Preach Magazine - Review

Recently I reviewed the new Methodist magazine - the connexion - which to be honest wasn't the most favourable review I have ever written. One of the reasons I think I was so under-whelmed with it was because I was comparing it to Preach, the recently launched LWPT magazine which we receive. This  magazine also has good electronic material on it's website.  In this review I am going to be looking at Preach and contrasting it with the connexion because I think there are important lessons to be learnt here.

The first is the paper. Whilst the connexion is a thin publication on that shiny paper which you hope you don't spill coffee onto because you just know it will go right through Preach is on a thick good quality paper which feels much better to handle.

The cover of Preach is bright and vibrant being turquoise with a contemporary type face and image. It invites you to pick it up and read it.

In this second edition of Preach the dominant theme is the environment and how to engage with and preach on this theme. However there is also good practical advice on how to use and look after your voice as a preacher amongst other things.

With regard to contributors they come from a range of denominational backgrounds and include names familiar to those who inhabit the Twittersphere including Baptist minister and blogger Richard Littledale and Gogglebox vicar Kate Bottley.

The environmentally themed articles include Waking the Sleeping Giant: Creation and your Congregation by Will and Pip Campbell-Clause, founders of Cactus and initiative to help church communities engage with the mission of creation care which could be seen as a useful beginners guide through the creation texts. There is also an interview with Peter Harris who is the founder and president of A Rocha International. Margot Hodson a vicar in Buckinghamshire and specialist in environmental theology gives some practical advice on preaching on several specific passages of scripture. Dave Bookless who is Director for Theology, Churches and Sustainable Development at A Rocha challenges our understanding and engagement with this issue through an in depth testimony article. Nigel Hopper, another A Rocha staff  member talks about eco congregations giving some examples including a Baptist Church in Tring and a Methodist Church in Nottingham.

Richard Littledale has a clever article entitled, reduce, reuse, recycle which is actually about the use of sermons you've used before. Whilst deceptive, appearing initially to be another eco piece it was really thought provoking. Another thought provoking piece was this edition's Preach the News article on Ebola from Martin Saunders former editor of Youthwork Magazine.

The point about the whole magazine was the theme was clear and constant - the magazine itself is for preachers of all levels of experience and this edition was focusing primarily on the environment. This clear focus even extended to the book reviews which were dominated by environmental theology books with some preaching and other Christian books thrown in. This did mean some of the books reviewed were somewhat dated, and I would like to see more contemporary reviews in here. However, they were clear and interesting reviews with a good staring system.

What I really like about this magazine is it felt like the people putting it together cared about the reader. I am not sure if this is an age thing or not because there was one letter included which indicated an older reader had found the format of the first edition inhibiting.

One final aspect which is a strength of both magazines is the poem and image towards the end. Oh and in Preach there was a Dave Walker cartoon entitled The Sermon. Dave's cartoon church work is always good for raising a smile.

Did I feel more of a community of preachers reading this magazine? Yes, I did and not just a community of LWPT preachers. I felt part of a wider ecumenical community serving God in this way. This community feeling starts from the first advert for Preach It! 2015 a one day event for preachers - when you see an event sponsored by a range of organisations including LWPT in Reigate on June 23rd. Yet, with an advert for MET (Methodist Evangelicals Together) at the end, it still retains a feeling of being, at least in part, a Methodist publication. I hope those producing the connexion read their copies of Preach and take note.....this is what a good, relevant magazine looks and indeed feels like.