 |  Conditions affecting tomorrow's ministry.
Fall 1999
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Preaching that Connects
An interview with M. Craig Barnes
October 1, 1999
Introducing PreachingToday.com
It's on most everyone's mind, yet the subject of sex often gets little press in the
church. No big surprise why. It takes courage and skill to preach well on
that oh-so-delicate subject.
Leadership Resources editor David Goetz asked M. Craig Barnes, pastor of
National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C., how he blends biblical
conviction with biblical compassion.
This interview (and the five pages of sermon illustrations that follow) are
a sampling of the preaching resources available on
LEADERSHIP's new Web site,
PreachingToday.com.
When you preach about sex, what assumptions do you make?
I assume my hearers are confused about sexuality. People think if you're
not sexually active you are less than whole. That's part of the whole
homosexual debate—because I've got a sexual yearning, it must come
from God. And if it comes from God, he wants me to use it.
But people are more than sexual beings. Much of the debate about sex has
reduced people to their sexuality. That's true whether they're
gay or heterosexual.
So sexual activity does not equal our sexual being.
Exactly. We're created as sexual beings, but that doesn't mean
we have to be sexually active.
What should the preacher not communicate about sex?
It's easy to media bash. When we do that, though, we miss the real point
of preaching, which is to say something redemptive for those who have sexual
longings, sexual confusion, enormous sexual guilt.
I don't want to make angry denouncements, but I want to make clear that
within the church there's a lot more sexual activity outside of the
biblical norms than people want to admit. Many have had or are having premarital
sex. Some have had affairs they've not admitted ...
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