In his memoir "The Pastor" (2011), Eugene Peterson identifies one of the most serious threats to biblical preaching—a "pragmatic vocational embrace of American technology and consumerism that promised to rescue congregations from ineffective obscurity" but that "violated everything—scriptural, theological, experiential—that had formed my identity as a follower of Jesus and a pastor."

The obsession with measurable "results," the rebranded promise of some technique or strategy: Preachers are bombarded with this stuff every day (four keys to success, six marks of a healthy church, seven principles of growth). Many ignore it and get on with their work in "scripture, sermon, and sacrament." Praise God for that.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • Preaching / Homiletics • * Culture-Watch • History • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

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