Expository preaching: Encyclopedia II - Expository preaching - Systematic exposition

Expository preaching - Systematic exposition

There are two ways in which texts are selected for exposition:

• use of a lectionary (common in mainline denominational churches), or
• letting the preacher or individual church decide which books or passages are examined (common in fundamentalist and evangelical churches).

Expository preaching - The Lectionary Method

A lectionary is a pre-arranged set of passages on which the preacher is to expound. The passages found in the lectionary are usually influenced by the church calendar, and are sometimes set by the particular denomination of the minister and church.

• The primary advantage of using a denominationally based lectionary is that the same themes and passages are expounded at the same time throughout that body of churches. Use of a lectionary also has the advantage of covering large sections of the Bible so that the congregation is exposed to them over a reasonable amount of time.
• One disadvantage of using lectionaries is that the church and preacher are somewhat constrained by the lectionary's rules. Another disadvantage is that the set passages in the lectionary may not cover an entire book of the Bible, or may contain too much information for the preacher to cover in one sermon.

Expository preaching - The Individual Choice Method

When the passages are determined by the preacher or the individual church, the preacher has the freedom to work out which passages are studied at particular times. In such a situation, the preacher will preach through an entire book of Scripture, which generally allows a far more detailed look at the text being studied. Under some circumstances, preachers may prefer to preach through whole books of the Bible systematically over a long period of time. For example, suppose a preacher decides to cover the book of I John. On the beginning Sunday of the series, the preacher may explain and apply 1 John 1.1-4, then 1 John 1.5-7 the following week, then 1 John 1.8-10 after that, and would continue until all of I John is covered. Then another book of the Bible is examined (or else a specific topic is covered for a time).

• The key advantage of this system is that the preacher is forced to expound passages that may not be examined or applied normally under a topical series.
• The disadvantage of this system is that it may not fit into any form of liturgical calendar followed by the church and its denomination. (However, the preacher may "take a short break" from the series to cover a special topic on a liturgical day, most commonly near Easter and Christmas.) It may also lead to an over-reliance upon preaching through the New Testament rather than the Old Testament, since the former is generally easier to understand and apply. It could also result in the individual church becoming less connected to its denomination, which may be a problem in denominations that emphasize unity and interdependence.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Systematic exposition", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki