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THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PREACHING, TEACHING, AND TRAINING

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PREACHERS SHOULD PREACH, TEACH, AND TRAIN

“And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.” Matthew 4:23.

“Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.” Acts 15:35.

“Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him.” Acts 28:31

Preaching is the message announced by preachers and is primarily for the purpose of conversion. We could say, with accuracy, Jesus preached to the multitudes, and taught His Disciples. Perhaps the Twelve taught the Seventy and the Seventy, the hundred and twenty.

Teaching consist of the message taught by preachers that explains, clarifies, and applies, with exhortation. It is primarily for building faith, Christian conviction, and character. One of the qualifications of a pastor is he must be “apt to teach.” (I Tim. 3:2. II Tim. 2:24). Paul seemed to have his greatest success by teaching. Many pastors are excellent preachers, but they also need to distinguish between the two, and master teaching.

Training is a task whereby preachers develop skill sets in trainees.  According to Webster’s Dictionary, the definition of training is: the act, process, or method of one that trains. The skill, knowledge, or experience acquired by one that trains. The state of being trained. A young doctor who’s still in training. She’s in training for the Olympics.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Training others may be the greatest weakness of many good preachers.[/perfectpullquote]

Synonyms: drill, practice (also practice), routine, exercise, workout, assignment, homework, lesson; brush up, refresher, review, spring training, a process by which someone is taught the skills that are needed for an art, profession, or job. The process by which an athlete prepares for competition by exercising, practicing, etc. It is the skill, knowledge, or experience acquired by a person or animal who has trained. Thus, training is showing how, assisting in the task, the trainee performs the task. Correction and encouragement are given as necessary. Training others may be the greatest weakness of many good preachers.

MINISTRY AND BUSINESS

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YOUNG PASTORS DON’T UNDERSTAND THE MINISTRY

MINISTRYKen Blue

“Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.  But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.” Acts 6:3-4.

I went to Bible College to learn the Bible and be a preacher. One comment by our Homiletic’s professor stands out in my mind more clearly than any other. He said, “Preaching is about 1/10 of the ministry”. That comment offended me, and I didn’t believe it. I loved to preach, so he can’t be correct in that comment.

When Joyce and I started the Open Door Baptist Church in 1969 we had an empty building with about one hundred empty chairs. Back then everything was about soul winning and preaching however, before that year was over, we had over a hundred in the morning service and all in the same room.  We had a problem, and something had to change, and change quick!

We had to get the nursery age out of the preaching service so, I had to find a place and a worker for that problem. The girls’ bathroom became a place and my wife became the worker but that did not completely solve the problem. The six through eight year olds were bored, restless and distracting. There was an unfinished room in the back of the building.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“Preaching is about 1/10 of the ministry”[/perfectpullquote]

This room would work, but we needed a teacher. We found a faithful lady, so that problem was readily solved. However, now it was time to move to a new location if we were to continue our growth.

We found a local school where we met for about a year but, we had to set up and take down all the chairs. So someone had to be appointed for this task. In addition, we now needed ushers, money counters, book keepers and expenses paid. I had no idea that we needed to be incorporated in Washington State. This was “business” that was required by law, and Bible College forgot to tell me about these things.

Moreover, for the first three years I was the song leader, so it was my task to select songs everybody knew. In time, God gave us someone to play a piano, but at that time, we did not have one, so that became another order of business. In addition, I also directed our small choir and taught the teachers next Sunday’s lesson…..Whew!

More and more I needed the help of others. In a few years there where hundreds of ministries that needed to be attended to, and someone had to attend them and I was learning that my professor was right.

There are many gifted preachers who can’t tie their own shoes, thus they can never build a growing church. Then, there are men gifted in management, who are not the best of preachers. Guess who builds a growing church? The one who learns how to manage the business side of the ministry!

My advice to the novice pastor is three things. Learn all you can about soul winning, (I mean getting them saved, baptized and in the church membership). Learn how to recruit, delegate and manage the total ministry and learn how to rightly divide the Bible and how to teach it. Bathe all this in prayer, depending on the Holy Spirit.

You must learn how to manage as well as preach, but if management is a weakness of yours, then find someone in the church you can trust, and let them help you in this area. “Preaching is about 1/10 of the ministry” but, “Pastoring” takes both preaching and management.

CONDITIONED REFLEX

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CONDITIONED TO RESPOND ON CUE?


By Ken Blue

If you are observant, you will notice that when you hear one person in church cough, others will cough also. Likewise, if one person gets up to go to the bathroom, others feel the same urge. You will notice that, many times, when you scratch your nose or face, the person to whom you are speaking will follow your lead. Television programs have long used cue card to call for laughter or applause.

My question is, have Christians unknowingly been conditioned to respond to certain cues? The Merriam Webster Dictionary says the word cue is, “a signal (as a word, phrase, or bit of stage business) to a performer to begin a specific speech or action.”

