One without authority.
That’s how preacher and author Fred Craddock described us back in 1969. In his As One Without Authority Craddock was addressing the “when” question (see previous post in this series). He understood that preachers were moving into a time-zone when we could no longer rely on the authority of position. People wouldn’t believe something just because a preacher proclaimed it. People wouldn’t do something simply because a minister demanded it.
If that was true in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, it’s even more true today. With increasing numbers indifferent or hostile toward the Christian faith, preachers stand before listeners with decreasing authority.
How, then, do we get people to listen? How should we view ourselves? Who are we as preachers?
In a post-modern and post-Christian culture, the preacher no longer has the authority of position. But he/she does have the authority of witness. That is, we gain a hearing not by pulling our “Preacher Card.” We gain a hearing by demonstrating that we’ve experienced something profound with God and his word. Preaching becomes our testimony regarding that experience.
Listen to these formative words:
- “The preacher as witness is not authoritative because of rank or power but rather because of what the preacher has seen or heard. When the preacher prepares a sermon by wrestling with a biblical text, the preacher is not merely gathering information about that text. The preacher is listening for a voice, looking for a presence, hoping for the claim of God to be encountered through the text. Until this happens, there is nothing for the preacher to say.” (Thomas Long, The Witness of Preaching, 45-51)
- “In a postmodern era that grants authority to people rather than to positions, preaching as spiritual direction-and understanding the pastor as spiritual guide-dovetail beautifully into a new hermeneutic for exploring the preacher’s authority.” (Kay L. Northcutt Kindling Desire for God:Preaching as Spiritual Direction, 64.)
- “If we want to be better preachers, we should first consider how we might become deeper persons.” (Mike Graves, The Fully Alive Preacher, 7)
We preach in a culture that values experience. Thus, when it’s clear to a listener that we are speaking “from experience”–the experience we’ve had during the week with a living God and his living Word–there’s a tendency to lean in and listen. When it’s clear to a listener that we are only speaking from the experience of others–people in the Bible, people in books–there’s a tendency to lean away and stop listening.
The spiritual formation of the preacher has never been more important than it is today. We cannot fake spiritual experience. We cannot manufacture depth. If we are genuinely people of prayer, passionate about God, humble and submissive to kingdom priorities, this will leak out into our preaching. Listeners will want to hear this witness. They will realize we’ve seen and heard something worth their time and energy.
And, the weekly wrestling with the text on a personal level has never been more important than it is today. We cannot fake a personal encounter with the word we share on the weekends. If we have authentically struggled with a text and the God who spoke it, this will leak out into our preaching. Listeners will want to hear this witness. They will realize we’ve heard a voice and will want to hear it for themselves.
The question is not, “Can I get a witness?” The question is, “Can I be a witness?”
Isn’t that, after all, how Jesus viewed us? “And you,” he said, “will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8 ESV).
Who’s preaching?
Not “the preacher.” But “the witness.”
[image]
