Most church-going people want their congregation to have a great preacher. Good for them. Why would we want anything less?
The wrong way to make this happen is to get rid of your current preacher and go find one who is already great. There are all sorts of problems with this approach which we won’t go into here.
A much better course of action is to help the preacher whom you already have to become a great preacher. If you have more than one in your assembly, the same principles will apply.
An important truth is that we can’t (directly) change others; we can only change ourselves. Trying to change others make us judgmental, negative and frustrated.
With that in mind, here’s what you can do, starting today, to help your preacher become a great preacher:
- Pray for him every day.
The great Apostle Paul said, “Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should.” Ephesians 5:19,20
Specifically, pray that God will give him a victorious, joyful, Christian life, with sweet, powerful times of fellowship alone with God. Ultimately, his ministry and the church’s ministry will be the overflow of his time alone with God. This means, of course, that for your own sake, and that of your congregation, if you know when he tries to get alone with God, don’t interrupt him!
Pray that God will give him life-changing experiences studying the Bible, in preparation for preaching. The best sermons are preceded by times of discovery, rejoicing, worship and tears of joy in the pastor’s study.
Another great old word to add to your vocabulary is unction. Unction is the anointing, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the preaching/hearing experience that results in blessed hearts and changed lives. Seasoned pastors know that without unction, they are only blowing air around on Sunday morning. It is only the Spirit of God who can transform mere teaching and learning into a life-changing event.
- Encourage him as much as you possibly can, remembering that nobody ever died from an overdose of encouragement.
Don’t tell him it was a “good sermon,” or worse yet, “a good sermon today” (as if last week’s wasn’t). Tell him how God spoke to your heart. Tell him how God is changing your life through his teaching ministry. Be as specific as you can.
If he has a team of people who are on the lookout for source materials, illustrations or who conduct research for him, join it. Some pastors actually meet with this group of people weekly. You don’t have to be in the “pulpit rotation” to be part of your church’s teaching team.
If others want to gossip about your pastor’s preaching, let them know that you are not interested in hearing what they have to say. Encourage them to do the right thing, which is to speak to not about their preacher.
- Become a great listener.
More than one older, famous preacher has testified that they started out “greener than grass” and developed into good preachers by way of the extraordinary listeners in an unusually healthy congregation they were privileged to serve.
Great listeners are not cultists who listen and obey without discernment or common sense. They read their Bible’s from cover to cover and learn a few simple Bible interpretation principles, which sharpen their listening skills. They certainly don’t believe everything they hear, even from the most accomplished teachers.
Nor are they human-flesh-worshipping “fans” who don’t want to hear anyone except “their” preacher. The members of the first century church at Corinth (read I Corinthians 1-4) chose their favorites and followed them with all the maturity of pre-teen rock fans. Some wanted to hear only Paul; others were hooked on Apollos; a few were big fans of the entertaining, traveling preacher Peter.
The believers who were taken to task for this had been following Christ for about five years.
Paul’s disgust with this sort of thing (see 1:10-17 and 3:1-4) certainly reflects the disappointment of God for this voluntary immaturity.
Great listeners sit down to hear the teaching of the Word of God like hungry refugees, getting free food off the back of a relief organization’s truck. They come hungry, and go home fed.
Here’s how your church can get a great preacher: Pray for the one you already have every day. Encourage him as much as you can. Become a great listener.
