Make The Word Come Alive: Lessons From Laity - Softcover

Mulligan, Mary Alice; Allen, Ronald J.

4.2

5 ratings by Goodreads

9780827205031: Make The Word Come Alive: Lessons From Laity

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0827205031 ISBN 13: 9780827205031

Publisher: Chalice Pr, 2005

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In this final volume of the Channels of Listening series, Mary Alice Mulligan and Ronald Allen turn to sermon listeners for advice on how to create more engaging and meaningful sermons. Drawing on the first large-scale systematic study of how listeners themselves describe the experience of hearing sermons and how those reports can influence preaching, Mulligan and Allen identify twelve qualities or characteristics that listeners most commonly seek in sermons. They use the listeners' own words to impart not just points that preachers would benefit from keeping in mind but also a real sense of how and why these qualities are important to the listener.
The study this book is based on revealed that the participants went to church eager to hear the sermon. They said they believe sermons impact their lives and have the power to help them build a closer relationship to God. In this book, they talk openly and candidly about what makes a sermon meaningful to them and what blocks the message and turns them away. Their testimonies are a plea to preachers to listen and to learn.

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About the Author:

Ronald J. Allen is Nettie Sweeney and Hugh Th. Miller Professor of Preaching and New Testament at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. He is author of many books, including Patterns of Preaching and Interpreting the Gospel, and coauthor of One Gospel, Many Ears and Listening to Listeners, all from Chalice Press.
"Mary Alice Mulligan

Review:

"Jesus commanded, 'anyone with ears listen. 'But preachers have not always had good resources to help them understand what is going on in the hearts and minds behind those ears. Mulligan, Turner-Sharazz, Ottoni Wilhem, and Allen provide preachers and the church with a snapshot of people's understanding of preachers and preaching, their concerns and hopes for what their ears will hear in this new century and new millennium. Treating a wide range of topics, from the role of God in sermons to what kind of delivery people appreciate, seasoned preachers as well as neophytes will find this an excellent addition to their preaching collection. It is clear that the authors do believe that preaching is essential to our life together, and they want to bridge the gap between preachers and listeners."

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