Jul 23, 2013

Seven Qualities of Effective Expository Preaching

In his book 12 Essential Skills for Great Preaching, Wayne McDill gives seven qualities of effective expository preaching:

  1. The preacher’s first aim is to discover the text writer’s intended theological meaning in the selected text.
  2. The preacher seeks to let the text speak again through the sermon with the same theological message.
  3. The preacher of expository sermons discovers the meaning of the text through a careful exegetical analysis of the text in all its particulars.
  4. Expository preaching calls for careful consideration of the contexts in which the text was originally written.
  5. An expository sermon is organized with due consideration to the structure and genre of the selected passage.
  6. The expository preacher will seek to influence the audience through the use of the rhetorical elements common to persuasion.
  7. Expository preaching aims for a response of faith and obedience to the biblical truth on the part of the audience. (8-9, numbers added; other formatting original; discussion between points removed)