Archive: The People’s Pulpit

Preaching is not a spectator sport. It is up to you to help your pastor preach better.

By John Brokehoff

In his best-selling Lake Wobegon Days Garrison Keillor describes his pastor’s sermons: “He mumbles, he murmurs. It’s a lot of on-the-one-hand-this, on-the-other-hand-that. He never comes straight out. He never puts the hay down where the goats can get it. It’s a lot of talk, and many a Sunday I’ve walked away with no idea what he said. Can’t remember even where he started from. You never had that problem with the old preachers. There never was a moment’s doubt. It was ‘repent or be damned.’ We need that. This guy, he tries to please everybody. Just once I wish he’d raise his voice and pound on the pulpit. That way I’d know he wasn’t talking in his sleep.”

Does this describe your preacher? If so, it helps explain why our denomination lost 70,000 members in 1987.

But whose fault is it? Is it the preacher’s? Is it the seminaries’? And what are the people doing about this kind of preaching?

One thing they are not doing is going to hear a sermon. Only 30 percent of the UMC’s membership bothers to worship. Empty pews are a sign that something is wrong with the sermons in that church.

In addition, many people are dropping out of church. In 1985 a survey asked 782 Lutherans who had become inactive why they had dropped out. Forty-two percent said it was because of irrelevant sermons. Many still attending church endure dull sermons but do not know what to do.

Protestants believe in a free pulpit—no one but God should tell a preacher what to say.

But preaching is not a spectator sport. The people in the pews are as responsible for effective preaching as the person in the pulpit. But what can they do to make their pastor a better preacher? What is the people’s part in preaching?

Be In Church

If a preacher puts 20 hours into preparing a sermon, it is discouraging to have less than a church full of people to hear it.

Pierce Harris of First Methodist Church, Atlanta, was one of the most popular preachers in the South during the 1900s. His church was packed at both morning and evening services. He claimed the secret to his success was a packed church.

In a crowded church you get the feeling something wonderful is happening. More people mean more enthusiasm. The singing sounds like thunder. The prayers are more fervent.

A half-filled church is depressing, and it discourages the preacher. But when a service is well-attended the preacher will likely be determined to do an even better job the next Sunday. Understanding the responsibility of bringing so many to the knowledge of Christ drives the preacher to his/her knees.

To help your pastor be a better preacher, be in church every Sunday.

Pray For The Preacher

The best thing you can do for a preacher is pray. Ask God to give your preacher insight into the meaning of the Word and to enable him/her to articulate the truth so that it is understandable. Above all, pray that the Holy Spirit empowers your preacher. To be enthusiastic, sincere, earnest, zealous and concerned for the souls of people, a preacher needs the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Don’t wait until Sunday to pray. Ask God each day to fill your pastor with wisdom and unction.

When I served as a pastor, I had the congregation pray silently just before the sermon while the organist played a stanza of a hymn. The people prayed that they would rightly hear the Word, and they prayed for the one who would preach.

Respect your preacher’s need to pray before the service. Often just before the worship service church people come to the pastor with information, complaints or a joke. Your preacher needs at least 10 uninterrupted minutes before the service to be alone with God and to get in the spirit of worship.

Confine The Preacher

Many pastors are too busy doing things they should not have to do. Roy M. Oswald, director of training at Alban Institute, claims that one of every five clergypersons in the United States is burned out. The health insurance program of one denomination reports that heart attacks among clergy have increased 67 percent in the last few years.

A pastor is commissioned to preach the Word and administer the sacraments; he is to be the congregation’s theologian-in-residence. The pastor is not called to manage the church property, raise the annual budget, lead the youth, type stencils for the Sunday bulletin, enlist church school teachers and attend every meeting of the auxiliaries.

The average preacher spends only a few hours each week getting ready to preach; the minimum time needed is 20 hours. Many pastors admit they do not get to read one serious book in a year. Is it any wonder that today’s preaching is hardly worth listening to?

You can help your pastor by protecting him/her from the rat race of church activities. Jethro advised Moses not to try to handle all of the people’s problems but to turn them over to able men. Your pastor, like Moses, is to deal only with great matters.

Methodist Bishop Arthur J. Moore was known internationally as a great preacher. What was the secret of his success? After his six o’clock breakfast his wife would give him a bottle of milk and lock him in his study until lunchtime.

The people who want better preaching must insist that their preacher spend his/her mornings, five days a week, in the study praying, thinking, studying, planning, writing and reading. The church should budget a certain amount each year for books and the preacher’s continuing education.

The leaders of the church should encourage a new pastor not to feel guilty about taking time for study. They should emphasize, “Spend time with God. Learn what His Will is, and tell us Sunday mornings. Study so that you may lead us into deeper understandings of the truth of God’s Word.”

Dialogue

Dialogue with the people is vital to good preaching. In recent years some pastors have invited worshipers to participate in pre-service or post-service dialogues.

In the pre-service dialogue a representative group of six to eight persons meets with the pastor to discuss the text and subject for the next Sunday. The purpose of the dialogue is not to tell the preacher what to say but to help in the preparation of the sermon. The group faces questions like

• What are your needs? Does this portion of scripture address those needs?
• What are your problems? Does this text or any other passage solve that problem?
• If you were writing the sermon, what would you emphasize?
• Can you think of any illustrations or life situations that speak to this subject?
• As you face this text, what questions come to mind?

In an hour’s discussion, the participants help put the text into daily life. They suggest fresh insights and applications. The dialogue helps the preacher immeasurably; his sermon will likely be more relevant to the needs of his congregation.

A post-service dialogue, held with or without the pastor, is open to anyone to discuss the sermon. It is not a gripe session. It provides participants with further explanation or corrects any misunderstanding about the sermon’s points. In turn, the preacher learns how to improve. The discussion leader asks,

• Did the congregation get the central theme?
• Was the congregation able to grasp the main points?
• Did the pastor get the message across?
• Were there any points that needed further clarification?
• In what ways could the pastor improve?

Respond

If there is no response to the sermon the preacher feels the effort was futile. When John the Baptist preached, “the multitudes were questioning him, saying ‘Then what shall we do?”‘ (Luke 3:10). When Peter preached on Pentecost, the people asked, “Brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37).

On their way out of church people often tell the pastor, “I enjoyed It.” But it would be more helpful to look for some good in the sermon and say, for example, “That was a thoughtful sermon,” “That was creative” or “The sermon made me think.” Such commendations would inspire your preacher to do an even better job the next Sunday.

The best response to a sermon is to re-dedicate your life to Christ. A sermon is not intended to entertain or even primarily to educate; a sermon is intended to motivate people to give their lives to Christ.

Both the people and the preacher are responsible for the quality of preaching. We have blamed the preacher for dull, ineffective sermons; but perhaps the people are not doing their part.

John Brokhoff is professor emeritus of preaching at Candler School of Theology in Atlanta. His wife is a UM evangelist in the Florida Conference.