Vaughan Roberts on Expository Preaching

Colin Adams asks Vaughan Roberts, Rector of St Ebbes Church in Oxford, 10 questions about expository preaching. Here are a few selections:

1. Where do you place the importance of preaching in the grand scheme of church life?
   Preaching is central. Christ gathers his church and rules it through his word. The preaching of his word must therefore be the focal point of our congregational gatherings if Christ is to be at the centre. . . .
2. How long (on average) does it take you to prepare a sermon?
   About 12 hours. Early sermons in a new series on a less familiar book can take a few hours longer.
3. Is it important to you that a sermon contain one major theme or idea? If so, how do you crystallise it?
   It’s certainly important that the sermon should have an aim. It needs to have a clear sense of direction and of what it intends to communicate. That is not a single point that’s chosen arbitrarily from a number of different points that could be made from the passage; it should rather be driven by the thrust of the text itself. . . .
4. What are the greatest perils that a preacher must avoid?
   They will vary from person to person and from time to time. At the moment my biggest danger is taking on too much and drifting into a spiritually dull ‘professionalism’ as a preacher. I need to preserve the freshness of my own walk with Christ if my preaching is to remain fresh.
5. What books on preaching, or exemplars of it, have you found most influential in your own preaching?
   John Stott’s ‘I believe in preaching’ was the first book I read on the subject and I still go back to it. John Stott, Dick Lucas, Roy Clements and Jonathan Fletcher were influential models when I first began preaching.

Read the whole post at Unashamed Workman.

See also:

• Tim Keller on Expository Preaching
• Philip Ryken on Expository Preaching
• Voddie Baucham on Expository Preaching
• Liam Goligher on Expository Preaching
• Thabiti Anyabwile on Expository Preaching
• Conrad Mbewe on Expository Preaching

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