GETTING THE PREACHER CONVERTED

How to preach evangelistically--and how not to. Gordon MacDonald on Will Willimon's newest release.

"The gospel is not a set of interesting ideas about which we are supposed to make up our minds. The gospel is intrusive news that evokes a new set of practices, a complex of habits, a way of living in the world, discipleship."

This is William Willimon, dean of the chapel and professor of Christian ministry at Duke University, in the latest of his thoughtful writings on preaching.

The key word is intrusive because that is exactly what Willimon thinks we need to understand when we present Jesus to those outside the faith. Intrusive suggests a message unlike any other, something akin to a loose cannon on the deck. Something that invades the souls of unsuspecting people and, while being preached, may affect those inside the church just as much as it affects those outside.

BORN-AGAIN CHURCH

At its beginning The Intrusive Word: Preaching to the Unbaptized (144 pages, Eerdmans, ...