In Bible-believing evangelical churches across America, there is a disconnect between the pulpit and the pew–and there is no shortage of opinions on what can or should be done about it. With this article, I’d like to share my heart and add my perspective to the discussion.
My Church Background
I grew up in church. My parents had me in church before I was in school. From early childhood through college age, I faithfully attended church. When I got to college, I drifted more to our on-campus Christian Fellowship club. More on this later. When I got married, my wife and I kept the church thing going (except for an approximately two-year period of backsliding — more on this later as well). And when our family grew, we had our kids in church as well.
In my thirties, God called me into full-time Christian ministry, and obviously, church became even more intertwined with our lives. We haven’t looked back.
All of the churches I’ve been a part of have been Bible-believing churches. And all of the pastors I’ve sat under have been fully committed to teaching and preaching the word of God as authoritative and inerrant.
Since the summer of 2006, I’ve been the lead pastor of the churches our family has attended. We’ve had the privilege of being a part of two wonderful churches.
I say all the above to say this…
I can speak with some credibility on American evangelical church culture and the disconnect that often exists between the laity and the clergy or between the pew and the pulpit. And it’s both frustrating and discouraging that so many Christians and pastors have such divided (often bitterly divided) perspectives and opinions on the matter.
The Disconnect
Here’s the bottom line:
For many professing Christians, what they hear from the pulpits in their churches is not relevant to the questions they have about their faith or the challenges they encounter in their daily lives.
It’s often worse for non-Christians who come to church out of curiosity, because they sense a need in their lives, or because someone invited them. In twenty-first-century American culture, these non-Christians (and, sadly, even many Christians) are likely to be completely uninformed, even illiterate, when it comes to the Bible or church culture.
When people come to church (be they saved or not saved), they want to hear a message that helps them spiritually, emotionally, relationally, and/or practically.
Instead, quite often, when the pastor gets in the pulpit and starts preaching, he may as well be talking in a foreign language!
The Divide
Unfortunately, even hinting at this situation opens the door to a great deal of drama and anxiety. For many Christians, it’s a matter that shouldn’t even be discussed other than as a matter of prayer. If you try to push the matter, chances are you will hear one or more of the following responses.
- “It’s not our job to entertain people. It’s our job to tell them what they need to hear!”
- “Some will listen. Some won’t. Some will accept. Some won’t. That’s not our concern. It’s God’s!”
- “God will bring the people He wants us to have. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing.”
- “The Apostle Paul didn’t worry about being disconnected from this audience. Why should we?”
Or…you might get this verse thrown at you:
- “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (I Corinthians 2:14)
Or this passage:
- “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (II Timothy 4:3-4)
For many Christians, any efforts on the part of the pastor or the church to better “attract” the “unchurched” or more effectively “connect” with those in attendance (Christians or non-Christians) by addressing their “needs” is tantamount to compromising the word of God.
In most cases, these critics are all about expository preaching and eschew (often bitterly) anything that resembles topical preaching. These critics don’t want to hear a message titled “How to Win Over Worry.” Get rid of that self-help garbage! they say. Give me an expository breakdown of Hebrews 5.
This divide is similar to the “music wars” that crippled so many churches in the past. We don’t need no stinkin’ contemporary music! Give us ‘Amazing Grace’ and ‘The Old-Rugged Cross’! As if God stopped leading Christians to write music after the Spanish-American War! Give us rich hymns, not this modern repetitive nonsense! Oh, repetitive? Like Psalm 136?
Thankfully, the music war (though still raging in some churches) has died down considerably in recent years. Unfortunately, it’s given way to new battles like this one. 🙁
Leave it to Christians to always be battling over something. 🙁
The Responsibility of Effective Communication
Whatever your views may be of predestination, sovereignty, and free will… let me state something very plainly and clearly. God has not shared the names of those written in the Lamb’s Book of Life (see the Book of Revelation), so…
I don’t know who is going to heaven and who is not. I don’t know who is saved and who is not.
And neither do you!
We are told to “preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15) and that’s what we need to do. And I believe we should communicate the Good News of Jesus as effectively as we possibly can.
The results are with God, but He’s called us to be a part of His work. That is clear. And we should give Him our very best. And that means we should be constant in prayer, fully immersed in God’s word, and do our best to effectively connect with and communicate with people.
