Preach Magazine Issue 4 - Preaching in the digital age | Page 51
INTERVIEW
JS This issue of Preach is on
preaching in the digital age. You are
a child of the digital age; do you take
the digital world for granted, or do you
consciously adapt anything you do in
content or style to adjust for the fact
that this is the world we live in?
Really I’ve only been
communicating for five years and all
of that has been in a context where
Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook exist. It
would be bonkers to ignore the digital
world when it is the new marketplace.
That’s where voices are heard, where
debate is happening.
One of the ways the digital world
impacts on preaching in my experience,
is that in a bigger environment like a
church or a conference setting, there is
a dialogue going on while you dialogue
with Jesus and the people in front of
you. So as I’m speaking I know people
are communicating what’s impacting
them online. Afterwards you can track
what elements of your talk landed or
stood out. You can track it because
they’ve tweeted it.
I don’t think of Twitter when I’m writing
a sermon, but it is amazing how often
a tweet of 180 characters will show up
that’s actually summarised your whole
talk. I do ask myself when I’ve written
a talk, how would I summarise that in
one sentence? I don’t necessarily want
it tweeted, but I do want people to walk
away with the ability to remember a
simple truth from what I’ve said. Social
media plays quite well into that.
JS Do you think preaching, in
the traditional sense of someone
delivering a 20 to 30 minute didactic
lecture, works for people young people
with no church background?
More and more, people are being
brought up around discussion. Even the
way primary schools are laid out, it’s no
longer front-led, in rows. We sit around
tables and debate, even as children.
Even when I’m preaching, I’ll try and get
people talking to those next to them to
try and break it up. When it comes to
people who don’t know Jesus, if you see
the rise of TED, and stand-up comedy,
people can sit for a very long time
listening to one person talk.
I DON’T FEEL LIKE JESUS HAS
ASKED ME TO BANG THE DRUM
FOR WOMEN IN TERMS OF
WHAT I SPEAK ABOUT, BUT I
SHOW UP AS I AM, WHO I AM,
AND THAT RELEASES WOMEN
LIKE YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE.
JS So long as it is tight, pacey, funny,
interesting?
Correct. I’m not saying the word of
God isn’t impactful if you aren’t really
clever and look like Michael McIntyre,
however, if you want to see how to tell a
good story, given that we have the best
story to tell, watch stand-up comedy
and see how concisely they can tell a
story. And then practice with your own
Bible story or your own story that’s
going to illustrate what you want to
bring from Scripture.
We love story. No one is going to
persecute you for telling your story.
They might, irritatingly, say something
like, ‘Good for you, but that’s not for me.’
And so then how you approach that
is to say, ‘Well, how about you? Where
are you at?’ The very act of storytelling
could be considered preaching,
particularly for my generation.
JS You are a woman. You are only 26.
That’s young to have the platform that
you have. Have you experienced your
gender and age as a disadvantage or
an advantage? Do you feel you have to
fight to be taken seriously in certain
settings?
I’m only able to do what I do
because phenomenal, secure men have
released me.
JS So the men are still the
gatekeepers?
That’s just where we’re at at the
moment with church leadership. In
the national Christian picture that I
walked into just after graduating, I got
a big shock, because I realised I was the
youngest by a number of years and a
minority by far in terms of gender. That
shocked me because I didn’t know it
was like that.
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I’ve been humbled and privileged to work
alongside secure men who recognise that
they have an opportunity to lay down
their lives for others. Younger women
really don’t get an opportunity unless
they do that. I’ve been blessed by that.
I don’t feel like Jesus has asked me to
bang the drum for women in terms of
what I speak about, but I show up as I
am, who I am, and that releases women
like you wouldn’t believe. I always get
this wave of women of all different
ages coming up to me after I speak. I
love it when teens come up because
I’ve just broken the ceiling for what
they thought was possible. Every time
I speak I recognise the responsibility
of representing Jesus as best I can as
Miriam, because at the moment I am a
minority, but I 100 per cent believe that
will not be the case always. I know a
bunch of girls my age that I’m doing my
best to throw my weight behind. There
are more coming. It’s a case of hopefully
being a good door-holder for them.
That’s my prayer for me, to be a good
door-holder for others.
JS What would you say to women who
are coming into adulthood, sensing
a call, the gifting, maybe getting
prompting from others? How would you
encourage them to proceed?
First of all, pray for your leaders.
You want to be their friend, and then
share what you thin