Reports

Horncastle Residential Weekend Conference 2009Another Blessed Weekend! Brian Stagg reports ...

Readers and Methodist Preachers In relaxed mode!

Warden Alex - introducing one of our guest speakers - Paul Johns 'Preaching from the margin'

Methodist Minister - Lesley Taylor 'Creativity in Worship'

The Class of 2009!

Readers? Annual Residential Weekend Conference 2009 at Horncastle CollegeThis year the Annual Residential Weekend Conference at Horncastle College was titled ?Preaching Faces the Future?, and was led by three experienced teachers: Paul Jones, a Director of the College of Preachers; Revd Lesley Taylor, the Methodist minister at Christchurch, Grantham; and Revd Dr Jonathon Hustler, a Superintendent Methodist minister based in Horncastle.After dinner on the Friday evening, Paul Jones opened proceedings with a talk entitled ?Preaching from the Margin?. Our experience as Christians is that of being marginalised in the modern world ? we are a marginal people. That becomes more acute for those of us exercising a preaching and teaching ministry, for we are constantly faced with a community that is largely indifferent to our message. Once, the Christian world view was accepted as the norm, and our culture reflected belief in the one God who made us. But today we are free to believe in any god that we choose to invoke.Paul referred to namesake?s experiences in Athens. As the apostle walked around that great city he found many images dedicated to a whole pantheon of gods, including one dedicated to ?The Unknown God? ( Acts 17: 16, 23). It was about this latter god, he told the Greeks on the Areopagus, that he was preaching to them. The Christian church today seems to be in much the same position as it was in the first century except, of course, that it has 2000 years of Christian legacy to draw on. We, out on the margin, are preaching about an ?unknown? God. Since the beginning of the Enlightenment secularism has marched onwards apace ? from faith to reason, from authority to enquiry, from providence to progress, and from obligation to freedom. That, in Paul?s view, described the modern world. To a great extent, God has been excluded from most people?s experience of the world. The Bible, for instance, is a closed book for most, seen as belonging in the academic?s ivory tower. The post-modern world has bred uncertainty, relative values and placed a premium on individual freedom. Universal explanations for how the world works are regarded with scepticism, no more so than Christianity?s big story. However, if the post-modern world rejects universal explanations, it does respect conviction. So there will always be a place for preaching with conviction, even if it results in antagonism. Perhaps, John concluded, there will be a revival in oratory, a new golden age of public speaking ? and preachers are in the front line. Paul felt that preachers need to be ?committed to forward looking preaching, which engages faithfully with the Bible, entertainingly with the congregation, and prophetically with the world?.Lesley?s contribution was of a much more practical nature. She demonstrated a number of methods for illustrating the preacher?s message, using various props, by means of which a closer interaction with the congregation could be achieved. >>

For example, through the use of prayer cards stuck to an suitable background the congregation could voice their own particular concerns, either personal or more general. Pebbles, too, could be associated with the prayers of the congregation, and drawing an outline of one?s hands was another useful activity. Lesley?s ideas would be taken up later by the groups designing different sections of the Sunday Eucharist.Jonathon?s talk centred on the more ?technical? aspects of preaching, most especially on the form of the sermon. He gave, as an example, the need to provide the ?right vessel? for the sermon ? one would not drink fine claret from a chipped mug (probably)! The two initial points that the preacher should address are: What will be the content of the sermon?Who is the sermon for?Jonathon freely admitted that the usual three-point sermon, so much a feature of Methodist preaching, may not be fitting in many cases. Jonathon introduced two approaches to preaching:Eugene Lowry was an American seminarian (now retired) who devised the Lowry Loop, which represented in graphic form the progress whereby human beings are estranged from God and cannot find the way back; then Christ died and rose again to bridge that gap; and finally human beings are given the opportunity to live in a new relationship with God. This gave rise to the Homiletical Plot, essentially a model of the form of the sermon, which should closely follow the gospel story.In contrast, Keith Anderson, a Canadian Baptist minister, developed his methodology from the learning skills theories of David Kolb. Anderson redefined Kolb?s ideas to argue that everyone is either inductive or deductive in the way that we discern things; and either cognitive or affective in the way we prefer to receive things. So the sermon must be structured to involve all four of the personality types that arise from this.The series of talks concluded with another presentation by John, which asked the question: Does the sermon work and, if so, how? John proceeded to preach a sermon, and this was discussed in depth. It gave rise to interesting differences of opinion, which may have reflected the differences in churchmanship of the listeners.Parts of Saturday were taken up by groups that came together to work on the Eucharist, the results of this were seen on the Sunday morning. As usual the music was wonderful and, apart from some technical problems with a digital projector, all of the sections worked together perfectly. Some of Lesley?s ideas were used and the setting was colourful and inspiring.As always, it was good to meet with other Readers one sees infrequently over the excellent meals and drinks at the end of the day. We were very sorry that our Warden suffered throughout the weekend with bad bronchitis, but are pleased that he recovered. We look forward to next year, when we will be able to discuss whether we have emerged as better preachers! Time will tell. Brian Stagg Grantham

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