I’ve hesitated to write this post, for fear that it might come across as arrogant. I pray that’s not the case. I love preaching the Word, and I know without hesitation that I have much room to grow even almost 40 years into ministry. I confess that I’m speaking to myself as well as to others, but I’d love to see some of these changes in much preaching post the COVID-19 crisis:
- We would see even more that the Word of God speaks to our needs and our situations. No matter what we face, the Word is sufficient. We knew that already, but I also pray this situation has made that truth even more real for us.
- We would be reminded again of the role of the preacher in offering hope and guidance from the Word. God has chosen to use preaching as a primary means to spread His Word, and we’re privileged to be that voice. As Moses noted in his message to the Hebrews, the words we speak are not “meaningless words”; they are life (Deut 32:47).
- We would see that we can often cover much content in a shorter amount of time without sacrificing anything. For many of us, preaching online has led to shorter sermons (sometimes because we don’t have natural pauses without a congregation in the room), but we’ve still covered the Word. Longer sermons don’t always equal better sermons.
- We would strengthen our sermon introductions. We’re learning that many folks will “tune in” to our preaching for a few minutes, and we need to grab their attention quickly if we want them to stick around. That’s the case when our congregation is in front of us, too.
- We would stay more focused in our preaching. In some ways, this point is related to #3 above. I suspect that some preachers “chase rabbits” more when they feel like they still have time to fill. My hunch is that folks may not be as patient with wandering preaching when we gather in person again.
- We would learn to paint pictures well, especially as we preach narratives. As preachers, we help others understand the stories of the Word—and one of our roles is to help them step into the story to understand it well. When no one’s in front of us as we preach, we have to master how to tell the story well without reading faces or body language. That’s good for us.
- We would give more attention to application. This crisis has forced us to make sure we’re guiding believers to apply biblical teachings in their rapidly changing lives. That same use of effective application will only strengthen our preaching when we gather again.
- We would secure even more prayer warriors to pray for our preaching. Many of us have intentionally sought more prayer support because we’ve been unexpectedly forced to preach in ways we’ve never considered. May God forgive us if we seek less prayer once we’re back in more familiar surroundings.
What would you add to this list?
Hey Dr Lawless – you are my teacher for Discipleship class at SEBTS this semester. First. Let me say, thank you for this post. Like most of your post you loving say what’s needed. I would add that during this time of challenge we remember that it’s only by Christ’s calling and equipping us for preaching that we can thrive as people long for more entertainment than biblical content.
My comments relate to prayer more than to preaching. However in the Covid environment, there are some things we’re learning about praying more effectively. This is linked to preaching in that preachers should also be the leading pray-ers and promoters of prayer in their congregations.
Having “retired” from missionary work, the Lord led Karen & me to start a Missions Prayer Group in our local church. No sooner had we begun than the Coronavirus halted our meeting together. We were pressed into a virtual, on-line weekly meeting and we invited missionaries and a mission volunteer (an IMB Journeyman candidate who is a member of our church, but lives away at university) to join in our prayer meeting so we could see them and hear their prayer concerns first hand. We were able through this medium to pray for them in real time.
Once we resume meeting together in our group, we plan to continue regularly connecting with our missionaries in this way in order to more effectively pray with and for them and the missional needs around the world. My hope is that one of the blessings of this quarantine time will be a growing awareness and an increasing use of this kind of technology to connect our churches & our missionaries as together we pray the Father that His kingdom come and His will be done in every part of the earth, as in Heaven.