Preaching Re-Imagined: The Role of the Sermon in Communities of Faith

I'm a sociologist of religion and I came across this book during my research on the emerging church. Progressional dialogues make sooooo much sense to me as a far more effective way of teaching than putting all the pressure on one person to break the bread of life so to speak. Doug realizes that his congregants are intelligent people who have much to offer each other as well as himself. Learning should be a dialectical process. As a professor, I teach my courses with this kind of socratic method Doug advocates and I see far better results than professors who offer long lectures (boring their students to death!!!!). Who established the prevailing preaching model in which one person pretends to have a monopoly on biblical truth by giving long boring monologues every Sunday? Why can't each service be a time when the pastor lights a spark and then no one knows ahead of time where the fire will burn? Why not? Because most pastors are control freaks and have to take all the glory. Well for those of you pastors who actually care about reaching your congregants, you should read Doug's book and learn a more effective way of communicating the gospel through the collective knowledge base and cultural toolkit of your congregation rather than boring your people with your long monologues. I know you think you're so smart and have all the answers but your members will learn more if they can teach each other wisdom and share their experiences as well.

Doug Pagitt's book, Preaching Re-Imagined, is a must have for your library. It was inspiring, useful and thought provoking. This book has changed the way that I approach preaching.

Having had a chance to visit Solomon's Porch and interact with Doug and some of the wonderful folks there in Minneapolis, I can honestly say that this approach to preaching is working... That is, this book isn't a bunch of ideas that work in a vaccuum; rather it's a sort of light at the end of a tunnel for those of you who are finding yourselves unclear on why you are delivering speeches to people (some of which you know, but would never talk to that way... and some complete strangers!), but are not really sure what to do... Props to Doug (and others like him) who are daring to go where they feel they ought, even if it means rattling a few cages...

I found this book to fresh. While not perfect, it seemed to demonstrate what it was advocating. The book called for a dialog, and it helped create one. None one will agree with everything in it, but that is not what is required for good dialog. So often in preaching the only material we read reinforces what we already think. That is not the case with this book. For those who are ready to engage a new perspective, this book is a great place to start.

This is a book that those who currently teach preaching and those who practice the art of preaching would do well not to miss. Doug Pagitt, aside from being an excellent communicator, is also a top notch, challenging thinker. In Preaching Re-Imagined he lays out the problem (preaching as we know it is broken- the same people hear the same messages year after year and yet continue to struggle with the same problems) and some of the standard reasons why people imagine preaching is ineffective (the problem is the people, the method, the preacher, the content, etc). Those aren't the problem, Pagitt says. Rather, the issue is "speaching", that is, defining preaching down to simply a monologue. And a steady diet of monologue is detrimental to the soul of the community- when all the communication runs in one direction, there are unintended consequences both to the speaker and the hearers. It may be fine in the short term, but long term this tends to stunt the growth of all involved. Doug advocates something he calls progressional dialogue- becoming communities who listen to the preachers among us, not only the preacher standing in front of us. This is a seriously great book that will challenge anyone who fills the role of "preacher" for his or her community to consider the impact their method may have on the hearers, and to consider from the ground-up the "hows", "whys" and "whats" of preaching. Check this book out- even if you are at a size as a church where dialogue has become impossible on Sundays, there's much here to glean. This book serves as a wake up call for pastors to once again begin involving the people in the work of teaching one another. A quote: "As pastor I want to be part of a community where the workings of God are imbedded in all, where the roles of teaching and learning aren't mine alone, but instead are intrinsic to who we are as a people." Amen.