Can Preachers make a difference in a post christian world?

NewCreation435

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I noticed this quote on a article titled "Can Preachers Make an impact in a post-Christian world?


"At present, it seems as though preaching—in its quality and significance—is often held in low esteem, both within and outside of the church. The common reaction in the British media to Rev. Curry’s preaching is a good example of this. Reflecting on his sermon, one opinion writer in The Guardian noted quite frankly, “I had not expected to be moved.”

Within the Christian community it might be said that the internet, which offers us instant access to a small pool of exceptionally gifted preachers, has produced a general culture of dissatisfaction with preaching. Although few of our local preachers can preach at that superstar level, many of us nonetheless hold them to that unattainable standard. In 2018, it is common for Christians to be enthusiastic about one or two preachers, who are almost never their own pastors, rather than about preaching in general.

T. David Gordon’s Why Johnny Can’t Preach has put forward that current day preaching is not particularly good, and that most churchgoers do not expect it to be. In his argument, the typical 21st-century sermon is a rambling, inarticulate, and unsuccessful attempt to say something that is somehow connected to the Bible. This is the case, he contends, because changes in modern media have made it exceedingly hard to form good preachers: today’s preachers have grown up ignorant of literature in a world that communicates by phone calls, text message, and slapdash emails. For the most part, those preachers never learned to read or compose texts with care, which means—Gordon believes—that they use language sloppily and find it hard to discern issues of greater and lesser importance in a text. Little wonder, then, should preachers hewn from that crumbling cultural rock struggle to understand Scripture and find themselves ill-equipped to preach in accurate, compelling language to advance an identifiable central point.


Is this why I hear such poor level of preaching in most churches I have attended? It seems most sermons are really poorly thought out
 

Lamb

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I like most Lutheran pastors...Law and Gospel properly distinguished. If they are mixed then of course pastors won't make a difference.
 

NewCreation435

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I like most Lutheran pastors...Law and Gospel properly distinguished. If they are mixed then of course pastors won't make a difference.

what do you mean by "mixed"?
 

Lamb

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what do you mean by "mixed"?

Some people think that the Gospel is something WE do instead of what God does so they preach the Law thinking they're preaching the Gospel. This weakens the truth of the Gospel that God does it all for our salvation and makes men unsure of their salvation since they think they have to play a part of work for what God does.
 

NewCreation435

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I don't know if it is so much preaching the law as shadow preaching that has no depth. Whether it is because they don't have the time or feel like they don't have the time to put into studying or because they are simply trying to please others in the pews. What I have heard over the last few years lacks depth or any profound thought with only a few exceptions
 

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I don't know if it is so much preaching the law as shadow preaching that has no depth. Whether it is because they don't have the time or feel like they don't have the time to put into studying or because they are simply trying to please others in the pews. What I have heard over the last few years lacks depth or any profound thought with only a few exceptions

What type of depth are you referring to that isn't being preached?
 

Josiah

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I like most Lutheran pastors...Law and Gospel properly distinguished. If they are mixed then of course pastors won't make a difference.


My Lutheran pastor is an OUTSTANDING preacher! I am often AMAZED not only at the insight he brings - but how he can relate it in such a powerful and concise and inspirational way.
 

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I shared "Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God" from Jonathan Edwards. It's one inch long and 10 miles deep.
Most preachers sermons are 10 miles long and one inch deep.
 
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