Lionel, thanks for this post - although you won’t be surprised to discover we think alike on this one!

A thought, and then a question…

On doctrinal (or topical) sermons or even series, one of the dangers is trying to say everything the Bible says on the topic. It can become an over-crammed lecture.

So (as you may know Lionel), I like the idea of preaching a doctrinal series out of one book of the Bible, and focusing on mining it for what it says on the doctrine, and limiting (not eliminating) cross-references elsewhere.

So you might expound a particular relevant passage, but through the lens of the particular topic you are addressing, which may produce a different sermon than if you were expounding the same passage in a normal expository series on that book.

Some examples:
• I did a series on unity in the church from 1 Corinthians - you can guess several key passages.
• The person and work of Christ from 1 Peter: addressing his pre-incarnate existence, the atonement, his example of suffering, his resurrection and return.
• A series on money from 1 Timothy 6:17-18 taking one verse at a time and expounding it phrase by phrase.

One of the advantages of this is that it teaches people to read their doctrine in sympathy with the contexts, rather than as a string of isolated proof texts.

I got this idea from a College of Preachers conference on doctrinal preaching which featured Peter Jensen, along with a phrase “contextualised affirmation” - which meant showing how particular texts supported a doctrine in their context - which Graham Cole encouraged us to use in doctrinal essays way back at Moore College.

My question is this: where does evangelistic preaching fit into this pyramid?

Thanks Lionel.

I do agree with what you are saying, although I have a few observations.

In conservative evangelical circles (to which I gladly belong), I have only ever heard of topical preaching as “scratching people’s itch”. And therefore bad.

I do agree that expository preaching is crucial and should be dominant, but…

I think the main reason we need more (and better executed) topical preaching is that there are a lot of aspects of godliness in Christian life that are never taught on well enough. These are “topics” people aren’t “itching” for as such. I am thinking of manhood/womanhood issues, marriage, raising children. Issues which are vital in how we live out the gospel, but which we struggle to connect the dots on.

Whenever we do address these topics in the course of an expository sermon they usually remain quite abstract. No one wants to be accused of over-applying the text and we don’t have the time to do it well.

Like you said in your article, we might have addressed a topic when we looked at a particular passage, but no one remembers it. If they don’t realise we have addressed a topic in the course of expository preaching, I doubt they have applied it.

If people aren’t actually changed by what they are being taught, then I think we are having James 1:22 problems.

While I don’t think topical preaching should be dominant, I think it is still essential (in a way that the foods on the top of the food pyramid aren’t!).

Thanks for your post.

I agree with the kind of line AB is taking. For mine the pyramid idea makes too much of a distinction between the levels.

It’s interesting that your criticism of doc and topical preaching is that too much of it makes it hard for congregations to learn to read their bibles. Calvin saw the expresion of systematic theology as means to that exact end, but I must admit that I have always been a little uncomfortable with his elevation of systematics in such a way ... a bit too much of the cart before the horse, so to speak.

I think Mark B. is on to something.

I agree with your rough balance in the pyramid Lionel but it presumes a clear distinction between each type of preaching.

For example, it is quite easy for a series on a book of the Bible to end up being a topic or a doctrine (tangentally referred to in the passage) each week.

Let me take a slight tangent: it seems like you’ve used the word ‘teaching’ here to mean ‘sermons on Sunday’.  Please don’t let us forget that Bible teaching is *much* bigger than that! For while exegesis (to varying levels of depth) is an important skill for all Christians to learn, we also want to teach them to read the Bible *to apply it to their lives*.

So a lot of our Bible teaching will involve pointing people to Jesus in the mundane — something which doesn’t require a lot of exposition of a text as such.  So if I am anxious about a situation at work, I might need a brother or sister to remind me of God’s complete acceptance of me and provision for me in the gospel.  I need to be reminded of God’s greatness.  This isn’t going to take detailed and lengthy exegesis, but it *is* Bible teaching that encourages me to grow more like Jesus.