One-dimensional Preaching Kills a Church

Nothing influences the environment of a church as much as the preaching. It is through preaching that people understand how their pastor views life and what he or she thinks is important. Over a period of years a church tends to take on the personality of its senior pastor. Today a lot of preaching is about practical Christian Living or so one-dimensional that people learn that the only thing that matters is “you are saved.” Preaching often takes “news you can use” approach. While the news you can use is good, it is usually pretty self-centered, e.g. How to: Handle Anger, Be Happy, Be A Good Parent, etc. As a result congregations can easily become groups of relentless navel-gazers; the only thing in life that is important is themselves.

Preaching for personal Christian living is helpful and necessary. And preaching to lead people into a relationship with Christ is extremely important. But it needs to lead people into the multi-dimensional reality of becoming a mature disciple. That leads people to serve, so sermons on “what scripture has to say about various kingdom ministry opportunities.” That will lead to sermons about the various Need and Affinity Groups. The idea is not to beat people up when pointing out that there are over two million people behind bars in the U.S. Preachers need to make sure that people know about the huge prison population and that God still loves every prisoner. Preaching in kingdom oriented churches directs people’s gaze outward as often as it does inward. There are two key preaching traits that are present when a church’s pulpit is “kingdom oriented.”

1. The preaching will normally be done with the bible in one hand, and a newspaper in the other. The bible is there for truth and the newspaper is there for relevance.
2. Sermons will often include ministry stories involving lay people, from all kinds of churches, especially their own church. They may be stories about people who are being faithful working in the nursery, or they may be stories of those doing kingdom ministries beyond the walls of the church. Either way story telling has a vital impact on the overall ministry vision of a church.


How do we illustrate the logical results of a mission strategy that says, the church is vehicle and the kingdom is the objective? Listen to this letter from our Calling book…

“Dear Friend,

Terry was 19 years old when she came to our church; she was pregnant, a drug addict, single, recently released from Job Corp, and parentless. Just a few days before she met the Lord at a street ministry on Colfax. This week Terry completes her studies as a Medical Assistant….

To help finance her schooling and her stay here, Terry has an early morning paper route. It is not always easy for her to rise at 3:30 a.m. and deliver those papers. She also is the one who is always looking for ways to make my work easier. She learned to drive through our training and so is the usual errand runner. Terry has also worked in the Sunday School…

Terry’s next step is a month of internship where she works in a doctor’s office and receives “on the job” training. Then it will be on to the work force where she’ll support herself and her son. In the future, Terry hopes to get more training and specialize in some medical field….

This person P.S. followed:

Dear pastor,

I especially wanted you to hear about Terry. Her first encounter with Christians was when she lived at a group home called the Cornerstone (This was a house for street people I sat on the board for). She claims the people who operated the home were members of your Church…. Terry is the second gal I worked with from the Cornerstone. The other is also a growing young Christian.

Terry also has worked at the inner-city clinic that your people have started. It has been a good part of her growing experience both spiritually and as a medical assistant. She and our gal, Linda, help take blood pressure tests near the clinic once a month. Through this, they have both met a few more of your wonderful people…” (Calling pgs 123-25)