Proclaimer Blog
Tackling obsessions
Have been reading Tony Merida's Faithful Preaching recently and was struck by this quote which is worth repeating as an encouragement to every preacher this Monday morning.
Numbers are important because people are important…However, this obsession with church growth which characterised the church in the 1980s and 1990s has the power to keep you from preaching for God's glory. The temptation is to do whatever works (pragmatism) in order to attract a crowd… A faithful preacher has a higher goal than merely putting people in the seat and paying the church's bills. We have a doxological purpose in preaching (glorifying God) before we have a numerical purpose (increasing attendance). At the same time, there is no reason to believe that you cannot grow a church through Christ-exalting exposition. We have many modern day examples of this reality.
Indeed, I would say, Christ-exalting exposition is the only way to grow a church. Nevertheless, his point stands. He continues:
Many of God's greatest preachers were not successful in the world's eyes. Isaiah was told that no one would respond positively to his message (Is. 6.8-13). Jesus preached to the 5,000+ after he fed them, and at the end of the sermon many walked away never to return (John 6.66). Great Puritan pastors like John Bunyan and Richard Baxter led relatively small congregations yet made an eternal impact. Measure success by faithfulness to your calling: declare God's word faithfully for the glory of God supremely. We will do this as we tend to our souls, as we preach for one primary audience, as we avoid competition and jealousy and as we avoid man-centred pragmatism.
(p.26-27)