CRISIS PREACHING Personal and Public by Joseph R. Jeter, Jr. ($19)*
16.95
ABG: 0-687-07392-8
In short, anecdotal chapters, the author explains how to diagnose a crisis (public, congregational, and personal) and offers six homiletical strategies for creating sermons when speaking during a crisis.
- How to discern a crisis
- Biblical precedents for different kinds of crises
- Sample sermons
Whether it’s the assassination of a world leader or a natural disaster in their own community, whether it happened on Sunday morning or Monday afternoon, when personal, communal, and national crises occur they present the preacher with a unique opportunity to speak a word that the congregation is anxious and open to hear. If they are to meet the challenge that crisis preaching presents, argues Joseph R. Jeter, Jr., they would do well to consider the particular needs of the sermon and the congregation to which it is preached before such crises arise. This helpful and lively book allows them the chance to do just that, offering practical guidance on how to discern a genuine crisis, biblical precedents for different kinds of crises to be addressed, and sample sermons. Addressing crisis situations in the life of the preacher him- or herself, the congregation, the local community, and the broader society, Jeter demonstrates how the crisis sermon can be one of the most powerful and effective the preacher will ever deliver.
"Do not wait until a ground-shaking crisis to read this ground-breaking book. Jeter helps us name different kinds of crises, leads us to consider their psychological and theological dimensions, offers approaches to the sermons, and provides an excellent and easy to use collection of biblical texts and theological themes as resources for preaching at the time of particular kinds of crises (e.g., natural disasters, social catastrophes, personal crises)." -- Ronald J. Allen, Christian Theological Seminary
"This splendid book should be sold with a warning sticker, 'Read this before it is too late.' Joseph R. Jeter, Jr., opens new ground on a subject that is experienced by every preacher. At times of crisis, the conventional wisdom says that one must simply depend upon Scripture and the Holy Spirit. Yet there is more we can do, says Jeter, who points out that following the conventional wisdom results in serious shortcomings in preaching at critical times in the life of the church. He brings psychological, theological, and homiletical analysis to bear on crises and answers what might seem to be an impossible question: how do you prepare to preach when you have no time to prepare? He wants pastors to prepare for crises beforehand by asking, 'What questions and problems are likely to confront my people during a crisis?' and then preaching on them." -- Paul Scott Wilson, Emmanuel College, Toronto School of Theology
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
- TYPES OF CRISES
- PSYCHOLOGY OF THE CRISIS EXPERIENCE
- THEOLOGY AND CRISIS
- WORSHIP AND PREACHING IN CRISIS
- CRISIS PREACHING: SOME HOMILETICAL STRATEGIES
- THE STRUCTURE OF THE CRISIS SERMON
- BIBLICAL RESOURCES FOR CRISIS SERMONS: AN ANNOTATED LECTIONARY
- CRISIS SERMONS
- NOTES
- SELECTED BIBIOGRAPHY
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