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Ministerial Reading Course

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 16, 1914

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 91, No. 16.

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Ministerial Reading Course

By Editor

Letters From the Field

It is a pleasure to read many of the letters coming in to the Department of Education from workers expressing their interest in the Ministerial Reading Course and their desire to present the truth in a more convincing manner. Some have already completed the first book, "Preparing to Preach," and given their opinion of it. Some of these letters containing suggestions to our ministers, we are sharing with REVIEW AND HERALD readers:—
"I have just completed reading the first book of the Ministerial Reading Course, and as I promised, I take this opportunity of telling you of the impression it has made on my mind.
"I began reading it about the last three or four days in January, and have devoted many of my spare minutes to its perusal, and can say that I feel amply repaid for the time and money spent with it.
"While I have found some things advocated in the work that I do not consider straight truth, and a few methods advocated that I hardly feel justified in practicing, yet as a whole I consider 'Preparing to Preach' an excellent book for preachers, both young and old, to study; and the general principles advocated by the author for the gathering of material, the planning and organization of thought in sermon building, as well as the delivery of the same, show the thoughts of a master in homiletics, and will be appreciated by many of God's servants who are seeking to become more proficient in their calling.
"I certainly do appreciate the help I have gathered from this work in the following chapters: 'Textual Analysis,' 'Planning the Sermon,' 'Materials,' 'Originality,' 'Instruction,' 'Illustration,' 'Imagination,' 'Application,' 'Pulpit Manners,' 'Extemporaneous Preaching,' and in the chapters on the various kinds of sermons. I am certain I shall profit very materially as I apply some of these excellent principles in my work.
"There is one thing I have feared a little in this work for our younger ministers, those just beginning to preach, and that is that they might form the habit of following the popular style of preaching, more or less, that is, from the single text. While I am aware that many of us do use too many texts sometimes, even to the dazing of our hearers by the great array of texts, yet I would be much opposed to our supplying the place of Scripture with our own ideas about what is meant in the text. I hope this fear is groundless, yet I could not help anticipating such a result to a certain extent.
"I notice in the REVIEW that the next book in the course will be 'The Acts of the Apostles,' by Sister White. I have this book now, and shall begin it at once."
Another writes:—
"As you requested, I am writing to you to inform you that I have finished reading the first book in the Ministerial Reading Course. I am unable to give you in a few words my estimate of the value of it.
"I have not only read the book carefully, but have made a study of the most important paragraphs, with the view of putting into practice, as far as seems consistent, the instruction therein given.
"It is evident that the Lord has led in the establishment of the Ministerial Reading Course, as many of us are sadly in need of the instruction thus afforded; and as most of us are kept busy in our work, we are likely to neglect this self-improvement unless some definite study is outlined for us.
"The new and stirring truths of the messages have helped us out in the matter of gaining a hearing. But now since there are other things as new and of as much interest to the public, we are many times finding it difficult to secure a hearing. With the material which we have as a people, and with the opportunities before us, we ought to take the lead."
A brother who writes as a layman says:—
"I belong to a small country church. The people here are of average intelligence, hard-working, and earnest. They love to hear the word spoken, and so gain a clearer knowledge of the truth. In short, we are just average country people, working through the week at whatever our hands find to do, and that is most often physical work. We are not students, so have not the habit or power of concentrating the mind on one subject for any great length of time.
"The minister stands before a congregation of this type, and begins to speak. At first they hear with pleasure the good words that he has for them. They understand, and are refreshed. But after thirty or forty minutes have passed, the brain is unable to assimilate any more food without a period of rest, and from that time on every word the minister speaks is dull, and confuses the mind. At the end of an hour, often more, of continuous speaking, the tired brain is more conscious of its weariness than of anything else. When the meeting closes, the impression of the sermon is hazy, and the conscientious hearergoes home mourning over his stupidity and his inability to understand a good sermon.
"The reason and the remedy are easy to see. The reason is merely a practical application of the law of supply and demand. Given an average brain and a good sermon that does not oversupply it with mental food, the effect is to refresh, uplift, energize. Given an average brain and a long sermon with twice the amount of mental food the average brain can digest at one time, the effect is a sort of mental stupefaction. We have been taught the disastrous effect of an oversupply of even the best food. The stomach is injured, and the food worse than wasted. Might not the same principle be applied, in a way, to mental food and its assimilation?" J. L. S.