I recently flicked through the Church of Scotland’s in-house magazine ‘Life and Work.’ It was the September 2020 issue and as usual it asked a ‘Big Question’ of a group of parish ministers.

The specific question related to how the respondents had maintained spiritual health during lockdown. And although a breadth of theology was represented, interestingly, similar responses came from the participants.

Most mentioned being able to take more exercise which they combined with reflection or prayer. And most commented that they had been more contemplative some specifically relating this to engaging with Scripture.

I have found a similar result of the restrictions of Covid and it has challenged me about what exactly I was doing before.

I have a friend that moved on from parish ministry to a new form of Christian outreach. When I asked if he would return to the parish, he replied ‘why would I want to go back to managing a charity?’ Charity management is probably not what most people think ministers do. But it’s exactly what most ministers do. And in these days of pressure to improve the performance of our churches, it is to improved management that many ministers turn.

I’ve heard complaints from church workers that most ministers are not good managers. And in many cases that’s probably true. When I trained for ministry, management was barely touched on. If a minister is an experienced, competent, manager it is probably a happy accident due to a previous career.

However early in parish ministry it becomes apparent that a major part of your job will be the management of staff, facilities, resources, volunteers, and organisational structures. To some this may come as a relief from the more ethereal and unquantifiable role of preaching the Gospel. Others will find themselves overwhelmed by a role for which they are neither prepared or skilled. Of course, many churches have skilled participants to share this task. But, in the process of elders being redefined as ‘trustees’ the spiritual leadership of a church has been further, subtly, reshaped.

Yet amidst the Covid misery might we find a glimpse of hope? Parish ministers are re-discovering their core vocation to enjoy the presence of God, in person, in Scripture and in Creation?

If there is renewal for the church it will not come solely or even primarily through better, leaner and more efficient administration. It will surely come through a renewed passion and a rediscovery of the power and beauty of the Scriptures and their Lord.

In Scotland we have many different words for rain. They all refer to water falling from the sky but the different terms introduce nuances in the way and speed the water is falling.

Some translations of the New Testament use the word ‘preach’ where the original text recognises more nuance. For example where the NIV says preach the Synoptics often have a verb meaning announce or proclaim (eg. Matt 3.1). But sometimes the word denoted by preaching, in the original text, is the noun ‘Proclamation’ (eg. Matt 12.41). And in the book of Acts ‘preach’ in the English translation can refer to a verb in the original text which we might call ‘good newsing’ or ‘announcing good news’ and is the basis of the word ‘evangelism’ (eg. Acts 8.40). At least once in Acts the NIV says ‘preach fearlessly’ but the original text says ’boldly speak’ (Acts 9.27). And on another occasion in Acts the original language uses ‘spoke the word’ but the NIV says ‘had preached’ (Acts 14.25).

The New Testament also uses a separate word for ‘teach’ alongside preaching. For example in Matt 4.23 we read in the NIV that ‘Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom…’ How are we to understand this verse? Is the teaching separate from the preaching? In the original text there appears to be an extra ‘and’ which might separate the two activities. But the NIV appears to understand the content of the teaching to be the preaching of the Kingdom. Are teaching and preaching then synonymous?

Later in Acts we find the Apostle Paul arguing for Christ in local synagogues, on the Sabbath. For example in Acts 17, the NIV says that Paul ‘reasoned’ in the Thessalonian and Athenian synagogues. Here, the original text uses a word related to dialogue or discuss. How does Paul’s arguing relate to Jesus’ teaching/preaching in synagogues? Then further on in the chapter Paul is said to be ‘preaching’ and the original text uses another word for ‘declare’ or ‘announce’ which we’ve not yet come across.

I am not a serious Greek scholar, by any means. But I hope that this brief examination of some NT references to speaking, in relation to the Gospel, indicate that our quest to define what we mean by preaching is not entirely straightforward. By preaching, we tend to specifically mean a lecture style monologue. But where the NIV uses the word ‘preach’ or variants, the original text appears to indicate public speech to share the Good News. Additionally, sometimes the context for Gospel speech might suggest that teaching, preaching, discussing and arguing could be interchangeable or at least related activities.

We should, therefore, be careful of assuming or imposing back into the text our relatively uniform understanding of preaching.