Allmersbach am Weinberg (and Basingstoke)

An early lesson in preaching

Having been converted in Basingstoke in 1963, and begun to preach in the Circuit in 1965, I went to Germany for a while to work as a postman, and attended Zion Methodist Church, Backnang. I got on well with one of the ministers, a young pastor called Reinhold Braun, and he invited me to preach on 2nd May at the Methodist chapel in Allmersbach am Weinberg (the chapel in the photograph). I preached on Jesus’s words in John 10:10 – “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

The minister was in the congregation, and I asked him afterwards what he thought of the sermon. He was honest enough to tell me that my preaching was dry. I believed this was due to my need to get up at 4.30 for work, and inability to get to bed early, because I was sharing with one of the sons of the house where I was lodging. There was nowhere in the house where I could easily be alone for prayer morning or evening, and my private devotions had somewhat gone by the board.

I have preached in many places over the years since 1965, but Allmersberg was a lesson I have never forgotten: preaching will be dry if it is not delivered from a life of private prayer.

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