Outskirts Press, INC.

In Conversational Preaching, we are given an in-depth investigation into how humans communicate and how understanding interpersonal communications skills can be of considerable value for those called to preach God’s word. “Dr. Sowards has made rather elegant use of the model of interpersonal communication as a device to explore preaching and communicating with congregants.” – Dr. Dalton Kehoe, Senior Scholar, Communication Studies, York University, Toronto, Canada “Sowards’ book advances the idea of conversational preaching beyond the merely metaphorical by applying practical insights from Interpersonal Communications Theory to the act of sermon crafting.” – The Rev. Dr. Micah Jackson, Ph.D., Bishop John Elbridge Hines Associate Professor of Preaching and Director of Comprehensive Wellness, Seminary of the Southwest, in Austin, Texas This book is for preachers and students of preaching who want to become better preachers and communicators. I have explored the theories of interpersonal communication and shown how preachers can benefit from such knowledge. I described the concept of noise as an impediment to communications and explored the topic with regard to politics, beliefs about the poor, past religious experiences and having an underdeveloped faith. I examined the concept of feedback and how effective feedback can be fodder for future sermons. I developed a model for conversational preaching using interpersonal communications theory and state that the ultimate goal of any sermon would be to facilitate a conversation with the hearers of a sermon and God.

Chapter 1
“Let’s Talk!”
            One of the hallmarks of Christianity is the assertion that God desires to be and is in a relationship with humanity. The Hebrew scriptures attest to this relationship by beginning with the story of God “talking” to a man. In Genesis, God is walking through the Garden of Eden, and God calls out to the man, “Where are you?”[1]
Adam, the first man, answers God, and the conversation leads to Adam and Eve’s disobedience being revealed and their subsequent banishment from the Garden. Later, God “talks” to Moses from a burning bush and commissions him to deliver God’s people from slavery in Egypt. Moses asks God questions, and God answers Moses. Moses and God are “talking”—having a conversation.
This “talking” with God is also found in the Christian scriptures: the New Testament. The man who would become the Apostle Paul (Saul) is making his way to Damascus intent on rooting out the believers in Christ from his Jewish religion. While on his way, Saul is struck down on the road, and he hears a voice: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” He answers with a question: “Who are you, Lord?” and Saul gets his answer: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”[2]
God, in Christ Jesus, talks to the Jewish Zealot Saul, and a conversation is initiated. God desires to “talk” and be in relationship with humanity and thereby transform us in that relationship. The act of talking to God and being transformed by that talk is at the very heart of the activity we know as preaching. I contend that the precepts and principles of how we communicate, how we “talk” with God and each other, can be of great use to those whose job it is to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The skills and competencies acquired can lead us to “conversational preaching,” a way of preaching that utilizes and employs the principles and guidelines of interpersonal communications theory.
So if talk is so important to God and to our having a relationship with God, one needs to answer the question: What does it mean to “talk” to someone?
The act of communicating with, “talking” to, someone might seem automatic and easily done. The fact that there are people in this world who seem to “talk” with ease or that there are those who are known as expert communicators might give the impression that “talking” is something that most humans are born able to do. However, as many of us can attest from our own experiences, the facts that a sender of a message can form audible words that are recognizable and that you can receive those words do not ensure that people are communicating. How many times have we asked: What was he/she talking about?
            I believe that, as preachers of God’s Word, we would do well to familiarize ourselves with the fundamentals of how humans “talk” to each other and the skills and practices involved in effectively conveying ideas. I propose that knowing some of the basics of interpersonal communications theory can lead to a conversational model of preaching: a style and motif of preaching that can produce more effective sermons in which the Word of God is spoken more effectively and understood more readily, in order to bring about spiritual transformation.