Preaching: How Fast through a Bible Book?
As a pastor, I am committed to expository preaching through sections of Scripture. But every time I start a new section or book, I inevitably ask, "How long will this take me?" "At what pace should I go through the book?"
Many of my heroes take a long time going through a Bible book. If I remember correctly John MacArthur took 8 and a half years to get through Matthew, John Piper has been in Romans for over 7 years, Jim Boice's Romans series was published into four large volumes. I recently heard MacArthur say, "Slower is better because deeper is better."
This summer I took our congregation through Romans in 5 weeks. Obviously an overview, it was more section by section than verse by verse. I was very pleased with the outcome. It was helpful for our people to get more of a bird's eye, or macro, view of the book.
Though I used to be impressed with slower, I am currently seeing many advantages in moving faster.
What do you think? Is deeper and slower the way to go, giving your people a very in-depth and comprehensive look? Or is it better to move quickly through a book thereby exposing your people to greater amounts of Scripture?
posted by Brett @ 5:45 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
For what it is worth, I do both. I try to do my longer series on Sunday nights and the shorter ones on Sunday morning. On Sunday morning, you are more likely to have regulars who know very little about the Bible. It is good to expose them to large portions of Scripture. I like to do my longer series at night when there is a larger percentage of serious Christians. I do not think that this is a hard and fast rule for everyone, but it is what has worked for me.
Thanks Scott for your insight! I agree. The problem for me and many other church planters is that we only have Sunday morning. If I had Sunday night, I think I would do exactly what you are doing.
Before preaching on a new section of Scripture, I try to preach an overview message that surveys the content and context of this section of the Bible. Then I walk through passage-by-passage usually 4-9 verses on average. I see where Mark Dever preaches through broad passages that may include 3-10 chapters of a book of the Bible in one sermon.
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