As for those already saved… God hasn’t shared with me the definitive, rank-ordered list on who is a devoted disciple, who is backslidden (or will backslide), and so forth. Instead, He’s told me (as a pastor) the following (through His servant Paul’s instructions to Timothy):
- “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (II Timothy 2:15)
- “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.” (II Timothy 4:2)
Indeed, all three of Paul’s pastoral epistles are essentially job descriptions for pastors in all of the Lord’s churches. I make it a habit to regularly study them, along with all of Paul’s epistles (and the other epistles too) and the Book of Acts.
What I find is that pastors are, among other things and perhaps principally above those other things (except prayer), teachers of the word of God. And a teacher must teach–and should do so to the best of his ability.
A pastor is a shepherd. That’s what the word pastor means. A shepherd has to connect with the sheep in order to lead them and feed them.
You don’t see a shepherd demanding that sheep simply BE where he (the shepherd) wants them to be. No, the shepherd must go to where the sheep ARE and then LEAD them to where he needs them to be.
Bottom Line
Before I go any further, let me clarify some very important points…
- It’s not always the pastor’s fault if/when someone doesn’t “connect” with that pastor.
- We should never compromise God’s word. Period.
- Sometimes, the sheep won’t follow the shepherd — through no fault of the shepherd’s.
- Jesus was the most effective communicator ever to live, and not everyone followed Him.
In NO way am I suggesting that a pastor or church deemphasize, ignore, diminish, or compromise the truths of God in order to more effectively connect or communicate.
I’m also not saying topical preaching is preferable to expository preaching. I personally believe God can (and does) use BOTH styles — but I agree that a lot of topical preaching that’s out there is shallow and even heretical. I also respect the position (held by many) that expository preaching keeps a preacher closer to the text. So, I’m not dissing expository preaching. I want to be clear on that!
And I want to be clear that the pastor is not the Holy Spirit!
Pastors are called to be faithful, not necessarily “successful” in the human sense. Was Noah “successful”? In the eyes of people, perhaps not. In the eyes of God, definitely.
I’m simply saying that pastors DO have a responsibility to DO THEIR BEST when it comes to preaching and teaching God’s word.
It’s NOT inappropriate –it’s certainly not wrong — for a pastor to make every reasonable effort to meaningfully connect God’s word to people’s needs and problems.
Let me say that in the positive…
It’s altogether appropriate for pastors to do their very best to connect God’s word to what their listeners are dealing with (practically speaking) in their lives.
And it’s GOOD for a pastor to improve his communication skills and incorporate effective techniques (like humor, illustrations, etc.) into his messages. It’s also more than acceptable for the pastor to let a little of his own personality come through his messages. (After all, do we not see some of the Scripture writers’ personalities from time to time in their writing?)
One last thing…
I want to make clear that, as people grow spiritually, they often leave behind those unwilling to grow spiritually. Light can’t have fellowship with darkness. And as Amos rhetorically asks: “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” (Amos 3:3)
Thus, it sometimes happens that spiritually immature Christians won’t track with the pastor simply because the pastor is (or at least should be) continuing to grow in the Lord — and they (the immature ones) are not. This logically creates a disconnect — and that disconnect isn’t the pastor’s fault.
A good way to know whether you carry responsibility for a disconnect with your pastor is to prayerfully and honestly consider your personal commitment to growth in Christ. Keep in mind that we all have to take personal responsibility for our walk with the Lord. We can’t outsource our spiritual push-ups to our pastors!
And then look around and note whether the spiritually growing members of your church are connected or disconnected from the pulpit. Don’t do this in a judgmental sense and certainly not in a gossip sense. Just be observational – and honest in your observations. And of course, pray through your observations.
Spiritual growth within a church setting works best when everyone in the church – whether in the pew or in the pulpit – is following after the Lord. And when they all then help each other run their race.
May we all take up the challenge from the writer of Hebrews:
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2, KJV
In my next article, I’ll share a little from my background to explain why this pulpit-pew disconnect is a matter of the heart for me. I’ll talk about how I felt disconnected, at times, in my youth – and why sanctimonious Christians always decrying “self-help” or “practical” preaching and teaching doesn’t help.
God bless you!
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