Preaching style

What preaching style do you enjoy hearing?
I like our new pastor, and he has made some positive, excellent changes in our church. There are fewer cliques, there are no top dogs, and no incrowds.
The thing I don't like is how he jokes during the sermon, even waiting for chuckles before he goes on. Our last pastor did the same thing, as well as did the interim pastors we had. All but one, that is.
We had a pastor that was Assembly of God- ish. He would yell, get red in the face, and just tell it like it is- no comedy. Oh, I loved it! Many people in the church didn't though, and he was let go. The argument was, our Savior didn't yell and scream to get his point across so why should this pastor? I say, we all need to be convicted sometimes. It's too easy to get comfortable with jokes and comical, self-depreciating comments.
I actually wrote to the Search Committee when this pastor was let go, telling them I thought they made a mistake.

What do you all think?

 

We had a pastor visit us last summer (one who was being considered as our youth pastor) who was vibrant about his sermons - he was excitied and exciting and you could hear it in his voice. Our youth pastor now is still much the same - uses lots of humor and illustrations that you can relate to in order to help get his message across. Our senior pastor can be dull by times (GLENDA - Don't you say a word). Many people have fallen asleep during his sermons (I'm not one of them).

I've also been to Mom's church (APOC) and I like that style of ministering as well.

Brenda

 

I'm a diehard Baptist so I like preaching more along the lines of what becky described. (Hell, Fire, and Brimstone) I really like the preachers that try and get into whatever they’re trying to say. But I hate those phony rehearsed guys that use cheep gimmicks such as fake crying to get their message across. Boy I’ve seen a few of those… :roll:

I also can't stand those guys that get up and preach (or scream) about how we all need to be Christians a good as them. You know the type. The kind that say stuff like (Disclaimer: Not a direct quote of anyone I’ve ever heard.) "Everyday I get up and spend “X” hours with the Lord praying and reading my Bible! You all should do that too or else you’re a lousy Christian!" Which reminds me of this one time when a guest speaker asked for a show of hands by those people who read their Bibles and prayed that morning before coming to church… I crossed my arms and smiled. That was so rude of that guy. I read my Bible and pray in the evening before I go to bed! It just irritates me no end when preachers use the pulpit to brag on themselves. :roll:

My current pastor though is a bird of a different color. He shows a huge amount of humility in his sermons and is very genuine. I really appreciate how he knows the difference between a strong convicting message and a prideful one. He really is the kind of guy a guy like me can look up to. :wink:

 

I grew up United Baptist so I was used to the "fire and brimstone" type of preaching. Then I married a Southern Baptist and he couldn't handle that style. To me, the preaching in most of the churches we have attended was "dry as burnt toast".

Nine years ago we started going to an Independent Baptist church. We both loved the preaching style of the pastor. His messages were very evangelistic; every service was like a revival-type message.

Then about a year ago, he was called into full-time evangelism. The pastor we have now is totally different, but we like him very much. He is an older man with a teaching style delivery. He really has a heart to serve God and serve others.

As long as the message is about the love and grace of God manifested through the saving blood of Christ shed on the cross, I am okay with it. I cannot tolerate the preachers who want to harp on things like what a Christian should wear, how they should wear their hair, and that kind of legalistic stuff. KWIM?

As far as the jokes and stories go, I think they can be an effective way to get things going. There comes a point in the message, however, when it becomes inappropriate. Seeing people repent before God is a serious business.

Well, that's my two-cents worth!

 

The pastor of our church is great. He is one of the reasons why we chose to stay there and become members. His style is very truthful and to the point. There is no beating around the bush or sugar coating things. He tells it like it is, but he does add a sense of humor to it which is also why I like him. Just because we are in church doesn't mean we shouldn't be able to laugh. He doesn't "pause" however to hear laughter, but he does get a few chuckles and keeps your attention focused and on the good book. We aren't a "dance in the aisles" kind of church, but we aren't old and boring either. We are a mixture in between which is what I like. Not too in your face, but not sleeping in the pews. Everything is truthful and scripture is quoted in every aspect.

We also aren't too commercial, which I like. At our last church, the sanctuary sat at least 5,000 people and they had huge movie screens that showed the pastor in case you couldn't see him during the sermon. Nothing was personal and you couldn't get to know too many people personally. At our church now, our pastor greets everyone he can and talks "to you", not "down to you" like some do. We have gotten to be able to be more involved because of the closeness and felt the welcoming the first day we went. I like it a lot. It's the perfect place for us. I think it's where the Lord wants us to be for many reasons.

 

Eeyore, I hear ya about the way people are looked at if they don't wear what is considered "church like". I would never go in a halter top and a mini skirt, but if you want to wear jeans, you should be able to wear jeans! Even our music administrator will wear jeans and a polo when he's up on the stage singing and playing his guitar and I think there is nothing wrong with it. As long as you look appropriate, then people shouldn't be judged, it's not our job. And God does not care what you are wearing, he cares that you're worshiping.

 

Make no mistake, I like our current pastor. Before, you KNEW if you were on that pastor's A list or not , and only certain people were. This pastor cleaned all that out. Once you were only counted if you were a big giver, now it's an even field. This pastor is down to earth and kind to everyone. He's just a decent guy.

 

My husband's uncle passed away a few years ago. We attended the funeral, at a LITTLE Baptist church somewhere in the Appalachian foothills of southern Ohio. Talk about preaching styles!!! He got going with this...almost gulping air...every four words or so, with almost a sing-song voice. My (rather outspoken) middle child asked, "WHY'S HE SINGING HIS MESSAGE?" I told my friend about it later, who is from the hills of Kentucky, and she confirmed that it was a preaching style typical to the hills. She says there's three very specific styles they use, and each preacher adopts one of them.

As far as dress goes.... My girls and I wear dresses, unless there's a specific reason not to. I believe that we are going into the pressence of God, and should not be dressed in "play clothes", that it's a sign of respect. HOWEVER, we attend a "mission church". Most of our people come dressed in jeans. Many of the ladies may not even own a dress. I would NEVER say anthing about the way they dress!!! It says in Samuel "Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart". I think that's true here. However, we did have a woman at our old church who would get up on the Worship Team with too-tight clothes on. I know many people who complained about her dress, and rightly so. She was dressed immodestly, and the church should have done something about it. (They never did; she ended up running off with one of the married men in the church!)

 

Jackie, that is the preaching style I grew up with.
It does have a "singing" sound to it, they kind of get a rhythm going with their words and take breaths in between. My grandfather was a well-known preacher who preached in this style.

I didn't mean in any way to imply that immodest dress is acceptable. Just that I believe it is the Holy Spirit's job to convict, not a preacher's job to dictate. Does that make sense?

 

I agree, Eeyore. Like I said, my girls wear dresses, but I would NEVER try to impose that on others in the church. It's a personal decision for my family. Some of those others, it's a miracle they attend at all, so why get bogged down on something inconsequential as dress? If someone walked off the street in a bikini one Sunday morning, I doubt if anyone would say anything. Or maybe the pastor's wife might suggest that it gets a "little cold with the air on", and offer her a jacket or something to "keep warm". I could see her doing that! But if the same lady started coming dressed like that every week, I would hope someone would speak to her! I DID say something to a teen sitting in front of me one morning. She was wearing white pants (a little tight in my opinion, but that wasn't the issue) with bright yellow underwear that had a black smiley face on it. I hugged her and whispered in her ear that the happy face could be clearly seen through the white.... I knew this young lady, and felt that it probably didn't even occur to her that her undies could be seen so clearly, and there's really no one at home to speak to her about it.

 

We are a jeans family, except 6yo dd who can't wait for Sunday to dress up. Our former church we fit right in, but our new one is much "classier"...lots of people who can afford to buy a different dress for every Sunday of the year. I own one dress. It's the one my mom bought me for my brother's wedding last fall...and it's WAY too formal to wear to church. So, our thoughts are this. You should wear modest clothing and keep yourself clean (body, and clothes if you can keep your kid from puddle jumping on the way in the door ). I guess that would be "everyday" type appearance for us.

At our old church, we were in a community where nobody had too much money and even the deacons would were jeans when handling offering or communion :shock:....I thought it was great. I feel a bit stuffy at our new church. The poor guys look like they can't even bend their arms to offer you the communion plates. Hey! Maybe that is why they don't have an alter, either?! Nobody is able to bend to the ground in all their get-up.

 

Oh, duh! I forgot that I was gonna post about preaching styles. As long as they are not monotone, I can handle anything that presents God's truths. I prefer some humor and anecdotes (sp?). I like it when life application is in the sermon in that way. Nothing better than hearing how your pastor messed up to help you out in your everyday life .

There are some radio pastors I could listen to all day. I like Adrian Rogers and Michael Ucef (not sure if I botched those spellings...you can't see their names on the radio :lol: )

 

I agree with Jackie. Dressing up is a form of respect. When I went to see President Bush at one of his re-election rallies I dressed in nice pants and a button down shirt. If I went to see him at his house, I’d probably wear a nice suit. The way I see it is, if I’m gonna dress up for the President, how much more so should I do it for God and my fellow Christians?

I'm also stickler for church dress codes. In my opinion church is the house of God and the pastor is the one that runs that house primarily. So it only makes sense to me that since it is the pastor's job to educate the people of the church that he would say something about how a Christian should dress from the pulpit and through a church-wide dress standard.

RECONEDIT: Oh, I forgot to say that my family and I have never really had very much money but we always managed to find dress clothes for church. (Thrift stores etc.) I really don't think it has so much to do with financial ability so much as making it a priority.

 

Not everyone is able to find dress clothes though and it aggrivates me when people judge others about their meer presence when it is not our place to judge. I have one mother (of my preschoolers) who has come to church with me twice now. She is a single mom and she wore the same clothes both times...jean shorts (respectable length) and a dress shirt. She literally only has 4-5 different outfits in her entire wardrobe. Nobody should be held accountable for not looking a certain way because you never know their circumstances. And if they could afford them, it's nobody's place to judge anyone.

I think that dress codes for certain things are necessary. I don't want to see someones butt showing because their skirt is too short or someones boob through a see-through top. That is highly inappropriate and disrespectful because it's showing body parts that are not meant to be seen. However, whether someone wears their Sunday best, or just a pair of jeans and a polo shirt, God is not going to bless those more than the jean guys because they decided to look "better" for him. It's a matter of being there to worship, and there isn't a dress code in order to worship the Lord.

Judging those who don't "dress up" in church is just the same as judging someone who may have a different parenting style. Leave the judging to the Lord.

I don't mean to sound snippy, I am not pointing fingers. I have just seen this situation in people and it's appauling really. People who worship the Lord blatenly doing the opposite of what God wants.

As for myself, I do dress up, but it also depends. I will dress more casual (capri pants and a nice top) on some days. If I have to sing I will wear a dress or a skirt and top. That is my own personal preference though. Like Jackie, I would never look down on anyone who doesn't dress as "dressy". My son will a lot of times (in the summer) wear khaki shorts and a polo shirt. In the winter he'll wear Khaki pants and a nice botton up shirt. My husband lately has been wearing suits. He had to buy some for his job and now wears them to church. I look at him like he's nuts-it's 95 degrees and he's wearing a jacket. If not, he'll wear khaki pants/shorts and a polo or dress shirt (we love khakis!).

PS: I've never heard of the "singing" preaching style, what is it like?

 

I personally like my church for the dress code. There is a sign outside of my church that says come dressed as you are. We believe in reaching out and that is too everyone. I would rather wear jean or nice khaki's to church over a dress and all of that pomp and circumstance any day. I am not trying to be rude but I went to a church before that they thought you could get into heaven by being the best dressed and that is not me. The Lord knows who I am and he is with me always not only when I am in church. He is in my every decision and in everything that I do in my life. He is my counselor and everything that I do I do for him. Would you tell a homeless person to leave just because they didn't own a dress and heels to go to church in? No, I hope that you wouldn't I go to church to worship the Lord not to be in a fashion show.

As for preaching style, I prefer the way my preacher does it, he doesn't get loud and he teaches the word of God. He is a very humble man and is shows in all that he does. And if you need to talk or ask a question he is always there for you any time of the day or night.

Ok let me stop now, I don't want to offend anyone, but this is something that I have had experience with and I have been shunned in a church because of not being in a dress. I was called a sinner and was told I needed to repent, and that my soul needed to be reborn and I needed to come to the Lord. The preacher said God told him. My answer was this. So, you tell me you never sin. I try not to but, I sin every day. And if you were really talking to my God he would've told you that I askd for forgiveness and gave my life over to him when I was 12 years old. At the time, I was 24. He really didn't have anything to say after that.

Well, that's my story, sorry that it was so long.

 

bpolin, that's what I was talking about too.

On your story, isn't it aggrivating to think that there are actually people out there who think they don't sin?!?! In college we had two different preachers/minister/pastors who would go to the campus, stand in an area and start preaching to whoever would start listening. One was preacher Dan. He was awesome and just read from the Bible. In passing I would listen to his words. The other were these two men (I forget their names) who got into a scuffle and told people that they don't sin during their "sermon". UGH! There were people surrounding them and shouting mean things and got seriously mad. I thought there would be a riot at one point.

 

Yes it is very aggravating. I love the time when Jesus said let he who has not sinned cast the first stone. You know noone did. So, what does that tell you. You don't know what is going through someone's mind. Even though you are a preacher/teacher/minister you are still going to sin. They are of flesh and flesh sins.

And as for those other 2 men that you mentioned I bet they were going around telling everyone they were suffering for Jesus? Oh mky goodness here I go again. I am going to stop I am sorry.

 

The presence of a standard does not necessarily mean the presence of condemnation because condemnation is a result of those around you, not the standard itself. At the worst a standard may lead to conviction. There are two responses to standards different than our own, change and resistance/anger. If a standard is higher (being more than required) or lower (being less than required) than required by God a person can respond to that standard with resistance and be looked down upon even though they are in the right concerning that standard. I personally try very hard to lean more towards education rather than condemnation in my dealing with those people with standard both higher and lower than my own. But unfortunately, condemnation cannot always be prevented in certain crowds. Even though there is a spirit of condemnation it doesn’t mean that it isn’t the responsibility of the person with the different standard to make sure they are not acting against the new standard out of rebellion but rather out of a spirit of truth. We all need to be open minded in BOTH directions and not be so resistant to new ideas.

In some countries nice jeans and polo shirts are very dressy. But in America, they’re not so dressy. So it really doesn’t have anything to do with what you wear, it’s why you wear what you wear and it's what you do if you are ever “corrected” that matters. I have been looked down on even though I wore the best I had because my best wasn’t good enough for those around me. In that case I ignored them and went on with my life. So I understand what is being said. My only point is that people have stopped giving their best to God and have started leaning more toward comfort. That is not only evident in dress, but also in preaching styles.

Through my work I have had the opportunity to visit many churches across the country. What I have seen disturbs me. I see churches and pastors leaning more toward entertainment rather than education. Instead of messages that reveal Gods standards for living, I hear messages that preach that we don’t need to meet those standards due to God's everlasting grace. And that bothers me. I thought the whole purpose of salvation was to turn from our wicked way? Doesn’t true repentance mean change? I wish pastors would get back to the heart of Christianity rather than focusing so hard on growing mega-churches.

 

I originally came from a mega-church. When we left they were talking about Christian history (out of the Bible). I didn't like that too much. Not that I didn't think it was interesting, but I believe if you want to learn about Christian history, then you should take a class, not have to listen to it for church service. Service should be for the Bible, and the Bible alone.

 

Let me bring the ' how to dress' conversation to a screeching halt- a few months ago a mother, teen daughter, and teen son came to our church for several weeks. The mom worked out and knew she was in excellent shape, so she wore skin tight dresses and pushup bras to show her cleaveage. Her top buttons were actually left open to expose her breasts! One week she wore a tight, sheer knit dress- white and see through- with a black thong!
The daughter always wore little ruffled skirts that ended at the tops of her thighs and those snug little belly shirts all the young girls wear.

This lady was spoken to after the thong incident and she said God made the body to be admired, or some such nonsense. It was comical that the son was completely covered each week in baggy skater clothes.