Admittedly, I saw this book at a thrift store — one of my great enjoyments — and decided it could be worth reading. In youth ministry, I frequently find myself needing to preach topical messages: dating, spiritual disciplines, and so on. My goal has always been to find a scripture passage that speaks to the topic and weave a topical message into it. Maybe that’s a topical message anyway — but I was curious to learn more. I’ve always found expository preaching easier, and arguably the “better” method. This book has taught me something different.
What It’s About
Chan and Gill’s primary argument is that expository preaching has been overblown in its benefits, and that topical preaching has been ignored and denigrated — and should be integrated, even prioritized, in our preaching contexts. Gill in particular presents what I would consider a less than charitable view of expository preaching — framing it as a boring, out of touch lecture. He goes so far as to define the difference between the two as this: expository preaching provides no relevance to an audience until it has fully exegeted a passage, while a topical sermon starts with relevance. And this was all in the first chapter. I was not looking forward to reading the rest.
After making their case in the opening chapter, Chan and Gill spend the rest of the book building out a full methodology. How do you approach a topic? How do you address it theologically and culturally? How do you connect it to Christ? How do you deliver it? It is more of a practical guide than a theology of preaching. For someone in ministry who just needs a method, that works.
My Review
I deeply appreciated the authors’ desire to consistently show how their principles could be applied to specific texts. For the most ardent expository preacher, that should be reassuring — topical preaching done this way does not lead to heresy.
Chapter 8 gave me significant pause, and even as of this writing I’m still arguing with myself about it. Chan and Gill lay out eight different ways to preach Christ in a sermon — some explicit, some implicit. It opened my mind to the variety of ways Christ can be presented. But I still land here: in a church context, the gospel should be explicitly presented. A sermon that gestures toward Christ without naming him is not enough for me. Our congregations need to hear the name of Jesus — not just feel his influence.
Many books I read feel like there’s something to apply on every page. This one is more focused. The practical core is a model for building a topical sermon — a T-spectrum for framing how your topic relates to Christ, and a three-part structure: resonance, dissonance, and gospel fulfillment. Get your audience to agree, show them where their perspective falls short, then show them Jesus is better. That alone is worth the read.
Beyond that, much of what the book offers applies to any preacher regardless of style. The most interesting to me was the section on cultural dimensions — a framework for understanding the culture you’re preaching to before you open your mouth. Important stuff that doesn’t get talked about enough.
Textually this is a well written work — both authors are clear communicators. Where it gets uneven is that Chan and Gill have very different voices, and that difference is felt throughout. Gill in particular writes with a bias toward topical preaching that borders on dismissive of expository preaching. If you’ve spent most of your preaching life working through texts, his chapters will occasionally make you feel like your approach is simply inferior. It makes the reading a little more difficult at times.
My Verdict
If you’re someone who enjoys exploring different perspectives on preaching, this will be a great book for you. I would not recommend it for someone new to preaching — it is not a foundational work. For everyone else, this is one you can probably skip. Interestingly, the most useful framework in the book — the resonance, dissonance, gospel structure — is actually drawn from Chan’s earlier work on evangelism. If that’s what you’re after, that might be the better starting point. Or get a great summary in this article: https://zondervanacademic.com/blog/apologetic-method-modified-presuppositional-apologetics
Worth Reading — but only if you’re genuinely curious about preaching method and want to explore perspectives outside your default. For most ministry leaders, this one can stay on the shelf. Or the thrift store.