Pastor, how effective is your preaching and teaching? How do you know, and what contributes to its relative impact? Is your work more effective in certain contexts, when you take a particular approach to the material or teaching, or with certain groups in your church? Is your people’s response to and growth from your ministry a mystery you wish you could unravel and something you would like to improve? Over the years, I have been disappointed and frustrated with a lack of transformation in Christians who have attended church faithfully for decades, know a lot about their Bibles, and like listening to preaching and teaching. Some still do not live according to Biblical principles and do not reflect Godliness of life, priority, and how they conduct church life and work. So, what might we do, and where does preaching and teaching come into play?
Exploring Your Experience of and Thoughts About the Subject – Before I make some suggestions to increase our effectiveness, let me pose some questions.
The Preaching you Have Experienced – In terms of your life and walk with Christ, who are the most effective preachers, and what are the most effective sermons, you have heard? Beyond the work of the Spirit and your readiness to hear, what made the experience impactful? How often have you heard a sermon that stirred your heart but led to no significant change? Finally, have the effective sermons led you to key life changes such as following Christ or some other major adjustment, or have they made smaller, fine-tuned adjustments in you as a disciple?
The Teaching you Have Experienced – What teachers have had the greatest impact on you and the way you live and think? Again, other than the Spirit and your openness to learn, what made their teaching effective for you? How did they approach the information? Did they get beyond information and even application? How did they have you interact with the material? What role has teaching played in fine-tuning you as a disciple?
Learning and Growth you Have Experienced – Looking back at your Christian life, what has led to the most substantial gains in understanding and implementing that understanding in practical, God-honoring ways? Have there been notable benefits when you engaged in reflection and wrestled with the material in the context of life experience? How has preaching and teaching interacted with other aspects of Christian life – relationships and fellowship, personal study, prayer, serving others in practical ways, and even daily life in the world and your home?
Thinking About the Place of Preaching and Teaching – Let’s think about the nature of preaching and teaching and their place in the purpose and work of the church.
Re-Centering on the Church’s Call – With variations in how we might word it, I think we would agree that the local church is called to embody Christ and declare God’s greatness in ways that make and mature followers of Jesus. Therefore, we must look at preaching and teaching as related functions intended to stand alongside other church functions and help in carrying out that call. With reference specifically to preaching and teaching, I recall a friend in college saying, “Preaching is slapping it on, and teaching is rubbing it in.” He further said, “All good preaching contains an element of teaching, and all good teaching partakes of the spirit of preaching.” I believe both are intended to do more than convey information and its application, but they are distinct, though related, tasks.
The Nature and Purpose of Preaching – I believe preaching is more of a message for a particular people in a particular time based upon Scripture. I believe the information conveyed, the delivery of that information, and attendant points are intended to bring the hearer into an experience of God through the passage. The purpose is to convey the Gospel to the lost or to bring a believer to a point of conviction, exhortation, or encouragement so the hearer may respond to the work of the Spirit in that time. I do not believe preaching is intended to accomplish (or is the best vehicle for) deep discipleship. Don’t get me wrong – I love preaching, but I think sometimes we expect it to do more than it is intended to do.
The Nature and Purpose of Teaching – I believe the purpose of teaching is to take the truths of Scripture and facilitate the learner’s understanding of, work with, and assimilation of those truths in a way that leads to increased Christian maturity in all areas of life and church. Thus, teaching must differ from preaching in that it guides the learner not simply to experience the text (and God in the text) but helps the learner wrestle with self, text, God, and life in ways that result in lasting implementation of Biblical truth, not simply response to that truth.
Integrating Preaching and Teaching into the Overall Work – Preaching and teaching have related but different functions and do not fulfill the entirety of the church’s call. Therefore, we need to preach and teach with a view to the larger life and additional aspects of the local church, as well as to the larger life settings of our hearers.
What increases the impact of our preaching and teaching? In this post, I have sought to help you think more intentionally about the work of preaching and teaching and what might make them effective. In my next post, I will share some practical suggestions for increasing effectiveness.