I’m sure many of you already know well Conrad Mbewe of
Kabwata Baptist Church, Lusaka, Zambia, the man a.k.a the African Spurgeon.
There’s an example of his preaching and a statement of his mission here (1 Cor. 2 –
Christ Crucified) and his sermons to Kabwata are here.
There’s an interesting interview here where he
speaks, among other things, about:
- The
priority of preaching
- Saying one thing
- The
danger of prayerlessness
- The
temptation to use the Bible to say what you want
to say
- Being
yourself in preaching
Just on that last point – perhaps it’s worth underlining
Mbewe: ‘Avoid imitation like a plague... I do not want them to become little
“Conrads”.’ It was said of a famous London church that all the curates
who served under its eminent senior pastor became little versions of their
mentor down to dress and accent.
In one church culture we might feel that our preaching must
have a sonorous liturgical almost-sing-song quality. In another the model
of preaching is the intimate fireside chat or the TV chat show. In yet
another it is felt that preaching must have the authentic tone and
blow-your-hair-back volume of the anointed-Man-of-God.
Phillip Brooks argued that preaching is truth through
personality. By this he meant “Every preacher should utter the truth in
his own way” – we mustn’t become little Conrads. But even more
importantly, what Brooks particularly meant by 'truth through personality' (as
Austin Tucker has argued) is that preaching is (or should be) The
Truth (Jesus Christ) preached through godly
personality - i.e. the gospel preached by a man of “character, of personal uprightness and
purity... in deep possession of the faith and hope and resolution which he is
to offer to his fellow men for their new life”.
One of the best ways to grow in our preaching is indeed to
listen to good preaching but let’s make sure that what we are looking to follow
is their faithfulness, their passion for Christ and their love for the
flock.
Wow...Andy, this is a man to listen to for sure. I love this article and especially on that point of "Avoiding imitation like a plaque"
ReplyDeleteI have noted that this doesn't mean we fail to listen to others preaching, but it means we follow their faithfulness and passion for Christ!
Great Insight here.