Sermon Central Article

Sermon Central is the largest on-line community of pastors in the world. So, when they ask us to write an article, we always agree! (And, for full disclosure, they may ask me because I am on the Sermon Central Advisory Council.)

So, I was glad to submit the article to my friend Ron Forseth (purveyor of all things Sermon Central and the only person I know who spent four and a half years in Outer Mongolia). He specifically asked us to write about preaching to the younger unchurched.

You can read the whole article at this link for Sermon Central, but I have included a few excerpts below. Give it a read over at Sermon Central and then come back here to discuss.

Preaching to The Younger Unchurched Ed Stetzer and Jason Hayes

Let us begin by saying that not only is it possible to preach to the unchurched, it's quite probable you're already doing so, perhaps weekly. Just because someone has awareness of your church or has attended a service at your church does not make them churched. Consider those that show up for their annual visits on Easter and Christmas. They may have sat through the last 20 years of your holiday cantata, but that doesn't make them churched. Entertained, sure. Inspired maybe. But certainly not churched...

While the research that we share in the book discusses a broad scope of issues related to young adults and their opinions, we will focus in this space specifically on preaching and teaching. We'll leave specific stats for the book, but we hope you'll be encouraged as you read through the provided recommendations we've drawn from our research. Take note especially that so much of what the younger unchurched are looking for lines up directly with the biblical instruction we've received as teachers.

Examine Your Approach

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "It is not length of life, but depth of life." Interestingly enough, our research shows that young adults agree. The survey data confirms that the younger unchurched maintain a high level of interest in theology, apologetics, worldview, and other religions.

Many churches have chosen to lessen their emphasis on depth in order to complement their inaccurate stereotypes of this generation. This isn't working now, and it certainly won't in the future. In fact, most young adults are turned off by shallowness and are beginning to walk away from environments (including churches) that foster it...

What they are interested in, however, is preaching that engages on several levels, that provokes deeper thoughts, that reveals complexity. This doesn't mean watering down the truth. It means teaching the truth in all its challenging fullness. Preaching that engages the younger unchurched is deliberate preaching crafted with depth of thought and delivered with conviction. Think and rethink. Evaluate and reconsider.

Encourage Struggle

Directly connected to the younger unchurched's aversion to simplistic preaching is their aversion to "tidy" preaching. The Church has somehow forgotten that life is not always about having a neat, pat answer...

This means that the moralizing of our preaching past is out like the 80s. Our preaching should encompass more than do's and don'ts. It should reach to the why and the how behind our proclamation. Great preaching requires mining truth down to its deepest core and assigning it to resonate within the hearts of our listeners. As a result, our preaching must go beyond appeals to behavior modification, beyond pithy platitudes on being happy and living well. Our preaching must wrestle with the meat and marrow of human existence, because this is what young adults are already doing. Otherwise it is like tossing a fortune cookie to a man starving in the desert.

Be Authentic and Transparent

We must remember that preaching is not just about what you say; it's very much about who you are. One of the reasons so many young adults think negatively about churches is because they see very little authentic struggle from their leadership. Indeed, a large majority of the younger unchurched believe the church is full of hypocrites.

Consider the "foolishness of preaching" from the perspective of an unchurched young adult. What they see is a pastor standing up and presenting the message in a way that implies that implies the pastor already has everything all figured out. When pastors relate to no doubt, no struggle, and no experiential element, they are just begging to be tuned out. But preaching is not just about the level of intellectual content; it's also about the teacher's relationship with that content.

Leaders who know the value of speaking to people, not over people, are leading churches that are reaching young adults. There is no substitute for authenticity. Preaching with transparency has to do with being open and honest with a purpose that is redemptive and developmental. A preacher who is being transparent opens a window for the divine and pure purpose of helping others change in positive ways, without hidden motives or pretense. That is the kind of transparency that will connect with younger adults...

Head over to Sermon Central, read the full article, (while you're there you should sign up for their newsletter where articles like this get sent to your inbox) and then come back here to discuss preaching to the younger unchurched.