The Negro's church,.

The Message of the Minister 9

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sermons are to be found those that were delivered by men
who are not college-trained. It is frequently impossible to
distinguish the college man's sermon from that of one who
has had only high-school or less than high-school training.
And this would seem to be because there is a precedent for
that sort of preaching; and because of the persistence of the
idea prevalent among many young men in the ministry and
some of those anticipating the ministry, that one must give \
the-people what they want; meaning, that the minister must
appeal more to the emotions than to the intellect. This idea
prevails in spite of living evidence to show that many of the
most outstanding Negro churches are ministered to by men
who do not strive to "shout" the people, and who do not
specialize in other-worldly, highly emotional sermons.
It is a conviction of the writers that preachers often underestimate the intelligence of their audience and fail to give
men and women of little formal training credit for being able
to appreciate and follow a logical, constructive discourse. It
is a further conviction that ministers frequently try to hide
their own nakedness, their lack of preparation, when they
resort to a type of preaching that seems to be designed to
"9shout" the people.
During the course of the study, the authors discussed the
practice of "heavenly" preaching and excessive emotionalism
in preaching, with a number of ministers. Almost invariably
they condemned it and apologized for it. Many who condemned it were found doing it; and this may raise the question of the sincerity of the men who resort to that type of
preaching.
The Passing of Excessive Emotionalism in Preaching
One of the strongest proofs, however, that the otherworldly, highly emotional type of preaching is passing is
found in the difficulty the minister often experiences in getting the people to shout and say "Amen."