Preaching and Preachers

CHAPTER SEVENThe CongregationWE ARE STILL looking in general at this picture of a man standing in apulpit and preaching to a number of people. We have already lookedat the preacher and his calling and what he has to do, in a generalmanner. Now, it seems to me to be equally essential that we shouldlook at the people who are listening to him, the people who are sittingin the pews. After all he is preaching to them; he is not just standingthere to voice certain of his own ideas and opinions, nor to give anykind of theoretical or academic disquisition on the teaching of theScripture. He is there, primarily, to address people who have cometogether in order to listen to him and to what he has to say. So thisraises the question of the relationship between the pew and the pulpit,between the people who listen and the manwho is preaching. This hasbecome quite an acute problem at this present time, and in a new way.The old traditional idea of this relationship seems to be disappearing.It is at any rate being questioned and queried very seriously, andclearly this has reference to the last subject with which we dealt,namely the training of the preacher. Obviously the relationship betweenthe pew and the pulpit must affect the training of the preacher,and that this is so is becoming increasingly evident at the presenttime.It is quite clear that the new factor in this respect is the greatemphasis that is being placed today upon the pew. In the past, let usadmit, there may have been too much of a tendency for the pulpit tobe almost independent of the pew; and for the people in the pew torevere the preacher sometimes almost to the point of idolatry. You121