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Abstract
Expository preaching is a style of preaching not currently being taught in seminaries which train United Methodist pastors even though it has been successfully utilized in various forms in other Christian traditions for centuries. There was an interest among some people of Crossroads United Methodist Church in Washington, Illinois for biblical preaching with a focus on life application. This intervention project tested effectiveness of expository preaching at Crossroads to produce cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral changes among worship participants. The sermons in this five-week sermon series were designed in a running commentary style, taking the congregation verse-by-verse through the book of Jonah during the season of Lent. The literature review drew from the writings conservative evangelical preachers who have emphasized the expository method, such as John Broadus, Charles Swindoll, Brian Chappell, and Timothy Keller, and progressive homiletics professor Ronald Allen. The effectiveness of the sermon series was measured using pre- and post-test surveys for quantitative data collection and focus groups for qualitative data collection.
This research demonstrates that expository preaching increases biblical literacy in the lives of those who are regularly exposed to it and has the potential to facilitate significant changes in beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. This study also found that expository preaching has the potential to provide a positive learning experience for mainline churches when relevant application, conversational delivery, and short sermon series are utilized. A surprise finding was that using pre- and post-test surveys with the congregation increases the effectiveness of expository preaching.
