Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Lutheran Preaching And Its Relation To The Audience, Richard R. Craemerer

Concordia Theological Monthly

Persuasive public speech demands the close relation between the speaker and his audience. This fact is true also of preaching. The most common complaint against preaching is that the preacher does not adequately reach the attention and will of his hearer. The first and last need of preaching is that it bring the Word and will of God to the hearer; it must bear witness to Christ, it must teach the Word. To do that, it must not merely be true and Scriptural, but it must actually engage the hearer's interest.