EFFECTIVE PREACHING OF THE WORD OF GOD: CONCRETE CONSIDERATIONS

Abstract

 Acts 2,5-6 talks of the crowd that gathered in Jerusalem for the annual Pentecost
feast. It describes them as ‘devout men from nations under heaven’. This
description could be an exaggeration, but it is a literary way of telling the readers
that uncountable number of people went for the feast. The presentation posits
species from every continent as present. They did not visit Jerusalem to listen to
Peter’s preaching about the resurrected Christ. Their visit was an annual pilgrimage
for Jewish agricultural feast called ‘Pentecost’. Undoubtedly, they were not
interested in stories about Christ who as at the period was regarded as an
insurrectionist, a brigand and a robber who died infamously. Truly, perception of
an unusual sound necessitated their gathering together but staying on to listen to
Peter talk about an infamous man and the historical conversion of about three
thousand (3000) men (Acts 2,41) invites a sober reflection on the method used by
Peter to pass on his message. If the early Christians were able to move the world at
a time when Information Technology and pedagogical methods were not so much
in vogue, then the method they adopted is worth being studied.