Book Review: A Preachers Catechism

I am grateful to netgalley.com and Crossway for an advance review copy of this book. This is a great little book covering some 200 odd pages and sets out for preachers the questions which they ought to be asking themselves week by week as they preach.

This book follows the traditional style of catechism with a question and answer. The questions themselves are largely taken from the Westminster Shorter Catechism with the answers and sometimes the questions slightly altered to reflect that this book is primarily written for preachers.

There are 43 questions in the book split into four sections and each chapter would take maybe five minutes to read but those five minutes do pack quite a punch. I have been preaching now for around 10 years and each of the questions spoke to me and challenged me. Who am I preaching for? Who do I want people to see? Me or God? Do I sometimes use the pulpit? Do I sometimes abuse the pulpit?

The most helpful thing in all of this book was for me the emphasis first and foremost the preacher himself must know God and must remember that he is loved by God regardless of the sermon that he has just preached. He must remember that the sermons he preaches however good or bad make him no less or no more loved in the eyes of God than if he weren't a preacher at all.

One slight issue I did have with the book came towards the end of the book when the author talked about the supper and how often we come to the LORD's table at the end of the service when people are full of the word. Whilst I can see the point that he is making my understanding would be that we come to the sacrament through the word, the sacrament without the word has no meaning and would just be an empty symbol. That however is nit picking in an otherwise excellent book.

Who would benefit from reading this book? Young ministers who are perhaps setting out on the journey to give them a realistic expectation of what ministry will be like. Slightly older ministers who have been preaching for a while and are perhaps becoming weighed down by the day to day of sermon prep. Even ordinary church members in the pew week by week will get something out of reading this book.

Whilst I read this book over one or two sittings I think the book would be better enjoyed perhaps once a week with time to mull over and think about the things the author says.