Professor Karoline Lewis, director of Luther Seminary’s D.Min. programs and the Marbury E. Anderson Chair of Biblical Preaching, is author of “A Lay Preacher’s Guide: How to Craft a Faithful Sermon,” which was published in May by Fortress Press. The book is designed to provide lay preachers with an accessible guide to the basics of Sunday morning preaching.
Part of the Working Preacher book series, “A Lay Preacher’s Guide” is organized around seven qualities of faithful preaching; faithful preaching is biblical, autobiographical, contextual, theological, intellectual, emotional, and inspirational. Lewis emphasizes the importance of pursuing faithfulness, not goodness, in crafting sermons. In the words of a fellow professor and preacher whom she quotes: “Our job is not to be a good preacher, but a faithful preacher. The goodness is always in God’s hands.”
Walter Brueggemann, William Marcellus McPheeters professor emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary, writes, “This book teems with wise reflection based on lived experience and great appreciation for the preaching enterprise. While the book instructs, it does so in a way that affirms, encourages, and empowers its readers. This book invites fresh thinking and faithful focus on the work of preaching. It communicates the conviction that faithful preaching is the most urgent of all pastoral opportunities—one that merits disciplined attention.”