Recovering a bold vision for preaching

NOTE: This is a very good editorial. Feel free to share your thoughts by clicking "comments" below.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--Is preaching still central to Christian worship? This question is asked again and again as contemporary evangelicalism is observed. How can this be up for question?

In some circles, preaching has fallen on hard times. An open debate is now being waged over the character and centrality of preaching in the church. At stake is nothing less than the integrity of Christian worship and proclamation.

How did this happen? Given the central place of preaching in the New Testament church, it would seem that the priority of biblical preaching should be uncontested. After all, as John A. Broadus -- one of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary's founding faculty -- famously remarked, "Preaching is characteristic of Christianity. No other religion has made the regular and frequent assembling of groups of people, to hear religious instruction and exhortation, an integral part of Christian worship."

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