Marks of Good Preaching - Less is More
To the Reader: If you have not already done so, please read the introduction to this series, ”Thoughts on Sermon Criticism”, before reading this article.
This is a follow up to “Accountability”.
“Ten minutes from some men seems like an age, while an hour from another passes like a few minutes.”
— D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
In the last post in this series, I noted the value of preaching accountability and how good preaching employs it. But I also hinted at a reason we don't seem to have much of it. We’re simply too busy. Then, I hinted at a solution that I'm fairly certain many are unwilling to consider. I intend to discuss that solution here. It all stems from the fact that accountability takes time. And to have more time, we need to do less stuff. Like the prior article, this subject is also different than we’re used to. But it deserves a conversation.
We as Baptists have a long established tradition of Sunday school, Sunday morning and evening services, and a Wednesday evening service. On top of that, as one pastor friend said, "We are helped to death by programs."
We must be careful about elevating our traditions to the level of scriptural command. That is unacceptable. Meeting on the first day of the week for worship is about as specific as the Bible gets regarding the church schedule. Everything else, while not always bad, is the addition of men. A pastor I knew years ago would say, "You need three to thrive!", referring to Sunday AM services, Sunday PM service, and then midweek service. But the Bible never ordains a specific number of services. It is my contention, that in some instances, less really is more. And that the “you need three to thrive” statement should be revised to “you need quality to thrive.”
The thriving of the church gathering comes more from the quality of preaching than the quantity. And in fact, if you increase the quantity and have poor quality, the result is not thriving but stagnation. It will be like eating three meals a day of donuts versus one huge meal a day of nutrient rich meat and vegetables.
One amazing, full sermon per week can be far more effective than three or four mediocre ones prepared without accountability. It is not likely that a preacher who has to administrate all of the activity of the modern American church, who is also subject to the three-to-thrive tradition, can actually do all of those things well. I’m sure there are some that think they can, but it’s likely an inflated view of their own abilities. And I suspect that secretly many preachers would love to study for one massive sermon rather than four if they wouldn’t get castigated by their Baptist brethren for it. With all of our busyness, it’s the preaching that usually suffers because it's the thing the pastor can usually work less hard on without most people questioning him.
American churches are often unwilling to have fewer things going on so the pastor can actually prepare to feed them well. Inversely, perhaps it's the pastors’ doing. Maybe he’s fallen into the trap of feeling like a busy church is a mature church, so he keeps adding things. Maybe he presumes busy people will create less drama. Or maybe he’s yielded his autonomy to the clutches of extra-biblical tradition. In such places, the people are exhausted by all of the extra trappings of church and are really not prepared to worship and learn as a result. And then the preaching becomes weak because the preacher is so busy with 3-4 services per week. As the people and the preacher get busier, the preaching quality gets weaker and true worship becomes nearly impossible. We are simply doing too much, too often.
Pastors should also not forget what it’s like to be a "layman." For many men today, Sunday is the only day he’s not working to meet the expectations of others (family members, employers, pastors). Sunday afternoon is about the only time he has left to fix a leaky roof, change the oil in his truck, or read a book. And just when he gets started, it’s time to go back for the evening service.
To be fair, some lament church as an inconvenience no matter how light the weekly service schedule is. I’m not excusing that mindset. That person just simply doesn’t like church and such a testimony is concerning.
But we have to acknowledge that pastors forget what it's like to be a regular man. Many people have spent all day Wednesday dealing with work demands while the pastor, though busy, most of the time sets his own schedule and can be flexible. Then, the man barely makes it in the church door Wednesday evening, and the sermon is the first time all day he's actually sat down. If you insist on having a midweek service, after all that man has done that day, you'd better have more quality for him than a weak-sauce concordance sermon. Respect him enough to make it both short and worth his time. There’s an art to that, because the value is not measured in length of minutes but in content.
If we moved toward having one great, more full sermon per week, that would allow the sermon to be reviewed by the pastor's accountability men as discussed in the previous post. This would be nearly impossible to coordinate with four sermons per week. Doing less would allow the preacher a deeper focus rather than his mind having to jump between four separate messages per week. It would give the people a more focused and meaty thing to meditate on in the week. It would make church simple again, and more impactful. I think we need that.
Of course, that does not mean that we do nothing with each other from Sunday to Sunday. In fact, we’re supposed to do more (Heb 10:25). My point is that assembling Sunday night and Wednesday do not have to be for formal preaching “services” that all are commanded to attend. People in the church should fellowship through the week as desired, short bible-studies could be had at informal gatherings in homes, pastoral visits can be made, and so on. In fact, this is most likely what the early church looked like. They lived in the same communities and suffered the same things, and were indwelled by the same Spirit, so relational closeness around spiritual things was natural. But I suspect that formal, extra services (like Sunday PM and Wednesday) have been history’s response to Christians growing less persecuted and also living farther apart since the invention of automobiles. We’ve essentially automated christian fellowship and insisted that obedience to the automation is the fulfillment of Hebrews 10:25. In all likelihood, formal “services” were not specifically the thing in view in that passage.
There is no biblical command that justifies us mocking or disdaining a church for having one great preaching time per week verses four. If we’re willing to disdain brethren for that, we are being divisive and self-righteous. We are taking the “three-to-thrive” tradition and teaching for doctrines the commandments of men (Mark 7:1-13).
We should be willing for our churches to have less quantity so we can have better quality. If we are ever going to bring back truly good preaching into the Independent Baptist world, we need accountability. And to have accountability, we need more time. And to have more time, we need to do less. Perhaps it's time for a paradigm shift.
Next in the Marks of Good Preaching series — Don't Avoid the Growing Pains.