What About The Pew-Sitter?

Kieth v. Warren. Trowel & Sword. May 1981

Preamble: Forty-four years have passed since Kieth Warren wrote this, the first of two articles on preaching. Has anything changed? We can confidently predict that there will be many sitting in the pews today who would answer “NO” to this question. Perhaps after this article was written things did change – for a while. But unless we are constantly reminded of our shortcomings, old habits have a tendency to reappear. If it were not so preachers would soon find themselves out of a job. So where does the responsibility for good preaching lie? This is not an easy question to answer, and Kieth has some interesting suggestions to make in our quest for possible solutions.

What About The Pew-Sitter?

What About Preaching?

It’s in for a lot of criticism. There are plenty of books on preaching and on the whole the diagnosis of present-day preaching is a rather grim one. Preaching is labelled as boring, dull, uninteresting. It is outmoded and quite inefficient as a tool for communication, it is said. Is there any other situation in the world where people are to sit still for 20 minutes, even 30, and simply listen to a mediocre – or even worse speaker, without a break?

An article in ‘Time’ magazine (Dec. 31,1979) was a spokesman for many disgruntled church goers, when it stated in an article on preaching: ‘Many preachers devote far too little time to research, reading and writing in sermon preparation. As a result their poorly-constructed, poorly thought-out addresses wander from point to point, and the minds of the listeners wander too.’

Then there is the competition of so many other things, edging out the sermon, or at least making it much shorter: films in the service, testimonies, choirs, dialogues, even sacred dance. Yes, preaching has fallen upon hard times, there’s no doubt. It’s striking though that hardly any book on preaching mentions the responsibility of the listener. The average approach seems to be: if the preacher can’t deliver the goods, well, that’s the end of the matter. But is that so?

What I Want My Minister To Be.

Imagine that there was a questionnaire to be filled in. About ministers, and what people would think to be essential qualities for a minister. Wouldn’t most people put on top of the list: He must be a good preacher? And why not? After all, it may be expected of a preacher that he is able to preach, that he knows how to do it reasonably well. Imagine that a painter wouldn’t have the skill to paint properly; or that a doctor does not know how to doctor. What misfits they would be! It’s then even quite improper to call such a man a painter, or a doctor.

A preacher must know how to preach. If he doesn’t and if he can’t, he ought not to be a preacher. Surely there will then be other areas in God’s Kingdom where he is better suited to serve; but not as a preacher. Actually, he isn’t one then, even though he may still carry the label of ‘preacher.

Of course, some are more gifted preachers than others. As there are painters who are doing a better job, and doctors who are tops in diagnosing. But every student for the ministry ought to have this basic gift, and the home-congregation should recognise it before encouraging a man to further develop that gift and take up theological studies. If there is no gift, all the academic work and preaching-class practices will bear no fruit. Then the student will be frustrated, the professor will be frustrated, but what is worse: the Holy Spirit will be grieved, for we are then attempting to have a man use a gift which the Spirit has not given him.

Developing the gift of preaching and teaching is an important part of the training for the ministry, and it stands to reason that the congregations expect that such a task will be tackled faithfully and competently. The churches have every right to demand of their ministers that a big and genuine effort has been put in, to develop that preaching gift and to keep on developing it!

What I Want My Congregation To Be

And what may the minister expect from the congregation? For surely, it is not a one-way affair with all the expectations coming from the side of the pew. Has not the preacher the right to expect certain things from his congregation? Most definitely he has! What is it? This: That the congregation knows how to listen. And knows how to listen well. Listen obediently, responsively, creatively. And also work at it so as to become better listeners, better partners in that beautiful and mysterious communication – the preaching of God’s Word.

Is the congregation preparing for the sermon? The preacher is. And the preacher’s wife and children, indirectly: Be quiet dad is still working on his sermon. Are you having coffee with us, dear, or do you want it in the study? Wish I could watch ‘Four Corners’ tonight, but I can’t afford the time, not quite finished yet for tomorrow night. On the whole, there’s much preparation going into the sermon. From the preacher’s side. How much? Many, many hours. One rule of thumb is to spend an hour in the study for each minute in the pulpit. But I don’t think many preachers will manage that.

