Written by Oftentimes, Christians look down on the place of preaching in the pastoral ministry. This is one of the sad realities of our times now.
We practice a Christianity that attaches value to prayer, fasting, giving, sound, music, lightings, organizational structure, building structures, finances, etc. while despising preaching.
This mentality isn’t just common among church members and parishioners; it’s also found among pastors.
This unchristian attitude toward preaching has relegated preaching to a mere tradition that must be maintained even if it’s not productive.
But based on God’s design for the church and biblical job descriptions for the pastoral ministry and church Leadership, preaching is a fundamental element of the pastoral ministry. It’s vital to God-centered Christian living. It’s foundational to every Christ-driven church.
The pastoral constitutes of three basic components: pulpit delivery (preaching); church administration; human relationship.
This is true of every biblical pastoral ministry, irrespective of the local church or denomination.
And it’s noteworthy that both church administration and human relationship are built upon and defined by preaching.
But sadly, it’s not uncommon to hear people — including pastors — make remarks like: “Anybody can preach”; “The life we live is better than our preaching”; “Preaching is the least thing in the pastor’s work”; etc.
Statements such as the above are pointers to the detestable reality that we take Preaching for granted.
Truth is, most of the things we call preaching in our churches today are mere expression of people’s opinions on topics, themes, subjects, areas, Bible texts.
Yes, this is how mundane we’ve reduced preaching to! But from biblical perspective, preaching isn’t about our personal opinions.
Preaching is simply the declaration and proclamation of God’s counsel, mind, thoughts, plans, intentions, etc. to people.
This is what makes Preaching fundamental and pivotal to every area, practice, mission, activity, etc. of Christianity and the Christian life.
When we understand this, we can’t dismiss preaching as something anyone can do; and definitely, we wouldn’t frivolous about preaching. Preaching isn’t trivial. Therefore, we must never trivialize it.
To large extent, preaching should be a major decisive factor concerning our choice of place of worship. Preaching should be our first consideration whenever we want to choose where to identify with as church.
A Christian that doesn’t place high value on preaching is worth being feared. And any church that doesn’t esteem and prioritize should be avoided.
So as you’re in church (or go to church) today, your first concern and attention should be concentrated on the Preaching.
May God help us.