive Jesus' parables in a new and impacting way. All in all, it was a positive time and the audience seemed captivated and encouraged to think of how to preach in a "story" format.
Tags: