I just read Mark Love’s post entitled, “A Word (or two) to Young Preachers” where he gives five and one half things young preachers should consider in regard to their preaching. If you preach you should read this whether you are young or old. The first two were his best. It boils down to don’t skim over the text and remember that there is more than one volume (loud) and more than one speed (fast) with which to preach. Can you imagine if you had a conversation with someone where you yelled while speaking extremely fast the whole time? I doubt you would have many friends. Anyway, have a read of his thoughts on preaching.
I have had a question about preaching rattling around in my head for some time that I am going to go ahead and ask. So many young people are opting for para-church ministries rather than being on staff at a church. For those who are choosing to be on church staff fewer and fewer are preaching. It used to be that if you were going to be a minister you were going to be a preacher. It was pretty much a given. That is no longer the case. Young people seem to want to avoid preaching. So here it is…for those of you who have preached for some years give your best shot at how you would try to motivate or encourage a young person to preach? What is it about preaching that keeps you coming back to it or keeps you from doing anything else? That is something we rarely get insight into so here is your chance!
HT: Darin Campbell
0 Responses
Matt, I’m really flattered, but Mark Love wrote that post. Not me. He’s much smarter than I am š
Matt, how does the title in my email feed have Darin Campbell instead of Mark Love?
I changed the title and content after the comment from Darin just above yours. Thanks for reading!
love the post! I think we should actually encourage people to be preachers, not tell them to get experience first. It feels like the catch 22 of the church today, “To be a preacher go preach, to go preach you must have preached already”. It’s hard to look at the church today without a tear knowing that many great speakers, well learned men, full of desire are told to keep going elsewhere (even by their own congregations) and never have the chance to preach. We young don’t want to avoid preaching at all, we want the chance that is not given. How do we gain “job experience” when it’s not offered? How do you have preaching references when you are not allowed to do so? When will we stop looking at a preacher as if they need Elder qualifications? This is not just for a full time position, this is the standard used even when trying to “fill in for experience”. Someone please explain to us why.