Teaching preaching

In this Artizo newsletter, we are looking at ‘Teaching Preaching’. One of the key things Artizo strives to do is to help young men and women develop their ability to teach the Bible so they will grow as ministers of the Word of God. Training in teaching the Word happens in many contexts for interns; from teaching kids in Sunday school to working with a small group of youth, to reading the Bible with someone 1:1. In this issue we focus on teaching the Bible to larger groups of people, or what we usually call preaching.

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An Artizo preacher's comment

“The first thing is that Artizo increased my confidence in the Word. I came from a charismatic background that tended to focus its preaching on experience and relied on the preacher’s ability to make something happen. Artizo gave me the liberty to see God at the center and confidence in His Word. I would not be able to continue to preach if I only knew the model I grew up in.”

The training made me a reader, a learner and an observer of the text. I got to watch. Watching David Short engage with the text was very helpful. Particularly, being able to watch him be a learner. I saw that being immersed in the Word is the engine room for ministry.”

Artizo gave me the opportunity to fail. In the beginning I was very conscious of what I was saying but as I learned to be more comfortable with the text I found freedom to be creative and more my self. It was remarkable to be able to preach and get legitimate feedback, which is something that I had never experienced before.”

Artizo interns' preaching: the view from the pew

“I have felt very blessed by having the Artizo students preaching to us at the morning service. It is interesting to see how they change over a period of several months. Most of them start out by trying to tell us everything they know about a passage; they seem afraid to leave anything out because it is all important and they are preaching for themselves or their peers. But as the months move on, they become more able to listen to the Holy Spirit and preach God’s sermon. They learn to ‘talk’ to the congregation, rather than preach ‘at’ them. They become more comfortable in their own skin and are able to be more relaxed with their own style of presentation. They begin to bring ‘insight’ into the Word rather than ‘learning’. Each of the students has a different level of gift for preaching but they are all willing to accept comment at the end of the service and their attention to the comment is frequently evident in the next sermon they preach. I am grateful for the way in which they increasingly become better at presenting new ways of seeing, without losing the basic gospel.

Meet the 08/09 interns

Name	Location	Ministry areas – fall 08
Amy Belder	St. Alban’s Anglican Church Ottawa, ON	Poverty missions Youth group Christmas play Preaching
Ben Ferguson	St. John’s Shaughnessy Church Vancouver, BC	Preaching Small group leader Leading the evening service Leading Worship
Keith Ganzer	St. John’s Shaughnessy Church Vancouver, BC	Preaching Men’s ministry Pastoral care Evangelism
Marion Karasiuk	Various communities Toronto, ON	Bible Study Preaching Prison ministry
John Lofstedt	Vanier, ON	Alpha Youth Group Preaching Christian Ethics Liturgy Development Service Leading
David McElrea	St. John’s Richmond Church Vancouver, BC	Leading services Preaching Leading a bible-study/small group Small group training 1:1 ministry Youth ministry
Nerida Patton	St. John’s Shaughnessy Church Vancouver, BC	Missions focus Discovering Christ Pastoral Care
Nerida Peart	St. John’s Shaughnessy Church Vancouver, BC	Women at 10 Bible study Preaching Christian Teens Club youth group 1-1 discipleship Pastoral care
Tripp Prince	St. John’s Shaughnessy Church Vancouver, BC	Discovering Christ 2 Small Groups Children’s Ministry Leading worship
Elliot Rossiter	Ottawa, ON	College and Careers Campus stuff Preaching Tech stuff - video, Powerpoint
Kerensa Symons	St. John’s Shaughnessy Church Vancouver, BC	UBC Campus for Christ Women at 10 Bible study Exploring Christianity Youth Group