Toward a Theology of Preaching, Part 1: Ordinary Words, Extraordinary Work
Christian preaching has always appeared foolish, not merely because it resists cultural trends or technological advancement, but because it runs counter to the basic assumptions of human wisdom about how change, persuasion, and power actually work. The apostle Paul openly acknowledges this when he writes that God was pleased to save those who believe through what the world regards as the “foolishness of preaching” (1 Cor. 1:21).
In making this claim, Paul is not suggesting that the proclamation of the gospel is itself irrational, nor is he conceding that the Christian message lacks something. Rather, he is deliberately contrasting the wisdom of God with the wisdom of man and exposing the fundamental inability of human skill or technique to reconcile sinners to God.
For the rural pastor, this claim immediately collides with lived experience. Ministry in a small church rarely, if ever, feels impressive. There are no large platforms, no expansive budgets, no production teams, and often no sense that what happens on a Sunday morning will ever be noticed beyond a few dozen familiar faces. The temptation, then, is to assume that effectiveness must come from somewhere else, from better methods, stronger personalities, or borrowed strategies that can be repackaged and wrapped in a rural packaging.
Yet what appears foolish to the world is not simply the content of the Christian message, but the means by which God has chosen to make that message effective. The fact that God would attach His saving work to the spoken word, delivered through weak and fallible messengers, runs directly against human instincts of efficiency and visible success. And yet it is precisely through the verbal proclamation of the good news of redemption that God has chosen to call sinners to Himself. The saving efficacy of preaching does not rest in the scale of the ministry, the modern feel of the location, or the skill of the preacher, but in the sovereign decision of God to act through His Word as it is proclaimed.
Preaching as Heralding
At this point, it is crucial to clarify what Christian preaching is and, just as importantly, what it is not.
Preaching is not the act of producing results or persuading hearers. Rather, preaching is the heralding of a message that originates outside the preacher and stands independent of his ability. The preacher is not commissioned to manufacture faith, but to announce what God has already accomplished in Christ.
This distinction lies at the heart of Paul’s argument to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 1:20–23). The saving efficacy of preaching does not reside in the preacher’s delivery, intellect, or rhetorical force, but in God’s sovereign decision to act through His Word as it is proclaimed. By binding salvation to proclamation rather than performance, God removes any confusion about where power truly lies. The preacher does not stand as a mediator of results, but as a messenger, hard stop.
By binding salvation to proclamation rather than performance, God removes any confusion about where power truly lies. The preacher does not stand as a mediator of results, but as a messenger whose task is to be faithful to the Word. For the rural pastor, this means that faithfulness is not defined by visible success, but by whether the message entrusted to him has been clearly and truthfully announced.
For this reason, any faithful theology of preaching must flow from the ministry of the Word itself rather than from pragmatic concerns about success or relevance. Christian preaching is not the expression of human insight, personal reflection, or religious experience, but the public announcement of the actions of God toward humanity. In preaching, the church does not offer advice on how to ascend toward God but declares what God has already done to descend toward sinners in grace.
The preacher, therefore, does not stand as an originator of meaning, but as one who speaks on behalf of Another. His authority is derived from God, not inherent to himself, and thus, his responsibility is not to innovate but to faithfully transmit the message entrusted to him. In this sense, preaching is fundamentally an act of obedience.
This understanding of preaching is not a later development within Christian history, nor does it spring from the early church. Throughout both the Old and New Testaments, preaching has functioned as the means by which God reveals Himself, declares His will, and makes known His redemptive purposes.
Jeffery Perry
Jeffrey Perry is a pastor at Gospelway Baptist Church, co-host of Marrowcast, and author of The Hope That Beckons Home. He earned his B.A. from Spurgeon College and his M.A. from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he is currently pursuing a Ph.D. Jeffrey and his wife, Lindsay, have four children: Reese, Raegan, Rhett, and Rowen.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) @jeffreyperry09
