Whoops: Preaching to the Unchurched (9)

The reason I started this blog was to try and help pastors who truly want to reach people who are far from God, but may need a little help with that. This is about the only thing I do well, so someone suggested I share ideas. — Anyway, I recently read a sermon by someone who is a great guy and great preacher and who wants to reach the lost. Yet in this sermon he made, in my opinion, some critical mistakes that would keep him from connecting with the unchurched, and may well keep them from coming back to his church. I received his permission to share some examples. — So here’s the deal…

Read the following excerpt from his sermon and see if you can spot the “mistake.” Then I’ll share with you what I saw, and how I would correct it.

Oftentimes the things you seek so hard to deny you are actually affirming. When people you know: Constantly want to argue about your belief in God. Challenge the morals you believe from the bible. Critique the way you live out what you say you believe. That is often their mistaken acknowledgement of that authority themselves. And look at what Paul goes on to say…

So what’s the problem? This assumes that everyone in the audience believes in God and the Bible. This pastor is talking to the entire group, makes no exceptions, and says, “your belief in God” and “you believe from the bible.” The problem is that your assumptions will ultimately create your crowd. And so this pastor is assuming everyone in his church are Christians, and that will eventually be the case. Why? Because all of the non-Christians will hear that assumption and think, “Oh, I’m not supposed to be here. This is just for people who already believe,” and they will stop attending (quickly).

So what’s the solution? Well, one option is to not say this at all. But probably the better option is to take take the extra moment to speak to both sets of people in the audience. To say something like, “For those of you who are Christians, perhaps you know what it’s like to have friends who want to argue about your faith in God and what you believe about the bible. The rest of you have never had that experience, but you can probably imagine what it would be like to believe something down deep that other people want to question and attack…”