How to Preach

In How to Preach, Samuel Wells goes beyond the arts and disciplines of preparing, crafting and delivering sermons, to explore preaching as an act of worship and prayer. Here, preachers will discover how being attentive to God, to Scripture, to the world, to their hearers, and to themselves can inform and shape their message. They will be renewed in joining the long tradition of witnessing to the revelation of God in every area of human experience.Preaching takes many forms and responds to many different needs and occasions. This broad-ranging volume considers:• the times in which we live: politics, society, freedom, disability and war• the seasons of the church year: Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost• the variety of biblical texts: Old Testament narratives and poetry, Gospel miracles andparables, the writings of Paul• life’s key moments: baptisms, weddings and funerals.For each topic, there is reflection on the demands and opportunities presented, ways of approach, sermon examples, and memorably wise and uncompromising practical guidelines that will nourish and inspire all who long to embrace the call to preach more faithfully.

'This remarkable book by Sam Wells is a three-fold gift: collected sermons by one of our finest preachers, honest reflections and best wisdom about his process of preparing them, and an invitation to us to examine our own sermons more deeply than we often dare to do. Don't be surprised if How to Preach leads you to a startling and unexpected reckoning about yourself as a preacher and human being—and when it does, don't turn away. Wells is the preacher's vicar. Everything he offers here is from the heart, as encouraging as it is empowering. This book will change your preaching life.' -- Anna Carter Florence
'To know Sam is to know his ability both to think and to communicate with extraordinary perception and clarity. You may call it a gift. However, I also know that it is a discipline, an art, a skill, honed over years of prayer, reflection, and practice. This book is quite simply a masterclass in how to preach.' -- Steve Chalke MBE
'This book is a true gift for the working preacher.' -- Englewood Review of Books

Samuel Wells is Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, a prolific author, broadcaster and public theologian.

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