A Word-Centered Ministry

In my years in my current parish, I have tried to cultivate a Word-centered ministry. My habit, from my first Sunday here, has been to preach through books (or significant portions) of the Bible. I've done that for several reasons:

1) I don't have to lie awake on Sunday nights wondering what I'm going to preach the following Sunday. (I may still lie awake on Sunday nights but not because I'm searching for a text!)

2) It forces me to look at each text in its greater context, and it teaches the congregation to see the inter-relatedness of Scripture.

3) Over time I will regularly confront all the major themes of Scripture rather than just gravitating to my favorites. I have to preach the "hard" texts as well as the obvious ones.

4) It keeps me fresh. During my 25+ years here, I have only repeated four series: Acts, Revelation, Ephesians, and John. As I began each of those four I did so with the idea that I could save myself some time by simply "updating" the old series, and each time I have found that impossible. The texts may be the same, but I am different, my people are different, and the times are different. And so I have the joy of digging afresh into these magnificent texts.

5) Preaching through books enables me to tackle potentially controversial subjects inductively and from a variety of sources. People at our church don't believe in election primarily because it's in the Westminster Confession (though they're grateful for that confirmation) but because Paul and John and Jesus believed it. So I don't generally preach on the topic of election but on Ephesians 1 or Romans 9 in the context of series on those books -- and it's a lot harder to argue with Paul than with me!

6) Finally, it tends to allow listeners to hear the Word itself rather than be turned off by feelings of personal offense. If Mrs. Jones has a problem with gossip and then hears me preaching about gossip, she's more likely to be able to listen to the text rather than take personal offense if she knows that I'm just preaching through James rather than singling her out! (People will often tell me, "That message was just for me," but we both understand that I wasn't trying to pick on just them.)