Moore College and SMBC experienced record enrolments in 1960, 1969 and 1980.
I was part of the student enrolment in SMBC in 1969, we had 35 men enrolled in our year compared to 7 men in the year before.
What had happened?
Billy Graham had conducted campaigns in Sydney in 1959, 1968 and 1979.
There is a direct relationship between lively, faithful, engaging Bible preaching and people both being saved and people offering themselves to train for ministry.
Here in Sydney in my own denomination, J. Graham Miller’s ministry at Hurstville Presbyterian was the catalyst God used to call numbers of men into training in the late 1970s, Phillip Jensen at Uni of NSW was similarly used of God.
Men and women would be changed by such preaching and would be so challenged that they gave serious prayerful consideration as to make such ministry their life’s vocation.
If we are to see our fine training Colleges full, we must pray, and part of that prayer would be that God raises up a generation of preachers, empowered by His Spirit to preach the Bible faithfully and engagingly.
Preachers learn to preach primarily by listening to preachers and then having a go.
Colleges like Moore and SMBC will train in faithful dealing with the text, but as Dudley Foord used to say, ‘for engagement, give attention to the opening few minutes, a plane taking off needs maximum power to get off the ground’. Then make sure, that having explained the text, don’t leave it hanging without insightful application. One area of application which we may neglect is in challenging our people to consider the call to ministry. Listening to Graham Miller, the listener was left in no doubt what constituted a proper and an improper response.
We preachers need to remember that we are providing a model when we preach and need to strive to fulfil 2 Timothy 2:15, ‘rightly handling the word of truth’.
I challenge Senior Pastors, Lead Pastors, Rectors, Ministers, you may have left College years ago, what are you doing to invest in the ongoing vitality of your preaching?
I urge you not to be comfortable with where you are in your preaching development, prayerfully strive to be more effective in the pulpit, provide the example which challenges this generation to see that preaching to the people of God is an honourable and meaningful use of one’s life.
Our Trust provides preaching mentoring by experienced preachers, free of charge, it is unusual for senior ministers to reach out for such encouragement.
To quote John Chapman,’There is nothing as good as good preaching and nothing as bad as its opposite’.
David Cook.
PS. Fine aids for preachers:
Our Daily Bread offers 50 day devotional studies through books of the Bible in ‘The Journey Through’ series, good for the preacher to work through months before preaching.
Ask at a Presbyterian Church about accessing Graham Miller’s Personal Daily Bible Study outlines, these were invaluable for me and the basis of my preaching lectures.
Finally, once when visiting the Jungle Doctor, Paul White, he showed me a list he had made of people to watch, people who showed potential for ministry. Good to have such a list for prayer and particular encouragement.