This is a book for every preacher in today’s church and world.  It should be a textbook on preaching for every seminarian.

Stuart Briscoe’s comment on the book cover is interesting and true.  “Many preachers who were taught to preach the Word are in a bind because they are now being told that people don’t like preaching and they can’t abide by doctrine.  So what is a preacher to do?”  These are the questions this book addresses:  “Do we accommodate ourselves to the culture in order to attract persons back to the church?  The necessity of relating to the congregation may overshadow the imperative to “preach the Word” as traditionally understood.  Do preachers change the way we preach?”

In the opening chapter the authors recount a dialogue in a seminary classroom about preaching.  They are open, honest, discerning, and unwilling to hide from issues that we must consider regarding preaching, particularly doctrinal preaching. 

The dilemma that every preacher faces is that many in the church growth movement are telling him that people do not want to hear doctrinal preaching.  Yet his congregation holds him to a standard of success that is generally judged by the church’s attendance. The preacher might succumb to pressure, and his preaching might lose a solid, doctrinal base.  When preaching is obsolete, we have to rely on other aspects of the worship liturgy to carry the service.

The authors suggest that many people who are looking for a church are not searching for sound, biblical, doctrinal preaching but for a style of worship that is to their liking.  This often means less traditional hymns, more contemporary choruses and songs, less authoritative leadership, and more pop, brief how-to topics.  Preaching is not central in people’s minds because a preacher behind a pulpit suggests authority or a lecture—things that are not always welcomed by the postmodern ear.  Hence preaching is being viewed with jaundiced eyes. 

Erickson says that to many, preaching calls for passivity in a day when people expect to participate.  He writes, “Preaching is too much like the old definition of a lecture, where information is transferred from the notes of the teacher to the notes of the student without passing through the mind of either one.”  Let’s face it, preaching tends to bore people who are oriented to technology and its media, including a fast-paced-video-game approach to life.  It tends to bore people who do not want to spend some mental energy and effort in any kind of learning activity.  And in a day when feelings are more important than thoughts, people are turned off by doctrinal preaching because it appeals to the mind and requires thought.  When growth experts suggest that doctrinal preaching doesn’t grow churches, many preachers cave in and conform to modernity.  Obviously conformity is not the way to handle the Word of God, and it is clearly not the suggestion of this book. 

We have two scenarios that are prevalent among preachers who are reactionists instead of proactivists.  One scenario is to hear all of this and say, “Look, if preaching was good enough for the Apostle Paul, Luther, Calvin, Knox, etc. then it is good enough for me and I will continue to preach as I have always done regardless of the circumstances around me.  I’ve always preached 45-minute sermons going meticulously through books of the Bible verse by verse, phrase by phrase in good teaching fashion.  If people want to hear my preaching they can simply come to our worship service.”  The second is the preacher who hears this and says, “I want to grow my church and to do that I must be popular.  I want my sermons to be winsome and attractive, and experts say that people don’t like long sermons.  They do not care for doctrinal preaching and all I am interested in is how to have a positive presentation that will meet some felt need of the people.”

Obviously both scenarios represent the extremes, but unfortunately, according to the surveys, they are all too common and not exaggerated.  Erickson and Heflin suggest that we step back and reassess our values, particularly as they relate to worship and preaching. The examples in the Scriptures and church history testify that you cannot worship corporately without biblical preaching, and biblical preaching requires doctrinal preaching..  However, that doesn’t mean that we assume people still think and process ideas just like they did in the 18^th and 19^th centuries.  Yes, if we try to preach to people like our forefathers did, particularly those who came before modern technology, preaching can be boring and dull.  Media technology, whether we like it or not, has changed the way we process information.  We cannot change the fact that ours is a more visual and image-oriented age, nor the fact that people’s attention span, at least where the spoken word is concerned, is shorter than it was even 50 years ago.

So what do we do? We do not capitulate nor fail to preach doctrinally, but we must know how to present doctrine to this postmodern world.  Since people today are more oriented to feeling and experience than other generations, we must work harder at placing abstract concepts in settings where they can relate to what we say.  I believe this book, if used across the board, could revive and revolutionize the preaching aspect of worship.  Doctrine is the foundation upon which we stand, make decisions, and live our lives.  If we do not know doctrine, then our foundation is either missing or shaky. 

Erickson quotes a dean of an evangelical seminary:  “We have found that very few pastors fail because they do not know their theology, but because of lack of personal and professional skills.”  We cannot preach the Word effectively by simply withdrawing into our study and moving back in a time warp as we prepare.  Along with the diligent study of the Word, we must understand the people to whom we minister.  Our role is to speak God’s word applicably to people’s lives.  The old idea that we simply set forth the Word and the Holy Spirit will apply it, is not sufficient.  Don Carson from Trinity Evangelical Seminary said that preachers should spend 50% of their time on application.  We cannot assume that people will automatically know what to do with what we preach, and we cannot act as though 30-45 minutes of lecture preaching, heavy in content, will be understood and applied.  Let’s face it, if our people do not know what to do with the Word, or this or that doctrine, it will not accomplish God’s intended purpose.

Old Wine in New Wineskins is divided into four parts: 1. Understanding the Issues, 2. Gathering the Doctrinal Content, 3. Delivering Doctrine in Sermonic Form, and 4. Getting it Done.  Chapter 14 itself (“A Strategy and Program for Doctrinal Preaching”) is worth the price of the book.  But each chapter is filled with substantive help for men who want to preach the Word from a solid doctrinal base, to equip the saints to live in this complex and chaotic world, and to win the lost to Christ.    

- Charles Dunahoo, CEP Coordinator