Jamin Bradley

In my early years of ministry I was reading Tim Keller’s book, Center Church, when he said something that I desperately wanted to disagree with, but couldn’t get out of my mind.

A major problem among new seminary graduates is that they don’t know the difference between a theology paper, a political manifesto, and a sermon. But the congregation certainly does! …. A lot of pastors who don’t understand the ways of the heart very well make their sermons into lectures …. They are personally more comfortable making arguments than healing souls.

As someone who has read quite a bit of theology, I enjoy a good lecture and some Scriptural debate, so I assume others do too. Indeed, I’m apt to look for a church where the pastor has their hermeneutics in line to offer me a proper exegetical commentary on the text. And if you found that line to be boring as heck, then you are proof that Keller is right. After 15 years of preaching, I see that more clearly now too.

About a year ago I needed to start a new sermon series and I was struggling to decide which book of the Bible to dive into. Sunday was quickly approaching, and I needed to settle somewhere, so I decided to land on Genesis. I had studied that book a lot and could easily preach on it for over a year if I wanted to. I could have spent several months on the first three chapters alone.

As I prayed over this possibility, the term “posturing” came to mind. I looked it up and saw that it was about impressing people, which felt relevant. Though I truly wanted my congregation to experience the Bible in the deep ways that I had, I realized I also wanted them to recognize my knowledge. Indeed, I had given myself grandiose hopes of people inviting their friends to a church where they could hear about Scripture more deeply than they had before.

It’s not that God doesn’t care about biblical scholarship, theology, and research, but my heart was in the wrong place and my Bible knowledge was probably not going to disciple people in the way that I hoped it would. People need messages that meet them where they are, and scholarship doesn’t always do that. As Keller recognizes, sermons are “more edifying—more oriented to the affections and less oriented to detailed cognitive arguments.” Nothing has taught me that quicker than preaching at Promise Church, which was created to minister to adults with special needs.

It can be difficult sometimes to be a theologian-pastor. There will be times when you’re dying to go to the deepest depths of the Bible, but much of the room just wants to know that God still loves and forgives them as they figure out how to overcome sin. And for those who want to go deeper, local pastors can’t really compete with the podcasts, videos, and free online classes that many scholars and theologians offer these days. Sure, you can start your own podcast, but there’s no promise it will go anywhere, even if you try to integrate it into your ministry.

Your Bible knowledge is important and your sermons aren’t to be void of such things—even Keller agrees with that. But while biblical education is important, dry scholarship may not be the main component of your pastoral role or sermons, despite the fact that colleges and seminaries put almost all of their effort into teaching pastors such things. People often need a sermon in a spiritual form more than an educational one.

And even when we want to take people deep into theology, we have to do it carefully. A twenty to thirty minute message is hardly enough time to help people see and experience everything they need to get on board. Pastor Brian Zahnd offers great advice here:

I’ve been gradually dazzled by Christ into a much more hopeful and glorious theology. But along the way I’ve also learned that I have to tell it slant. I can’t always expect someone to see in five minutes what it’s taken me fifty years to see. In our pilgrim journey we need to be careful not to blind others with what we have seen. We dazzle … gradually.

Look for other places in ministry that deep Scripture and theological debate can exist. I’ve found those spaces to fit best in open Q&A church gatherings, community gatherings where conversations naturally happen, Bible studies, and inner healing sessions. Why inner healing sessions? Because bad theology kills, and people find that renewing their mind to Christ as he’s presented in Scripture gives abundant life, which they’re especially open to when they’re hurting.