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Just how much response is prompted by the Holy Spirit, and how much is prompted by conditioning.[/perfectpullquote]

After watching preachers and congregations for 55 five years, I have witnessed this same conditioning process. Some pastors are bold and call for, or even shame their listeners if they do not give an “amen” to some point they have made. There are certain words said from the pulpit that will elicit the same response from the same people every time. I don’t have to tell you what those words are.

All this, leads one to wonder just how much response is prompted by the Holy Spirit, and how much is the result of a conditioning to respond on cue? It seems strange to me that the Spirit is leading only a certain few, in a certain section of the church to yell “amen.” Are these indeed more spiritual and responsive to God’s Spirit than others, or have they been conditioned to respond on cue?

I am not opposed to people saying amen. I was just wondering if we are really responding to the Holy Spirit, or if we are taking our cue from those who cough or take a potty break. If you can’t comfortably preach without an “amen;” you are attempting to control others. If you catch yourself saying amen because those around you are doing it, you are conditioned to respond on cue. The pastor, who must have verbal responses, should have someone hold up a cue card then the whole congregation could respond on cue.

COULD IT BE YOUR PREACHING

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Change Your Preaching

child preachingA young pastor lamented to me that his church was not growing no matter what he did. I ask him, “What kind of sermons do you preach?” He said, “I rip their face off.” I said, “Can’t you just see this man at work on Monday, and someone asks, ‘what happened to your face?’” He said, “This is what I got at church Sunday, want to go with me next Sunday?”

Church members do not want to bring visitors to church where the pastor attacks the Bible they might have, attacks other religions they might belong to, or tells everyone they are out of the will of God if they don’t attend the midweek or Sunday evening service. Not only do member refuse to bring visitors, they too are reluctant to come back.

I told the young man that he needed to change his preaching. Make people feel welcome and that YOU care about them. Make the service time enjoyable and informative. You cannot reach people you turn off. The gospel is the good news. Preach it as the best news in the world. It is. God loves sinners, and sinners know if your church is a loving church. Dip the Sword in honey. It will still cut.

[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]People should leave the preaching service with a sense of God’s presence and love.[/pullquote]

Church is not a place where pulpits are coward’s castles. Everything should be exciting and alive fifteen minutes before you preach, and people must project the image of love and friendliness. Most people make up their mind in the first ten minutes if they are going to return. Everything about your church should be planned with the visitors in mind. That includes everything from the driveway to the bathrooms.

People should leave with a sense of God’s presence and the love of the people. If that happens, they are more likely to return. Ripping their face off will guarantee they never return.

So, my advice to young preachers is, evaluate the content of your message, and the spirit with which it is delivered. If people are not returning something is wrong. Find out what it is and fix it. Start with your preaching and the spirit in which you preach.

TOPICS FOR THOSE WHO CAN’T PREACH THE BIBLE

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PREACHING TOPICS THAT DEFY RIGHT DIVISION

By Ken Blue

Many pastors are searching for sermon topics to preach. Since some completely ignore the dispensation they are in, or they are ignorant of it, we will supply a few topics for them. These subjects will not help your people understand right divisions, but they will give them spiritual discernment of other.

  1. Preach against women wearing anything resembling pants. It is easy to make the Bible teach anything you want; so pay no attention to where the text comes from. Just grab some verses and run with them.
  2. Preach against men with long hair. Just don’t let your congregation know that many of the songs they sing, and the writers you quote had long hair. If you don’t know that, it just shows how ignorant you are of the subject and text. If you need PROOF, read the chapter on long hair in my book, Standards and The Standard.
  3. Preach against men wearing tight jeans that expose their privates. That will be novel and win you lots of friends.
  4. Preach against television. You must be up to date on all the Hollywood actors and actresses, and it is your duty to warn your members about what they should not be watching.
  5. Preach against all music except what you like. Everyone will conclude that you know what music God approves.
  6. Preach against Powerpoint and multimedia in church. You don’t want people to think your church is a movie theater.
  7. Preach against eating in church. You don’t want people to think you have turned your church into a restaurant, do you?
  8. Preach against blacks. We all know that Ham was cursed, and we don’t want cursed people, of another race, (Hamites) in our churches.
  9. Preach against background music. God couldn’t be in it. Just don’t forget to sell your sermons and songs on CD after the service. That’s different.
  10. Preach against political leaders, that’s what Paul tells you to do. (Romans 13; I Timothy 2.)
  11. Preach against those not in the Baptist Bride; all others are in harlot churches. Just don’t let your members know they are singing songs written by those in harlot churches, and that most of your books are by non-briders.
  12. Preach that those you don’t agree with are of the devil, are antichrist, immoral, and approve homosexuality. Surely this will turn people against them, and endear your listeners to you.
  13. Preach that those who believe soul winning, discipleship, and service for Christ are shallow and have selfish motives. Pastors should be whipping the same hobbyhorse you are riding.

These ought to be enough to get one started. Once you get the hang of it, the rest will come naturally. If you need additional help on other such subjects, you can always find newsletters and websites to assist you.