PREACHING AND THE HEART OF GOD:
The place of pathos in preaching
By Mike Mellor
Day One. 127 pages. £8.00
ISBN 978 1 846 256 943
As Stephen Kneale writes in his Foreword to this book: ‘People may not always remember what we say, but they will often remember how we said it.’
I remember hearing the news of Mike Mellor’s conversion; he attended my old college, and I have been interested to see what he has been doing since. Like the apostle Paul, the manner of conversion has shaped Mike’s life and ministry.
Mike felt the full force of the gospel of grace when he was plucked as a brand from the burning, and as a consequence whenever he speaks of Jesus, his Saviour, he does so with the joy of a man whose heart has been set free.
This short book gathers the wisdom of preachers, past and present, to demonstrate that preaching should display urgency, passion and heat. The author has produced a variation on the theme of Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones that preaching is ‘logic on fire’.
I was interested to read the following words: ‘We are not “method actors” employing a technique in order to give an emotionally expressive performance, but men reliant on the Spirit who inspired the passage to give us grace to convey the appropriate mood. We are to be so caught up in the truth, and so longing for it to bless our hearers, that we express it naturally in our voice.’
Preachers who are advocates of information transfer or cool communication would benefit from reading this book. Though we do need to be careful, as the author reminds us, not to confuse passion with off-putting weirdness, ranting loudness, or manipulative bullying.
The book concludes with two appendices: one on open-air preaching and the other listing ten essential books for young preachers. This slim volume might be one preachers could add to that list.
