I just completed the notes for this week’s ABF leadership training.
Here is something I dropped into those notes a few minutes ago. Take a moment and begin considering the implications these verbs should have for your conversations and relationships.
The New Testament uses thirty-three verbs to describe a great variety of forms of ministry of the Word.
We can categorize the word range as follows:
Words of Information: teach, instruct, make known, remind
Words of Declaration: preach, proclaim, cry out, testify, bear witness, declare, write, read, pass on, set forth
Words of Exhortation: call, denounce, warn, rebuke, command, give judgment, encourage, appeal, urge, ask
Words of Persuasion: explain, make clear, prove, guard, debate, contend, refute, reason, persuade, convince, insist, defend, confirm
Words of Conversation: say, speak, talk, answer, reply, give answer
(Peter Adam, Speaking God’s Words : A Practical Theology of Expository Preaching IV Press, 1996.)
