Many people are down on preaching today. Some wonder if it will be effective in reaching younger generations. Others ponder whether it will work in a digital world. Many question whether preaching is simply irrelevant in a post-Christian society. And yet, Scripture boldly commands “Preach the word, in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 4:5) because preaching is one of God’s primary instruments for building the church. 

This class aims to invigorate Christian leaders by equipping them to teach and preach the Word effectively in our post-Christian society. Some may want to jump to advanced material, but we don’t need a new approach to preaching altogether,. We need a fresh rediscovery—in the midst of a new cultural context—of the most foundational truths about preaching.

Building on this foundation, we will then get practical with how to preach to the heart and to the culture. Through lectures, exercises, Q&A, and discussions, we will learn how to preach in such a way that leads people to an encounter with Christ that plays out in whole-life transformation. And while the class will lay a theological foundation and engage with cultural apologetics, it will also provide practical wisdom on how to prepare and deliver sermons in a variety of settings.    

Times certainly have changed. And while we don’t need to re-invent preaching, we do need to revive preaching, and retrieve it from watered-down, entertainment-driven, don’t-offend-at-all-cost, consumeristic forms of preaching. We need preaching that is grounded in Scripture, socially aware, aimed at discipleship, sensitive to wounds, and centered on the good news of Jesus Christ. And we do need to re-think preaching in this generation; namely, what it means to preach the Word in increasingly urban and diverse contexts within churches that are reaching the next generations.  

This class is designed primarily for pastors who regularly preach the Bible, but it is also open to men or women who are teaching Scripture in a variety of spaces (Sunday school, Bible studies, kids ministry, and so on). It will help seasoned leaders think freshly about preaching in our rapidly changing world while also laying a foundation for young leaders.

Those who sign up for this cohort will receive free copies of:

• Tim Keller, Preaching: Communicating Faith in an Age of Skepticism
• John Stott, Between Two Worlds: The Challenge of Preaching Today
• Jonathan Griffiths, Preaching in the New Testament
• How to Set Up a Sermon Prep and Review Committee (PDF) by Jim Davis and Robert Jackson

Registrants will have the opportunity at registration to add a complimentary optional ongoing sermon review cohort.

In these six-person ongoing sermon review cohorts you will receive feedback on a live sermon preached on the following prompt: “You are assigned to preach a live sermon in your church where you address what you perceive to be the strongest objection to the gospel in your context.” This prompt will be the basis to take what you learned in this cohort, preach a sermon based on the prompt, and then evaluate each other with 45 minutes of constructive feedback.

If English isn’t your first language or hearing impaired, we have been working to enhance your cohort experience by incorporating Zoom’s real-time translation (and/or closed captioning) into your cohort experience. Real-time cohort transcription is available in these languages with the touch of the “closed caption” button:
Arabic, Cantonese, Chinese(Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French (Canada), French (France), German, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Telugu, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, and Vietnamese.

* We are unable to offer refunds for The Keller Center cohorts

* Books will be mailed in late April 2024. There is no required reading for the cohort.

* All sessions will be recorded and available for streaming or download at your leisure in perpetuity and so if you can’t make it live or even for months the material is still readily available for you.

* Registration closes on March 21, 2024.

If you have any questions pertaining to signing up for your cohort, group rates, elder/preaching team rates, or church rates email [email protected].