Equip the Preacher for Exposition: Interview with Adrian Reynolds
In the new issue of Credo Magazine, “Preach the Word: Preachers Who Changed the World,” Adrian Reynolds talks with Timothy Raymond about why he lives to train pastors to be better expository preachers in his interview, “Equip the Preacher for Exposition.”
Here is the start of the interview:
You have a very unique job. Tell us what you do every day.
I serve as one of the Directors of The Proclamation Trust here in the UK. We really just do one thing: encourage and equip preachers. Some of them are starting out, some are established. We do it all around the world, but mostly in the UK. We run about thirty conferences including the annual Evangelical Ministry Assembly and have a two-year part-time course with about one hundred students. We also publish a range of books. If you know The Simeon Trust, that was closely modelled on some of our ministry here.
I’m certain that any kind of parachurch service has to be rooted in the local church, and so all our staff are involved with their local congregations. I’m also Associate Minister at East London Tabernacle, a Spurgeon plant from the 19th century. We are multi-national (about sixty-five nations) and multi-class, fairly unusual in the UK. I preach regularly and lead the music ministry—both things I love. I even occasionally get to visit the US!
Who have been some of the more formative influencers on your view of preaching and why?
Two people you’ve almost certainly never heard of: Richard Cooper was the first man I ever heard preach an expository sermon. I was 18 and captivated. The preaching had life and power that came not from the man, but somehow from the text. Then I sat at the feet of my own Gamaliel, G. Eric Lane, for a number of years. I owe him more than I have ever expressed, and he taught me to be tenacious with the text. The kingdom is built through such quiet unassuming men.
What is expository preaching, and is it important for pastors today to preach expository sermons?
Our founder, Dick Lucas, is constantly reminding me that expository preaching is a mindset not a method, and the mindset is this: expository preaching is preaching which allows the text to say what God intends it to. The preacher is not the originator of the message; he is the herald or conduit. And therefore, more precisely, expository preaching is driven by the theme, aim, tone and structure of the text. Letting God say what God wants to say is absolutely essential to the health of the church; expositional preaching is, rightly, one of Dever’s nine marks. …
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Paul instructed Timothy to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. (2 Tim. 4:2). The command is a simple one. Yet, churches today and their pastors fail to take it seriously. Some churches are so used to being fed soundbites from the culture, that sitting down and listening to a sermon for thirty minutes seems not only old fashioned but ridiculously burdensome. Other churches do hear preaching but it is anything but the preaching of “the word.” Instead, the time is filled with one man’s own opinions. Entertaining or interesting as they may be, they are not God’s Word nor the exposition of it. Is it any wonder that churches are filled with malnourished Christians, believers who, whether they know it or not, are being fed milk instead of solid meat?
Needless to say, this is not what the apostle Paul envisioned. Paul taught Timothy that it is absolutely essential to the spiritual health of God’s people to hear the Word itself. By expositing the scriptures, the people hear what God himself has to say, and they walk away knowing who God is, what he has done, and how they are to live according to his will. In this issue of Credo Magazine we aim to help pastors and churchgoers alike recover a love for Bible-preaching. Several contemporary pastors explain what expositional preaching is, why it matters so much, and how churches today can recover the expository sermon in the pulpit. Other contributions take us back in time to those preachers God used in extraordinary ways. By looking to the ministries of men like Spurgeon, Augustine, Edwards, Lloyd-Jones, and others, we desire to see their preaching influence our own. Imitation is not the goal; we rather crave their commitment to expounding the scriptures and pray God’s people would as well.
Contributors include Christian T. George, David P. Barshinger, Jason Helopoulos, Christopher Catherwood, Adrian Reynolds, Adrian Reynolds, Michael A.G. Haykin, Jonathan Worsley, Murray Capill, Deven MacDonald, and others.
Matthew Barrett, Executive Editor
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