Develop to Deploy

Earlier this year the church I serve as Lead Pastor, celebrated our 10-year anniversary. Recently, during a post-service conversation with a long-time member of our church the comment was made that during his time as a member of our church, it appeared to him that “only Elders of our church preach here”. During our conversation, it occurred to me that over the course of our first decade as a local church, we have had less than a handful of guest preachers speak at our church. As the lead preaching pastor of our church, I typically preach 30 or so times per year. This leaves more than 40% of our Sunday worship gatherings open for someone else to preach. The issue is not availability. I have almost two dozen Sunday morning services I need to fill each year on the preaching calendar. Certainly, there is nothing wrong with inviting guest preachers to preach in our churches. For some churches, which perhaps do not have many (or any) gifted and called preachers of God’s Word in their congregation, inviting other men to come and herald God’s Word is essential for the functionality of the church. It provides much-needed respites for the lead preaching pastor to study, enjoy vacations with family, participate in mission trips or simply rest up from the wear and tear of weekly pastoral ministry. Not to mention, a congregation can benefit tremendously from the gifts of guest preachers. My aim is not to condemn the use of guest preachers. Far from it. My aim is to encourage fellow pastors to create more space for fellow preachers within their own congregations to serve the body of Christ, the Word of God on Sunday mornings.

Let me briefly share 3 exhortations for allowing other men to preach within your own congregation.

1. It allows the lead-preaching pastor to invest time in other areas of the church.

As the lead preaching pastor, preparation to preach God’s Word represents one of the largest investments of my time and energy each week. Having this time freed up on weeks I am not preaching allows me to invest time in things like meeting with ministry leaders, investing in leaders, visiting church members, strategic planning, new member interviews, pastoral counseling, prayer, study, etc. Weeks that I am not preparing to preach can be some of the most productive weeks I have as a pastor.

2. It creates a space for preachers to be developed and built up before the congregation.

The only way to become a better preacher is to preach. Sermon preparation, sermon delivery and sermon reflection create unique opportunities to learn and grow in the sanctifying crucible of pulpit ministry. Books, podcasts, seminary courses, and YouTube instructional videos can help a preacher but only the God-ordained work of preaching from God’s Word can prepare a preacher for future pulpit ministry. Not only is this good for the preacher, but it is also good for the congregation. The congregation is allowed to examine gifts and calling and either confirm or deny those realities. Putting a preacher from your congregation behind the pulpit is a way to bless and encourage the ministry of a leader in your church.

3. It establishes the centrality of the Word in the life of the church.

In my experience, allowing preachers from inside a congregation to minister God’s Word to the church on a Sunday morning promotes the centrality of the Word and the health of the church over longer periods of time. Brother-Pastor: By not preaching every Sunday and allowing other men in the church to do so teaches the church a critical truth: This church is not about the giftedness of a preacher. A so-so sermon preached by a young pastor in your church will likely bear more long-term Gospel fruit in your congregation than an excellent sermon preached by a gifted guest preacher.

The difference between a preaching-focused church and a preacher-focused church is the difference between a healthy church and an unhealthy one. Each week as our local churches gather, the expectation in our churches should be that the Word of God will be opened and preached faithfully, no matter who is preaching.