Back to the question: How does the congregation’s preparation compare with the preacher’s preparation? Maybe people have talked and written too often about poor preaching at the expense of focussing on poor listening. I suggest it will be too easy a way out to say that poor listening is only the result of poor preaching; if there would be good preaching, that would naturally result in good listening. To reason like that is not only too simplistic, but it also puts all the burden back on the preacher. It also shows up a basic misunderstanding about the process of communication as it is going on in preaching.

The Entire Congregation Has A Responsibility. 

Must we not say that preaching is the responsibility of the entire congregation? The congregation is fully involved, bringing to the hearing of each sermon their needs, their hopes, their sins, their joys. Again and again we need to hear the reconciling, encouraging, exhorting Word of God. We place it all in the searchlight of God’s Word: our brokenness, our relationships, our family, our fears. And as the preacher brings his resources to the pulpit, so the listeners bring their resources to the task of listening. These resources are shaped by years of experiences, wisdom, insights, all sorts of ups and downs, information, personal likes and dislikes; all these things colour and enrich what we hear.

Perhaps the expectations which the congregation brings along have as much to do with the effectiveness of the preaching as anything else. It’s not terribly difficult to convince oneself before setting off for church that the sermon will probably be dull (again!), uninspiring, or whatever. Now if that is the conviction we come to church with, then we will not be disappointed. Most certainly the sermon will turn out to be dull and uninspiring. But let’s then not forget that it was very likely caused mainly by our preconceived ideas. Because of our wrong attitude the sermon was killed before it was even born. Call it a kind of sermonic abortion; we gave that sermon no chance to live, so as to do miracles in our life!

Some Suggestions For Greater Involvement

To prepare for sermon involvement means more than the Sunday morning breakfast prayer for the preacher and the service. It means more than the ‘silent prayer’ in church; much more.

The first suggestion: Have a truly Biblical outlook on preaching. To become a better listener should begin in our mind, the way we think about preaching, preachers, sermons. When our thinking about all this is the right kind of thinking, the battle is half won! We must reflect deeply on the total meaning of preaching in the context of our Christian faith, commitment growth.

This is one of God’s gifts to the church: preaching. The proclamation ‘of Christ. It was His idea in the first place. This is the way to faith, to maturity: ‘…. faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ’ (Rom. 10:17).

‘It was he who gave… “some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” (Eph. 4:11, 12)

Indeed, preaching is a means of grace. Even the kind of preaching that does not draw a ‘full house’. Even the kind of preaching that is but a faint reflection of Whitefield, Spurgeon, Lloyd-Jones. There is of course never an excuse for poor preaching which is poor because it results from hasty and sloppy preparation, laziness, lack of conviction, an unspiritual attitude, and so on. No session, no congregation should be willing to put up with that kind of preaching, and no preacher who understands his high calling should fall into such sinful traps.

But what if the preacher is sincere and godly, and yet is not a 5-star proclaimer? What if the word’ spellbound’ is quite out of place when it comes to his delivery and the reaction to it? What if the ‘Amen’ is keenly welcomed and eagerly anticipated too often, by too many? What if it’s a reading service again? What then?

Remember that the mental attitude of the congregation is absolutely vital in this matter of preaching and listening. If I convince myself beforehand that it will be boring, boring it will be. But if I say to myself: Our preacher is only average. But he is God’s ambassador. God has brought him to this congregation to tell us of Christ to help us to grow. I may not expect to be pleasantly entertained, but I must thank God for His wonderful gift of preaching and a preacher. I must keenly expect the Holy Spirit to do great things through the sermons of this preacher. In my own life. In the lives of others.

It Depends So Much On How We Think

You see, it’s all in the mind. When our thoughts about the place of preaching and about the function of the preacher are the wrong ones, there’s no doubt we will be poor listeners. But what is worse then: we are impoverishing ourselves by not properly using this means of grace, the Word. We must teach ourselves and our children the truth that the proclamation of God’s Word is His way to faith, to spiritual growth.

Says John Calvin: ‘God breathes faith into us only by the instrument of his gospel… Although God’s power is not bound to outward means, he has nonetheless bound us to this ordinary manner of teaching… That we must hold to what we have quoted from Paul – that the Church is built up solely by outward preaching’ (Institutes IV.1.5)

Next month we will look at a few more suggestions so as to be better listeners. And I would very much appreciate suggestions from our readers. As for now: we must do more work on the way we think about these things. Yes, it is very much a matter of the mind. 

KEITH V. WARREN

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