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Preaching: From the Study to the Pulpit

Informing spiritual passions by…
Forming mentored learning communities, thereby…
Transforming ministers and ministries for a lifetime.

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Informing

We live in a communication age. In order to be relevant, the church of the 21st century needs to be able to communicate effectively. The church needs preachers that speak God’s word with accuracy and relevancy. The Preaching: From the Study to the Pulpit Doctor of Ministry track is designed to help meet this need. It will help you touch the lives of your listeners with the Word of God.

Check out these articles by Dr. Arthurs!
Preacher’s Prescription
Devote Yourself to the Public Reading

Forming

As a Doctor of Ministry student, you attend three two-week intensive residencies (seminars), one each year for three years. You also complete projects following each of the three seminars, including a major thesis-project following the third residency.

You read widely in books and periodicals, and your reading and research contributes to the residencies and to your current ministry. Here is sample reading from the upcoming residency:

• Kaiser, Walter C., Jr. Toward an Exegetical Theology: Biblical Exegesis for Preaching and Teaching. Grand Rapids:  Baker, 1981.
• Fee, Gordon and Stuart, Douglas. How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003.
• Goldsworthy, Graeme. Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.
• Greidanus, Sidney. Preaching Christ from the Old Testament: A Contemporary Hermeneutical Guide. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999.
• Sunukjian, Donald R. An Invitation to Biblical Preaching. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2007.

To order these books through Christian Book Distributors, go to our online bookstore:

GCTS Bookstore

Transforming

Here is how your studies will transform you and your ministry by seeking to fulfill our general Doctor of Ministry goals in some track-specific ways:

• To resource students through a biblically-grounded educational program taught by faculty who are committed to God’s Word and the application of principles of Scripture to the issues of contemporary culture.
  • Check out this article, Form-Fit Preaching, to get a sense of who Dr. Arthurs is and how he sees preaching as relevant to today’s societies.
• To form in students a sound foundation of theological and biblical inquiry in their professional doctoral program’s specialized track that they are able to integrate into the life of Christian ministry.
  • Students will:
    • Demonstrate increased proficiency in exegesis.
    • Understand how exegesis informs homiletics.
    • Compare and contrast hermeneutical systems for preaching Christ from the OT.
• To provide students with the skill set and understandings in a specialized area of ministry to such an extent that they can impact their congregation or community more powerfully for God.
  • Students will improve their ability to:
    • Analyze the home congregation.
    • Preach with creativity based on the literary genre of the text.
    • Deliver sermons with passion and authenticity.
• To create through the cohort model of the program a dimension of Christian community and spiritual nurturing so that students form strong friendships with one another and enter long-term relationships with the scholars who guide the learning experience.
  • Students will develop an environment where peer evaluation of sermons will be commonplace and non-judgmental.
• To develop in students a deeper understanding of Christ’s lordship in all areas of life for the common good of the contemporary world.
  • Through the development of a Personal Learning Covenant, students are asked to set goals in order to create balance in their lives. Some of those goals must be focused on a student’s personal walk with God and His call on a student’s life.
  • As students work through the three-year curriculum of this track, they will bring their study of God’s word to their congregation in relevant and meaningful ways.
• To cultivate within students through critical reflection and careful research through the residencies and projects an enriched Christian witness in the places of society they are called to serve.
  • Through guest lecturers and focused discussions:
    • Understand the influence of gender, postmodernism, media saturation, and ethnicity on listeners.
      • Adapt messages to those audiences without altering the truth.
    • Present a seminar on how to preach on difficult subjects.
    • Understand and adapt to the constraints of preaching in special occasions.
• To instill in students a refreshed view of their ministry as it relates to the proclamation of the Gospel among all people.
  • Students will learn how to conduct audience analysis with their congregations.
  • Topics discussed in the third year include preaching & gender, preaching to postmoderns, preaching in a media-saturated culture and preaching & ethnicity.