Reid’s fourth “voice” or purpose in preaching he calls the “Testifying” voice.
This is an approach that seeks the response: “Yes this conversation matters. Let’s keep talking.”
Reid sees this as an approach that leads to congregational formation.
It is an approach that aims at a “corporate” truth appeal but in a persuasively open way.
In this approach we would have “conversational” or “collaborative” approaches to preaching. These are forms of preaching when and where the members of the congregation are actively involved in sermon design, perhaps delivery, and certainly response.
Here, a classic text would be John McClure and “The Roundtable Pulpit.”
A lifetime ago I wrote a published article on “Community Theatre and Collaborative Preaching” if you are interested you can contact me for a copy.
While most examples of the conversational or collaborative preaching tend to be from mainstream North American Churches I argued for a broader application and practice – when and where congregants become co collaborators. There is some anabaptist writing on precisely this sort of preaching.
Over the years I have also had one or two students who have studied, developed, and made a good go of this in more evangelical contexts.
This is an approach where the members of the congregation become collaborators and co-creators of the “texts” performed in preaching and living.
politurgy 