About the Roundtable Pulpit
I have been practicing the Roundtable Pulpit for 25 years. This is a collaborative process for preaching that I adopted from Homiletics Professor John S. McClure. John McClure believes: "The goal of collaborative preaching is neither a like-minded community of obedient clones, nor a tolerant community of insightful individuals. The goal is a learning community of deeply engaged strangers. Participants do not imitate their leaders or "fuse horizons" with their leaders, they "come to terms with" their leaders… In roundtable preaching both leader and follower, preacher and hearer are given an opportunity to express charismata (gifts) and to encounter one another as… partner-teacher." Lucy Rose proposes that this form of preaching "aims to gather the community of faith around the Word where the central conversations of the people of God are fostered and refocused week after week." As the Roundtable groups gather around God's Word I hope that this process can focus our conversations around God's message for the church and us.
A Valuable collaboration
I have found this process invaluable in discerning the interpretation of the scriptures that will impact our faith and life. I believe you will find it an informative Bible study and a way to hear others interpretations of scripture. We learn about each other’s faith and life during our discussions. You don’t need to be a biblical scholar to join–you only need to be curious about the Bible and attend worship at WPC.
I am forming a group that will meet Wednesdays at 7:00 pm beginning May 22 and concluding June 19. Here are the scriptures we will be exploring:
Sermon Series–“More Than Meets the Eye”
- John 3:1-17 Night Vision
- Mark 2:23-3:6 Work on the Sabbath or Not?
- 2 Cor. 4:13-5:1 Seeing Beyond Suffering
- 2 Cor. 5:5-10,14-17 Not What You See, But What You Believe
- 2 Cor. 6:1-13 Look What Time It Is!
I hope you will consider being a part of this group. You can email me to register –
Peace, John