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Preaching for the Contemporary Service
Preaching for the Contemporary Service is a guide to releasing the energy and creativity of the contemporary worship service within the sermon. Is the traditional sermon still relevant in contemporary worship settings or is it hopelessly out of place? Joseph Webb shows how improvisational preaching taps into the spontaneity of today's worship to engage audiences with the good news of Jesus Christ.
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"Joe Webb grieves that much contemporary worship yawns at traditional preaching and pleads for a new kind of improvisational preaching that does justice to the biblical story and connects emotionally with today's listeners. Carefully explaining both strengths and dangers of improvisation, he draws on insights from theater and movie-making with much practical advice for planning improvisation. A lively and stimulating book to be taken seriously by any who would preach in contemporary services." --Michael J. Quicke, Professor of Preaching, Northern Seminary, and author of 360-Degree Preaching
"Joseph Webb has devoted his lifetime to the craft and mission of preaching. He brings fresh and cutting-edge insight with the wisdom of a sage and the foresight of a prophet to a whole new emerging generation of communicators." --Gene Appel, Lead Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church "Bull's-eye! Joe Webb's theory of improvisational preaching hits the target for effective communication in the digital age. And here's why I love Lots of people will tell me what to do; Joe shows me how!" --Tommy Kiedis, Teaching Pastor, Memorial Presbyterian Church, and Director of Leadership Development, Reformed Theological Seminary “This book shows us how to improvise our preaching without compromising the Scripture, a welcome help to those of us working to revitalize the worship of the church.”
--Kenton C. Anderson, ACTS Seminaries of Trinity Western University
Joseph M. Webb is Dean of the School of Communication & Media and <!--StartFragment -->Professor of Global Media and Communications at Palm Beach Atlantic University. He has taught seminary courses in homiletics, and speech and communication classes at colleges and universities. He is the author of Preaching Without Notes, also published by Abingdon Press.
To read a sample from the book click here
"Joe Webb grieves that much contemporary worship yawns at traditional preaching and pleads for a new kind of improvisational preaching that does justice to the biblical story and connects emotionally with today's listeners. Carefully explaining both strengths and dangers of improvisation, he draws on insights from theater and movie-making with much practical advice for planning improvisation. A lively and stimulating book to be taken seriously by any who would preach in contemporary services." --Michael J. Quicke, Professor of Preaching, Northern Seminary, and author of 360-Degree Preaching
"Joseph Webb has devoted his lifetime to the craft and mission of preaching. He brings fresh and cutting-edge insight with the wisdom of a sage and the foresight of a prophet to a whole new emerging generation of communicators." --Gene Appel, Lead Pastor, Willow Creek Community Church "Bull's-eye! Joe Webb's theory of improvisational preaching hits the target for effective communication in the digital age. And here's why I love Lots of people will tell me what to do; Joe shows me how!" --Tommy Kiedis, Teaching Pastor, Memorial Presbyterian Church, and Director of Leadership Development, Reformed Theological Seminary “This book shows us how to improvise our preaching without compromising the Scripture, a welcome help to those of us working to revitalize the worship of the church.”
--Kenton C. Anderson, ACTS Seminaries of Trinity Western University
Joseph M. Webb is Dean of the School of Communication & Media and <!--StartFragment -->Professor of Global Media and Communications at Palm Beach Atlantic University. He has taught seminary courses in homiletics, and speech and communication classes at colleges and universities. He is the author of Preaching Without Notes, also published by Abingdon Press.
134 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2006
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March 2, 2015
Without getting into a full review (especially since this book has been out for a few years), here are the four things that I did not like about this book:
1. In labeling it for the "contemporary service," Webb immediately eliminates a large portion of his potential reading audience. He states in his opening comments that this book is really only for the mega-church preacher who preaches in a more attractional (hear, "entertainment-driven") worship environment (p. 7). Guys like me who preach in smaller congregations--regardless of our training, ability or calling--will not find Webb's book helpful because we are obviously doing it wrong to start with.
2. In labeling his approach as "improvisational preaching," Webb is attempting to develop a new and engaging style, something that will really thrill the contemporary audience. In essence, he winds up offering a lame version of classic narrative preaching (as developed by Eugene Lowry and advanced by Calvin Miller) that is essentially a badly blended version of storytelling and stand-up comedy. Both art forms have much to teach preaching; however this was not the place where that teaching occurred well.
3. He provides very limited examples of what the storytelling component of "improvisational preaching" looks like, 2-3 at best. As such, it is little wonder why this book has been "File-13-ed" by the homiletics community. [There are other reasons, such as a general lack of interest in narrative preaching. Yet this particular reason for rejection seems warranted.]
4. He provides only 1 sparsely-sketched "storyboard" sermon worksheet, and then does not provide it until the very end. In developing such a potentially revolutionary concept (at least for preaching, that is), one would think that more examples would have been developed. On one hand, the interest of brevity may have trumped additional examples. On the other hand, the author did not have any more examples to offer. Either way, the book ultimately fails in its designed purpose.
That being said, there are some good thoughts about narrative preaching that are in line with the now-classic narrative homileticians and theologians. If Webb had focused more on developing the essential elements of story rather than trying to turn preachers into stand-up comedians (the cover has a stool and mic on it), he might have come up with a good idea. Unfortunately, he uses it as a way to encourage the reader to 1) feel bad that his or her church has not reached mega-church status yet, and 2) feel bad for not reading his other book Preaching Without Notes, both of which are essentially lackluster versions of other books by similar titles.
1. In labeling it for the "contemporary service," Webb immediately eliminates a large portion of his potential reading audience. He states in his opening comments that this book is really only for the mega-church preacher who preaches in a more attractional (hear, "entertainment-driven") worship environment (p. 7). Guys like me who preach in smaller congregations--regardless of our training, ability or calling--will not find Webb's book helpful because we are obviously doing it wrong to start with.
2. In labeling his approach as "improvisational preaching," Webb is attempting to develop a new and engaging style, something that will really thrill the contemporary audience. In essence, he winds up offering a lame version of classic narrative preaching (as developed by Eugene Lowry and advanced by Calvin Miller) that is essentially a badly blended version of storytelling and stand-up comedy. Both art forms have much to teach preaching; however this was not the place where that teaching occurred well.
3. He provides very limited examples of what the storytelling component of "improvisational preaching" looks like, 2-3 at best. As such, it is little wonder why this book has been "File-13-ed" by the homiletics community. [There are other reasons, such as a general lack of interest in narrative preaching. Yet this particular reason for rejection seems warranted.]
4. He provides only 1 sparsely-sketched "storyboard" sermon worksheet, and then does not provide it until the very end. In developing such a potentially revolutionary concept (at least for preaching, that is), one would think that more examples would have been developed. On one hand, the interest of brevity may have trumped additional examples. On the other hand, the author did not have any more examples to offer. Either way, the book ultimately fails in its designed purpose.
That being said, there are some good thoughts about narrative preaching that are in line with the now-classic narrative homileticians and theologians. If Webb had focused more on developing the essential elements of story rather than trying to turn preachers into stand-up comedians (the cover has a stool and mic on it), he might have come up with a good idea. Unfortunately, he uses it as a way to encourage the reader to 1) feel bad that his or her church has not reached mega-church status yet, and 2) feel bad for not reading his other book Preaching Without Notes, both of which are essentially lackluster versions of other books by similar titles.
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