Preaching in an Age of Distraction
by J. Ellsworth Kalas | Book Summary
Author: J. Ellsworth Kalas
|
Preachers have always had to overcome the challenge of distractions. There have always been noisy babies and sleepy adults in church. There have always been unexpected illnesses in church. There have always been interruptions to sermon preparation and personal study. Nevertheless, preachers today face an unprecedented avalanche of distractions. Technology allows us to carry the greatest distractions in the palm of our hand even as we sit in the pew. Consumerism gives us unlimited options from which to choose, and there's always something new and improved. Entertainment takes the form of sport, cinema, television, and social media. These distractions present serious challenges to gospel communication. However, "it is not acceptable to complain about the times or bemoan the problems. If distraction is a fact of our era, then we are called as faith-communicators to contend with it. If, further, distraction is a dominant factor in our times, we should waste no time in knowing how to use it rather than allowing it to make us irrelevant" (p. 19). |
J. Ellsworth Kalas was born in 1923 and passed away in 2015. He was a senior professor of homiletics at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky. Preaching in an Age of Distraction was one of Kalas' last publications.
Kalas was deeply involved in the United Methodist Church. He pastored for 38 years in the Wisconsin and Ohio Conferences, and he worked for five years with the World Methodist Council.
In addition to his church and denominational service, Kalas was a prolific writer. He authored more than 30 books, published many articles, and wrote adult Bible study material for the United Methodist Publishing House.
Preaching in an Age of Distraction
by J. Ellsworth Kalas
[ Book Summary ]
| Author | J. Ellsworth Kalas |
| Publisher | IVP Books |
| Date | 2014 |
| Pages | 165 |
Overview:
"Distractions aren't unique to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries." (p. 11)
Preachers have always had to overcome the challenge of distractions. There have always been noisy babies and sleepy adults in church. There have always been unexpected illnesses in church. There have always been interruptions to sermon preparation and personal study.
Nevertheless, preachers today face an unprecedented avalanche of distractions. Technology allows us to carry the greatest distractions in the palm of our hand even as we sit in the pew. Consumerism gives us unlimited options from which to choose, and there's always something new and improved. Entertainment takes the form of sport, cinema, television, and social media.
These distractions present serious challenges to gospel communication. However, "it is not acceptable to complain about the times or bemoan the problems. If distraction is a fact of our era, then we are called as faith-communicators to contend with it. If, further, distraction is a dominant factor in our times, we should waste no time in knowing how to use it rather than allowing it to make us irrelevant" (p. 19).
J. Ellsworth Kalas was born in 1923 and passed away in 2015. He was a senior professor of homiletics at Asbury Theological Seminary in Kentucky. Preaching in an Age of Distraction was one of Kalas' last publications.
Kalas was deeply involved in the United Methodist Church. He pastored for 38 years in the Wisconsin and Ohio Conferences, and he worked for five years with the World Methodist Council.
In addition to his church and denominational service, Kalas was a prolific writer. He authored more than 30 books, published many articles, and wrote adult Bible study material for the United Methodist Publishing House.