Two Problems in the Church
The first problem is that in and around Edinburgh there are many churches that struggle to fill their pulpits with preachers for their Sunday services. The second problem is that there are many gifted preachers, and potentially gifted preachers, who are not in full time ministry who have very little opportunity to explore the gift of preaching.
Tackling the Problems
The Edinburgh Preaching Group was formed in 2008 to try and tackle both of these problems by connecting them together. Our goal is to train and equip young men in preaching God’s word and then giving them opportunities to bless churches that need preachers. The training is done under the oversight of Peter Grainger and the 2Tim4 trust that he directs (www.2Tim4.org).
With Covid-19 disrupting church services in 2020 we have moved to supporting churches by providing online video recording of sermons. We preached through the book of 1 Thessalonians in Autumn 2020 and for early 2021 are preparing a series titled ‘Encounters With Jesus’. The 1 Thessalonians series and the upcoming series have been used by Peebles Evangelical Church, Dawson Mission, Kelso Evangelical Church and Cowdenbeath Baptist Church.
If you are part of a church that would appreciate using these sermons then please get in contact with us at edinburghpreachers@gmail.com.
Developing Preachers
To equip our members to preach we run an “Introduction to Preaching” session for all members that lays the foundation of how to preach God’s Word well. We then run a training session focussed on the specific preaching series we are doing, so this year focussing on how to preach from New Testament letters and in particular the book of Philippians. Preachers who sign up for sermons as part of this group must submit a working draft version of their sermon three weeks before they are due to preach to one of the leaders of the group for review. This allows for comments and suggestions to be made so that the sermon greater blesses the congregation when it is preached. Every sermon is either audio or video recorded and this is reviewed by Peter Grainger or Jim Gladstone with feedback provided to the preacher.
We request that all group members agree to the UCCF doctrinal statement of faith (https://www.uccf.org.uk/about/doctrinal-basis.htm) and provide a reference from a leader of the church they attend.
The strapline of the 2Tim4 trust is that, “Every preacher can become a better preacher” and this is a vision shared by the Edinburgh Preaching Group.
If you, or someone you know, might be interested in this group then please do get in contact with us at edinburghpreachers@gmail.com. We are always looking for more people willing to be trained and equipped in the gift of preaching.
Edinburgh Preaching Group 