Proclaimer Blog
No impressions in the pulpit OR what we can learn from Jimmy Saville
Preachers should not do impressions. Impressions rarely work as this rather hilarious Jimmy Saville clip from straight-laced Peter Donaldson doing the six o'clock news bulletin on Radio 4 shows. And yet, very often, we do end up preaching just like our heroes. A generation of free church pastors tried to be Lloyd-Jones just as a generation of Anglicans tried to be Stott. And those two generations have found, in general, that it doesn't work! These days the heroes to emulate are more diverse (thanks to the internet) but probably more listened to and accessible (thanks to the internet). That's not to say we can't learn from greats. But we should not seek to replicate them. The issue is, at its root, theological. Preaching is God's ordained means of making his presence known through the faithful exposition of Scripture by a man – that's you. That means your personality, your nature, your person are a key part of God's preaching plan. That is not to make much of you (you after all, a jar of clay), but to make much of him and display his power. When you or I try to be someone else we're cutting against the grain of the theology of preaching.
So, no impressions in the pulpit. Go listen to Peter Donaldson once more. Laugh. And then repeat to yourself. "No more impressions in the pulpit."