Saints Translation

By Vincent Melli

The Ministry — Preaching

The Ministry · A program of formation

Preaching

Optional formation framework by Vincent Melli. The four programs and twelve-role arrangement are the editor’s devotional study framework. They are not a universally received account of ordained ministry, accreditation or authority to perform ecclesial acts. Readers should follow the doctrine, safeguarding requirements and recognized ministry discipline of their own church. Cross-tradition review of these programs remains pending.

The Ministry · The word spoken to a gathered people · five modules, at your own pace

← Teaching · The Ministry: the four programs · Healing →

Preaching is the word spoken to a gathered people, and first of all it is a message: the kingdom has drawn near, Christ died for our sins and was raised, repent and believe. The preacher is a herald. He does not make the news. He carries it, plainly, to whoever is in front of him.

This may be your work if: you cannot keep good news to yourself; you can say a thing plainly and briefly; you are willing to be disliked for saying what is true; a room does not frighten you, or it does and you speak anyway; what you say in public you are in private.

Take the modules in order and at your own pace. In each: read what is listed, in the Saints Translation; learn the passage by heart; consider the questions in writing; and do the practice before you go on. Keep one notebook for the whole program, and if you can, go through it with a companion or under someone older in the faith.

On this page: 1. The message · 2. The heralds before you · 3. How the apostles preached · 4. Preparing and delivering · 5. The preacher’s life · Where it leads

Module 1 · The message

Before the manner, the matter. Learn the good news as the Lord and the apostles actually announced it, so that you could say it in two minutes to anyone.

Read

Learn by heart

For I handed over to you among the foremost things what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He has been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

1 Corinthians 15:3–4

Consider

  1. What are the things every apostolic sermon in Acts contains?
  2. Can I say the good news without jargon to someone who has never heard it?
  3. Which part am I tempted to leave out?

Practice

  • Write the good news in one hundred words, then in twenty-five.
  • Set the sermons of Acts 2, 10 and 13 side by side and mark what is common to all three.

Module 2 · The heralds before you

The prophets were preachers: sent, often unwilling, and heard or not heard. Learn from them what it is to be sent with words that are not your own.

Read

Learn by heart

The Lord said to me, Do not say, I am young, because you will go to everyone to whom I send you, and you will speak according to everything I command you. Do not fear them, because I am with you to rescue you, says the Lord.

Jeremiah 1:7–8

Consider

  1. Do I speak because I am sent, or because I like to speak?
  2. To whom am I reluctant to go, as Jonah was, and why?
  3. What is the difference between boldness and harshness in these prophets?

Practice

  • Read Jonah in one sitting and write what the last chapter says to a preacher.
  • Learn Nathan’s parable well enough to tell it, and notice how he waits for David to judge.

Module 3 · How the apostles preached

The same message was spoken differently in the synagogue, where the Scriptures were known, and on the Areopagus, where they were not. Learn to begin where the hearers are and to arrive at Christ.

Read

Learn by heart

For we proclaim not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.

2 Corinthians 4:5

Consider

  1. Where does Paul begin at Athens, and where does he end?
  2. Who are the hearers I am actually likely to have, and what do they already know?
  3. Do my words point to Christ or to me?

Practice

  • Outline Acts 13 and Acts 17 in two columns: the starting point, the Scripture used, what is said of Christ, the call.
  • Prepare a five-minute message from one parable for people who do not attend church.

Module 4 · Preparing and delivering

One text, understood. One point, made plain. A call at the end. Esdras read and explained so that the people understood the reading, and the Preacher of Ecclesiastes sought words of delight and words of truth.

Read

Learn by heart

proclaim the word; be ready in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all patience and teaching.

2 Timothy 4:2

Consider

  1. Can I state the point of my message in one sentence before I write it?
  2. What will the hearers be asked to do?
  3. Did I pray over it as long as I worked on it?

Practice

  • Prepare three messages on one passage: for a congregation, for children, and for someone outside the church.
  • Deliver one, have it recorded, and listen to it with someone who will be honest.

Module 5 · The preacher’s life

The preacher is tested by God, who tests hearts, and the danger lies on both sides: to please people, and to enjoy displeasing them. Ezekiel was to his hearers a sweet song. They heard and did nothing. And the Lord says that many who prophesied in His name He never knew.

Read

Learn by heart

But just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, pleasing not people but God, who tests our hearts.

1 Thessalonians 2:4

Consider

  1. Whose approval do I feel while I speak?
  2. Is there anything I preach that I do not do?
  3. Could I go on if no one thanked me?

Practice

  • Ask two people who know you well whether your life matches your words, and write down what they say.
  • Keep a rule of prayer and reading that does not depend on having a message to prepare.

Where it leads

When the five modules are done, show your notebook to a pastor, teacher or elder you trust, and ask where they see the gift. A calling is confirmed by others and not only felt. It may lead inside the church or outside it, and neither is the lesser road.

Inside the church

  • Pastor: who feeds a settled congregation with the word, week by week.
  • Vicar: who can hold the pastor’s place so that the office does not falter, and never the place of Christ.
  • Minister: who grounds what is preached in doctrine and in what the faith has already lived through.

These are the three roles of this work in The Twelve Roles. Every church has its own requirements for study, examination and ordination. This program does not confer any office. It prepares the person who will ask for one.

Outside the church

Outside the church the same gift belongs to anyone who must say true things in public: the advocate who opens his mouth for those who cannot, the journalist and the broadcaster, the speaker at the town meeting, the writer, the campaigner. Paul reasoned in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there, and those scattered from Jerusalem, who held no office, went about proclaiming the word. Proverbs 31:8–9 · Acts 17:17 · Acts 8:4 · Colossians 4:5–6

← Teaching · The Ministry: the four programs · Healing →

Saints Translation · The Ministry · a program of formation, not a qualification; readings linked to the Saints Translation, passages quoted from it · working draft awaiting specialist review.