Is Preaching Worth Listening To?

There has been much discussion in recent years about the decline of the church. Many churches are on the decline. Numerous books and articles have been written on the subject. Indeed, whole conferences and extensive seminars are held each year to address this issue.

There are numerous reasons why this perceived decline is taking place. One of the reasons often stated is that the preaching in most churches is irrelevant to the lives most of us live. Interestingly, it is not just the far left that thinks modern preaching is irrelevant. In fact, well known pastor Alistair Begg, Senior Pastor of Cleveland's Parkside Church, a position he has had since 1983, said not long ago, that "The reason most preaching is ignored today is that it deserves to be." Pastor Begg was not saying that the Bible, nor the Gospel contained in it, is irrelevant, but the explanation and preaching of the biblical Gospel is often less than it should be.

Let's be honest. A lot of preaching is just plain boring. Other sermons are delivered with great passion but have little content. Even meaty sermons delivered with passion often use terms that many younger people do not understand or illustrations that seem like they are from another lifetime.

Preparing a good sermon can be a challenging thing. But if people are going to turn away from the church, let it be because they have rejected the Gospel itself, not just because our sermons were either boring, shallow or simply out of touch with today's real life situations.