Is preaching essential in churches?

This is a question I'm grappling with for one section of my dissertation. We live in a time now more so than ever before where churches all over are questioning various aspects of their life and activities, from mission and evangelism to which coffee cups should be used for which occasion. Unfortunately some churches spend more time focused on the latter than the former, but I'm digressing. Let's talk about preachers. They come in all shapes and sizes don't they. They dress differently from each other, have different voices, and some even have special preaching and praying voices, which I find odd. What they do when they preach will vary too. Some will stand and read from their notes, others will walk around. Some will bellow out hellfire and damnation and bash the lectern when they want to make a point, whereas some will speak with a soft assurance, nowhere near as loud yet somehow encouraging and likely more accessible for those who haven't fallen asleep or aren't sitting at the back with their hearing aids on low complaining about the fact that they can't hear. But that's enough about Methodism(!). We're talking about preachers here.


Let's assume every preacher is Spirit-filled and called by God to preach His word. Awesome. Let's assume the way they dress when they preach doesn't put people off. Let's assume they don't adopt a false church voice and RP accent for the sermon and prayers and then go back to their natural broad Lancashire dialect. Still keeping the image? Let's assume they are able to hold the people's attention and speak in concise, meaningful words that make sense. Let's also assume they don't put too much focus on themselves, but on the One they serve. Let's also assume they are able to identify and connect with every person present. An ideal image, perhaps, but an impossible one. No preacher is infallible and so serious prayer must go into every sermon to ensure God speaks through them the things He wants to say, even despite their potential for human error. They must trust God will override this and surrended to His Holy Spirit. But assuming every preacher in the world was the perfect picture I just described, is preaching essential in churches?


At open mic events the object made most use of is the mic. People share whatever they like, and the mic ensures they are heard. Not listened to necessarily, but heard at least. I've seen puppets perform to music at an open mic event just last night, and I've seen dancing occur at them too. These don't require a mic, but are still acceptable. Therefore if preaching is essential in church, must it happen via the verbal medium, or through something else like an interpretive dance? I've seen a very powerful interpretive dance done to Lifehouse's 'Everything Skit', which I blogged about almost a year ago now. That required no words and has a very moving message. So should preaching happen? It is of course a biblical thing, but must it always be done in the verbal way? I don't believe non-Christians are likely to enter your average church to hear someone they don't know tell them how to live for twelve minutes or more. And who can blame them? Yet I can't think of a better medium, and in terms of open mic church like the one I hosted last night, I'm really grateful that a friend came and preached. God spoke through him to a number of people and it confirmed to me that it was right that this happened.


I certainly believe there is as great a chance of a bad word being given in your average church as at an open mic church. I also believe that preachers at open mic churches are more accessible than preachers in more conventional churches, as the latter tend to shake so many hands and go through all the formal motions, whereas open mic preachers have the freedom to float around, socialise and enjoy themselves, and its in this time where questions can be asked by those who maybe didn't understand something and a time of ministry can ensue.


So I believe preaching is essential for people to learn and grow as God intends, and though I'm interested in exploring different mediums of it, I'm not sure I can think of a better alternative for the open mic church environment. I'm comforted by the fact God can speak through anything though, and I pray that whatever form of preaching occurs at ACTS Open Mic Church in the future will be no exception.


What do you think, about any of this?