Preaching: A Guidebook for Beginners

by Allan Chapple

Where do you start on writing a sermon? Unless beginners have been exposed to good models of preaching, they are often unsure about what to do and how to do it. This book is not meant to cover every aspect of preaching. It is a manual for beginners, drawing on the author's many years' experience both in training and in ministry. Starting from the underlying principles, this book goes on to analyse the process of preaching (discovering and digesting, designing, defining and delivering) and then ways of assessing progress. Each chapter begins with a selection of quotations - sometimes amusing, always thought-provoking, which help engage the reader in the issues. Many otherwise good books on preaching concentrate on spelling out the principles, wrongly assuming that the practice will then take care of itself. This is not just a textbook on the theory, but a guidebook that gives plenty of detail about the practice as well. By the time you finish it you should be well on the way to behaving as every preacher should, instinctively reaching out for the clearest, simplest ways of communicating the Bible's message. Allan Chapple has pastored churches in Western Australia and England, has taught at the Seminari Theoloji Malaysia, and has served as Perth staffworker for the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students. He was the founding Director of the Perth Centre for Applied Christian Studies, and then founding Principal of Trinity Theological College, where he now serves as senior lecturer in New Testament.

174 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2013

About the author

Allan Chapple has pastored churches in Australia and the UK, ministered to students in universities, and taught theology at seminaries in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Perth, Australia. With a passion for the Bible, Allan has written "A Gospel Pageant: A Reader's Guide to the Book of Revelation", "Preaching: A Guidebook for Beginners", "GPS: God's Plan for Salvation" and "True Devotion: In Search of Authentic Spirituality". He's been married to Allison since 1974, and they have three adult children and two grandchildren.

Reviews

[Tim Sheppard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given this by a kind member of the church family, and have found it such a useful book to read. Littered with quotes from numerous preaching manuals, Chapple combines his own experience with that of a huge range of authors to take his readers by the hand through the process of developing a sermon. While (obviously) aimed at the beginner, it nonetheless held plenty to help those of us who’ve been at it for a few more years – and his concern for both the congregation and the preacher (rather than just the talk that gets produced) was transparent. Most valuable of all, it included much-needed reasons for doing things the way we do – here is a book that doesn’t just tell you how, but tries to win you with the “why”. I have read a few Chapple books and often find them slightly difficult to read - perhaps a little long-winded? Yet they're always stuffed with useful content, and this was no exception: persistently practical, frequently funny, and consistently committed to faithful exposition. I’ll be recommending this one a lot.

[Dr. Z · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid introduction to preaching, more concise than most so that could be a benefit. So it's not a bad book, but it's also not one I'd put in the top 15 or so most helpful beginning preaching books.