The most recent issue of the TBS’s Quarterly Record (January-March, 2011) reprints the sermon “Evangelism and the Word of God” preached by the Rev. Dr. W. J. Malcolmson at the society’s 179th annual meeting (pp. 15-21). Here is an excerpt:
It is the duty and responsibility of every generation of Christians to discover, understand, interpret, and learn afresh the timeless verses of Scripture. But it must not stop there; we are to penetrate into a dark world with the light of God’s truth.
Sadly, many ministers and theological institutions, and many who seek to minister mass evangelism, have the wish to be popular today. Let us remind ourselves that the ministry will never be popular: never has been, never will be. True preaching of the Word is not popular in many churches today, and a true minister will never be popular. God has not designed the preaching of the Word to be entertaining, but rather to be effective, to be penetrating, to be life-giving, to be productive, to be progressive.
We are not called to be entertainers, but teachers, preachers, and witnesses to the truth of the Gospel, and our initial evangelism must be followed by the exposition of the Word in the power of the Holy Spirit. Only this will enable born-again souls to die unto sin more and more, and to live more and more unto righteousness, producing a people of God with a true Christian lifestyle.
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