Several months ago I was having a conversation with someone who told me that they really liked the way their pastor “preached the gospel”. Keeping my opinions to myself for reasons I won’t get into here, I must admit that my internal response was “I wonder what version of the gospel that was!”
I did a little crowdsourcing this week, asking my Facebook friends to tell me how they would define someone “preaching the gospel”, or worded differently. If you heard someone say their preacher “preaches the gospel”, what sorts of things come to mind? I got some interesting responses on my Facebook wall and via text and private message. I’d like to share these responses with you.
“I was taught that the Christian faith is like a peach. One central major Truth, surrounded by loooooots of minor details that sometimes (a lot of the time) distract from the major Truth. So to me, “preaching the Gospel” is talking about that central piece–all have sinned, God loves us and sent Jesus to die in our place, Jesus rose again, and all who accept this gift become part of God’s family. Because THAT is what determines a person’s salvation. Not any stance on creation, transubstantiation, human sexuality, speaking in tongues, abortion, baptism, etc.” –Bethany Reeves (layperson)
1-Love God and 2-love what God loves (which is creation and everything and everybody in it).-Dorothy Pennell (layperson)
“It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.”
~St Francis of Assisi (who is also sometimes mistakenly attributed the quote, “Preach at all times. Use words if necessary.”)-Matt Evans (pastor)
“I much prefer someone sharing the gospel rather than preaching the gospel…I think I am reading this differently than the others!”-Denise Dunn (layperson)
“If I were to hear that phrase in the description of a preacher, I would immediately think of an evangelical, inerrant Bible-believing church. That is where my brain would go, whether that is right or wrong.” –Paula Hinton Jennings (layperson)
“Preaching the gospel”, is an old phrase that I honestly haven’t heard in a long time! But, my remembrance of it, is that it was usually used as a “compliment” to a preacher that could just “really preach”. I think we have all seen or heard those kind of preachers that can just get your blood flowing and get you all excited about the word of God. But nowadays, most ministers in churches are ministers only, and NOT preachers. Ministers usually follow a pretty rigid format, almost like reading out of a book and just go through the motions, regardless of whether anyone is getting anything out of it at all. A real “preacher”, on the other hand, can feel the energy level in the congregation and feeds off of that, and his “feeding” generates excitement among the congregation, which again, feeds right back to the preacher. I mean, Martin Luther King Jr was a preacher, whereas Billy Graham was a minister.” –GuRah Kang (layperson)
“I think of lay ministers and tent revivals” – Rhonda Stephens Paxton (layperson)
“When I hear ‘preaching the gospel’, I agree with Paula, my brain goes to conservative, head-centered, black/white thinking. You’re in or your out you’re ‘saved’ or your not. When I hear ‘living the gospel’ it is almost the opposite; living from the heart, loving all, room at the table….a MUCH bigger concept and expression of who God is.” –Sue Crocker (layperson)
“I would not draw any conclusion. Instead, I would ask them to tell me more. I hope they then would say that their preacher preached God’s grace in Jesus Christ, and our response in the Holy Spirit of a loving, Christlike life.” – James Galloway (layperson)
“I think of a preacher taking a certain scripture and really expanding it as if we were all there in that time…” – LaVohn Lewis (layperson)
“I think that was what Jesus himself was doing when he used parables to preach. While he would refer to scripture He would use a parable to illustrate its meaning in terms His audience would understand.” –Joan Cavin (layperson)
“I like it when the pastor preaches (teaches) the gospel. What it means to me: The gospel /good news message that Christ lived, died, and rose for our forgiveness of sin and salvation. To me, gospel preaching points every passage of scripture to Christ and his work on our behalf.” –Carlin Johnson (layperson)
“I think it bears mentioning that there are four Synoptic Gospels. When I say “my pastor preaches the Gospel,” I mean he doesn’t leave anything out. Notice I use the singular “Gospel.” This singular connotes that he preaches the entire Bible–Old and New Testaments–and teaches us that they are one continuous story of the redemption of humanity. “Don’t add anything to the word that I am commanding you, and don’t take anything away from it. Instead, keep the commands of the Lord your God that I am commanding all of you.” – Deuteronomy 4:2 CEB. Some infamous people who rejected the Gospel to preach their own: Marcion of Sinope, Thomas Jefferson, etc. They actually deleted the parts they didn’t like and published their own edition! LOL.” –Adam Clark (layperson)
“Preaching the gospel was Jesus in Luke 4, 18, 19” –anonymous pastor
“In my experience, this usually means that the preacher has preached words that the listener holds and believes to be true, meaning that the listener has their own personal theological viewpoint or understanding has been affirmed. There would be an alignment between preacher and listener. If the preacher preaches something that challenges the listener’s theological viewpoint, some might say the preacher didn’t preach the gospel but rather had their own agenda.” – anonymous pastor
So, as Dr. “Mickey” Efird used to say…”I think I’m just gonna let us all meditate and cogitate on all this!” I’d love to continue this conversation so feel free to share your thoughts too!
Peace y’all!
To print or share this message, you are encouraged to use this pdf:
Claire – Preaching the Gospel
To read past editions – you are encouraged to follow this link:
https://capitaldistrictnc.org/claire-ificaton/
