Preaching with the Small Congregation. By Laurence A. Wagley. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989. 144 pages. Paper, $10.95.  

Note the preposition in the title: it is both odd and apt. Laurence Wagley encourages pastors of small churches to adopt a participatory approach to preaching.  

Wagley wants the small church to magnify its strengths: its intimacy, its emphasis on preaching and worship, its flexibility, and its capacity to involve people. He thinks pastors can build on these strengths by using dialogue with church members as their sermon method.  

Wagley applies the theory articulated by Reuel Howe twenty years ago and more recently by advocates of story preaching and inductive preaching. But he takes it a step further. They argue for a dialogical quality in a monological sermon; he argues for real, uncoached dialogue as the sermon.  

Wagley reasons that if people participate actively in the sermon, they are more likely to be changed by it. Too, a shared sermon emphasizes that all Christians are to be active in interpreting Scripture and making known its truths.  

As Wagley describes it, the shared sermon seems much like a healthy youth or adult Sunday School class. The class members come well prepared and the teacher guides them to discover and apply biblical principles. The experience deepens the knowledge, faith, and fellowship of all present.  

Baptists are not likely to adopt this approach for Sunday morning worship. But it seems to hold real promise for the pastor of a small congregation who is planning a series of Sunday evening sermons on contemporary concerns. Talking together about the Scripture and its implications in such a context can deepen insight on both sides of the pulpit. Laurence A. Wagley is professor of preaching and worship at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri.