A Cause for Poor Preaching
What is the single greatest threat to sound, orthodox, and effective preaching?
Such a question ought to warrant serious contemplation for no less reason than because the health of any church, and by implication any individual, emanates from the pulpit. As the health of the pulpit goes, so goes the church. If our pulpits are unhealthy than our churches are unhealthy.
If this is true, and both experience and Scripture declare it is, the health and well-being of a church’s preaching ministry must be paramount. Its priority, purpose, practice, success, and protection must always be at the center of a church’s heart. Unfortunately, a quick survey of the evangelical landscape exposes poor preaching in the pulpit.
How can the health of a church’s preaching ministry be determined? How can poor preaching be avoided and healthy preaching be encouraged?
The consideration of a church’s preaching ministry must be examined from two perspectives. The first being that of the church, and second, that of the preacher.
Consider preaching from the perspective of the church. What can the church do to prioritize and enable healthy preaching? Often more than is realized or done. Demanding biblical, faithful, and scripturally saturated preaching is not a passive action of the church. Instead, it is the proper responsibility of the church for the sake of accountability. That being said, no one will find church-wide accountability to be wholly and soundly reinforced, or stably grounded, if the church doesn’t provide for its own demands. Demand sound preaching, but also give the time, encouragement, resources, and respect that it rightly deserves. When the church demands sound preaching and then provides for its demand through a variety of means both the preacher and the hearer is blessed.
I am convinced that most pastors enter into the ministry because of the desire to preach. But it is life in that ministry that often suffocates, subdues, and surrenders that desire to pragmatic programs and fleeting numbers. If the pulpit is struggling, no less responsibility for it falls on the congregation. To avoid poor preaching and enable healthy preaching the church should demand sound preaching and then do what is needed to provide for its demand.
Second, the perspective of the preacher should also be considered. No preacher worth his weight in integrity will solely blame the church for his good or poor preaching (though he may whine about it). Typically, an honest preacher will point to a number of things that help or hinder his preaching: discipline to study and craft sermons, time management, people-pleasing, and so on. Ministry is much more chaotic than just the simple demand of a weekly sermon deadline. If a pastor is not prioritizing preaching, then his hindrance is his own fault, no matter the other pressures upon his time.
To be fair, weekly deadlines are enough to gradually build stress without considering all of the other responsibilities that creep up: funerals, meetings, complaints, weddings, counseling, administration, staff and organizational management, and so much more that is required to see a full ministry thrive. Still, such things are normal for all pastors (most pastors, exclude the mega-church pastors for several reasons, but primarily because mega-churches are more rare than we realize).
The reason is because this is what it means to be in ministry. This is the calling of ministers. It doesn’t permit the lapse of good preaching for the sake of the church. Poor preaching may come because of a number of hindrances, but none of those hindrances are sufficient excuses. Similarly, good preaching may be due to a number of sources, but none of them permit boasting. For poor preaching to be avoided and good preaching to be enabled a preacher must walk the line of not blaming others for his hindrances and not taking credit for what good he does in his work.
Whether it is the lack of personal discipline in the preacher or the failed accountability of the church, poor preaching has no justification. Whether it is a desire for people pleasing in the preacher, or a failure of the church to demand and provide for sound preaching, poor preaching has no excuse. Furthermore, I contend that the hindrances mentioned above are mere symptoms and not diseases. They contribute to the problem, but they do not create the problem.
What, then, is the main problem that leads to unhealthy pulpits from both the church and the preacher’s perspective? My answer is plain: man-centeredness.
Man-centeredness is different from self-centeredness, though it often gives rise to it. Whereas self-centeredness is built upon self-interest specifically, man-centeredness is built more generally on the elevation of humanity. That is to say that man-centeredness elevates the opinions, emotions, approvals, comments, likes, dislikes, perspectives, etc. of fellow humans over and even against what God says in Scripture. Man-centeredness is a worldview that ultimately prioritizes humanity over God.
Paul highlights this when he warns Timothy that, “the time will come when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths (2 Timothy 4:3-4).” The emphasis in these verses is on the people as a whole, and their demand for their emotions, preferences, and desires to be prioritized. The implication is that there will also come teachers who will give in to such demands. Eventually, instead of preaching God’s Word faithfully, they will do whatever the crowds demand of them. They will be man-centered in their worldview and not Christ-centered.
Bad preaching untimely comes about, not because of a lack of ability, but because of the presence of deniability. When preachers and churches begin to deny God’s authority and subsequently demand that all preaching conform to a particular human standard, then the health of the church dries up like a well with no water.
Such absurdities happen every Lord’s Day. Pastors are pressured by popular opinion, and plagued by a man-centered worldview, to the point that they only share what they think will earn them social equity, untarnished popularity, and sweet-sounding applause. To the detriment of the church, too many pastors are using Jesus as a means to personal fame and influence. For such preachers and churches, the issue isn’t a right understanding of sound preaching. Rather, it is that they view the desires of mankind as greater than the desires of God.
How can such a trend be reversed? Let the pulpit be reserved for the sharing of God’s thoughts and no one else. As Martin Luther said, “God lives in the preacher’s mouth.”
