Dr. Matthew D. Kim’s Book, Preaching with Cultural Intelligence: Understanding the People Who Hear Our Sermons, Named Preaching Magazine’s Book of the Year

May 7, 2018

The following originally appeared in Preaching Magazine.

Preaching Book of the Year

Each year for more than 30 years, Preaching has highlighted a variety of recently-published books that warrant the attention of preaching ministers. And each year we highlight one title that has made a significant contribution to the homiletical world.

This year’s Preaching Book of the Year is Preaching With Cultural Intelligence: Understanding the People Who Hear Our Sermons by Matthew D. Kim. The title is published by Baker Academic.

The book was reviewed in our Winter 2018 issue. Here are some excerpts from that review:

Americans live in an increasingly multi-cultural society, yet in too many cases the church continues to think in terms of single ethnicities. While our communities grow in diversity, many churches look much the way they did 25 or 30 years ago in terms of cultural diversity.

Stepping into a significant gap in homiletical literature, Matthew Kim — who teaches preaching at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary — has produced an outstanding resource that will help church leaders better understand the cultural diversity that is shaping their communities and how to respond effectively to such change. Preaching With Cultural Intelligence is a book that deserves to be read by pastors and leaders who care about the future of the church.

Cultural diversity is a present reality for churches. As Kim points out, “the Others (whomever that term means to us) have already entered the church building. They worship among us, and their diversity may not be revealed only in the hue of their skin. Diversity exists in subtle places concealed from our naked eyes.”

These Others, says Kim, “sit throughout the sanctuary, hoping to hear a sermon that connects with their lives. We may have noticed them, but have they been permitted and given access to feel truly at home in our congregations? Do we prepare our sermons with them fully in our hermeneutical and homiletical views?” The book, Kim writes, seeks “to prepare twenty-first-century preachers for the realities of congregational diversity in North America and beyond.”

This is a book that needs to be read by pastors and church leaders for, as Kim asserts, “Cultural intelligence in preaching is another way to demonstrate our love for God and for people.”
Additional Resources:

• Buy Dr. Kim’s book, Preaching with Cultural Intelligence, here.
• Watch Dr. Kim’s chapel message, “Successful Suffering.”
• Find more resources from Gordon-Conwell’s Center for Preaching.