Preaching to Multiple Congregations

This summer I wrote a blog post that originally appeared on www.DanDumas.com, August 6, 2015. In this post I talked through some suggestions for preachers preaching to multiple congregations. I thought this would be a good time to repost this article to my own blog.
At the time of the writing of the original post, I was preaching at Gateway Community Church in Draper, UT and Risen Life Church. I have now exchanged Gateway for preaching at Redeeming Life and continue to preach at Risen Life Church as well.
Something I would add to the post below is the idea of presence. I mentioned spending time with members of each congregation so that the the pastor can know each flock well and so each congregation would be more apt to receive the pastor's preaching. But I have learned through several years of preaching to multiple congregations that the pastor's presence needs to be felt. This means you can't just show up and preach and fade into the sunset. Furthermore, it is a little different than spending time with people as well. Presence is the felt involvement of the pastor in the life of the church. Presence shows the congregation you care about them, the church, and where you are going together whether you are physically present or not. While showing up to church events is part of having presence, it can also be gained through encouraging text messages and calls, emails, social media, and a thank you note here and there. So if you preach to multiple congregations, don't just show up, but be present.
Enjoy, and as always I love to hear your feedback.
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Preaching
to one congregation is hard work. Preaching to multiple congregations can be
exhausting. Whether you preach multiple services at your church, or you preach
to several different congregations, the challenges of preaching to multiple and
diverse congregations are legion. The quantity of preaching is not necessarily
the issue, in fact, as my preaching professor Dr. Hershael York use to say, “A
preacher preaches!” and as preachers we should preach as much as God gives us
opportunity and prudence allows.
The
issue that quickly becomes relevant in preaching to different congregations
that I have found is connecting with diverse audiences. As an exegetical
preacher I want to ensure that the truths of the Word communicate with the
audience I am speaking to.
Here
are a few things I keep in mind as I prepare to preach to multiple congregations:
Spend time with the people
of each congregation. The more time I spend with my flock(s) outside Sunday morning
the better I know what they think about the world, what they are in to, the sin
they struggle with, and how to apply the Gospel to their lives. Not only do I
know them better, but they get to know me better and readily accept my
teaching.
Use language that is
appropriate for each audience. I love to talk original languages, theology,
and geek out over typology. But my preferences don’t always communicate with my
audience. As one of our elders at Risen Life Church, Robert Marshall, says often,
“Know what to say and how to say it.” At Risen Life, I preach more technical
sermons with further developed points since there are seasoned Christians in
attendance. At Gateway Community Church, I preach in simpler terms, explaining
every word I use for the new believers that make up this congregation, many who
are recently coming out of Mormonism.
Here's a sermon prep tip for helping you communicate
appropriately for each audience: Write out the main point of your sermon in a
way that would please your favorite seminary professor. Then state your point
so that a regular member of your congregation would understand. Next try
writing your point for a youth kid, a child, and finally a non-believer.
Working on writing your main point with these different audiences in mind will
help you refine your point and communicate it effectively.
Be sensitive to the needs of
each individual congregation. Different congregations have different needs. The
traditional service may be mourning the loss of one of the founding members of
the church, while the contemporary service may be celebrating the birth of four
babies. The church you regularly speak at may be growing, while the
little church down the road you help through pulpit supply may be in decline.
Be sensitive to the needs of each congregation and modify your sermon as needed
to speak to those needs.
Be faithful to the text and
trust God to speak by the Holy Spirit to each congregation. No matter how much I try to
be sensitive to the different audiences that I may preach to, ultimately it is
the Holy Spirit’s job to speak through me to my congregation(s). My job as a
preacher is to be faithful in committing myself to prayer and the preaching of
the Word. I do everything I can to prepare to communicate the Gospel in my sermon,
and then I trust that God will use my efforts for his glory.
Stand
and deliver…and then do it again…in a different pulpit.
*The image above was used in accordance with the licensing agreements of WikiCommons and in no way reflects the views of the artist that produced the image.
*The image above was used in accordance with the licensing agreements of WikiCommons and in no way reflects the views of the artist that produced the image.
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