Preach Magazine Issue 3 - Preaching and the Holy Spirit | Page 49

FEATURE

PREACHING WHICH EXCLUDES AN OPPORTUNITY FOR RESPONSE
UNDERESTIMATES THE POWER OF SPIRIT EMPOWERED
COMMUNICATION AND DOESN’T DO ENOUGH TO HELP PEOPLE
WHO COULD BE CHANGED BY THE SPIRIT RIGHT NOW IN
RESPONSE TO THE WORD OF GOD.

Over time you learn how to recognise
red. This is what it felt like when you
were moved by the glory of God in the
creation, when someone apparently
coincidently answered your precise
question in a conversation you were
having, when someone gave you wise
advice that brought you peace, when
you realise God was speaking to you
through the preaching or a word of
knowledge. You start to recognise this
voice and become responsive to it.
Which leads to the question, ‘what
does the Spirit want to do after you
have finished speaking?’ In order
to be true to the model of Jesus,
we always have to be concerned
with word and works. Sometimes
Jesus taught and then did miracles
and sometimes he did miracles
and then taught. Preaching which
excludes an opportunity for response
underestimates the power of Spirit
empowered communication and
doesn’t do enough to help people who
could be changed by the Spirit right
now in response to the word of God.
The question ‘what does the Spirit
want to do after we have spoken?’ may
be obvious from the passage we are
speaking from or the brief we’ve been
given about the service. And I believe
that the Spirit mainly wants people to
understand what a particular passage
is saying. But the Spirit also wants
to break into people’s lives so that
they can be healed or comforted or
renewed in strength – so that they can

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truly receive or respond to what they
have heard the Spirit say.
This is why with the exception of
formal occasions when there are
lots of guests around, in my church
we always pray for people after the
service. I believe that the speaker is
the most natural person to lead into
what is often called ‘ministry in the
power of the Spirit’ because hopefully,
the Spirit’s power has been resting
on the preacher as they have spoken.
So, prior to the preaching we need
the kind of worship that can lead us
into the presence of God and the kind
of openness that can make space for
what the Spirit wants to say or do
before the teaching happens. We also
need a trained ministry team to pray
for people afterwards so that the
power of Spirit-inspired preaching is
not diluted. If teaching was enough,
Jesus would simply have taught. It
wasn’t then and it isn’t now. To be
people of the Spirit as we meet them in
the New Testament we have to be able
to give the word of God and perform
the works of God.
So Spirit-empowered preaching is
the product of our own ongoing
communion with God that helps
us to bring forth for others the
wisdom, inspiration and hope we
ourselves are living in. It requires a
humble acceptance that teaching
is only one of the things the Spirit
might use to reach his people when

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we come together and it must be
communicated within the particular
context the Spirit is creating on that
occasion. Finally, it must lead to
transformation of life; not merely
the conviction that what has been
said is true or inspirational but the
opportunity to experience more of
the power of the Spirit who is right
here, right now able to do more than
convict or inspire me. It is God’s
desire that everyone should enjoy
the deep connection we all need to
sustain us in life. For this to happen,
we need regular opportunities
to open ourselves to the person
of the Spirit for his healing or
empowerment in response to inspired
preaching (amongst other things)
when we come together. What else
could church be for?

John Peters
John Peters is Rector of St Mary’s, a church in central
London, with an average age of 26. After graduating in
Law and then studying Theology
at Wycliffe College, Oxford,
John worked at several
churches before he and
Jenny started St Mary’s as
a new church congregation
14 years ago and since then
have planted six churches
here and overseas.
John and Jenny have
three children.

17/04/2015 15:43:15