Preach Magazine Issue 3 - Preaching and the Holy Spirit | Page 42

42

SERIAL

Preaching problems:
advice from our panel

THE SCENARIO

RICHARD LITTLEDALE

When I went into ministry
I felt a strong sense of
calling, and 15 years on,
that has not changed.
There are parts of the
role that I feel equipped
to do – the pastoral side,
and encouraging the lay
leadership for example.
But I feel I am a very poor
preacher, and I have
dreadful nerves that
overcome me whenever
I have to do it (which is
most weeks). Sometimes
the nerves make me feel
physically sick. If there was
a way of being a church
leader and not preaching
I would give it up entirely.
Since that doesn’t seem to
be an option, what can I do
to make the situation more
manageable?

The first thing to say to you is that
you are not alone. Charles Spurgeon,
sometimes referred to as the ‘Prince
of Preachers’ would occasionally be
so overwhelmed with nerves and a
sense of his own inadequacy that his
deacons would have to physically
propel him into the pulpit!

LWPT8693 Preach Magazine - Issue 3 v3 REPRO.indd 42

Secondly, your nerves can be your
friends, in that they keep you humble
and reliant upon God. I have often
said that the day I stop being nervous
about preaching is the da H]H