I said yesterday that I would talk a bit more about preachers and congregational dissatisfaction. I’m sure that any preachers that read that were excitedly looking forward to getting dumped on. And I could do that, I guess. But a lot of the problems that come up aren’t the fault of preachers.
For example, so many churches seem to live and die by how exciting the preacher is. Skilled preachers can fill pews; bad preachers can drive them away. I don’t really know how to change that, apart from encouraging preachers to do the best they can. It’s another aspect of how we do church that I don’t find to be healthy. Too much focuses on the assembly, and too much of the assembly focuses on the preacher.
Most preachers wrestle with what one book called “the drum major” tendency. It’s the desire to be up front and leading that often makes them good at what they do; it’s the same desire that can cripple a church.
Much of the health of a congregation has to do with the behind the scenes things that a preacher does. Visiting people is a vital part of a minister’s contribution to a healthy church. Counseling. Studying the Bible with outsiders. So many of these things go unseen, yet are so important.
Anyway, here are some things that I see that a preacher can do that lead to congregational dissatisfaction:
- Be lazy in study
- Be unbalanced in preaching, focusing on the same topics time and again
- Be insensitive with change. All Christians need to be changing and growing. Preachers, however, can be impatient and push congregations to change too much, too fast.
- Be indifferent to a lack of change
- Display a sense of entitlement. In most congregations, people naturally reach out to preachers in a loving way. When preachers take that for granted, it hurts a church.
- Fall prey to one of the three major temptations of preachers: girls, gold and glory. Preachers need to be above reproach in their dealings with women and money. And they need to constantly check their motives to escape the trap of seeking recognition.
- Join in power struggles within the congregation
- Follow the fads more than the Lord
- Preach the truth to a congregation that doesn’t want to hear it
- Preach the truth in an unloving way
Those are some that come to mind. What else can you think of?
It’s a new phase of life for me. For the first time, the pulpit minister at the congregation where I attend is younger than I. Since I’ll continue to work with the bilingual group at our church, I won’t be hearing him on a regular basis. Still, it’s a bit strange.