I’ve actually assembled more than ten things church members have told pastors immediately after they preached. But these are ten responses where pastors have had the most visceral reactions.
- “I am going to be late for lunch because you preached so long.”
- “You must not have had much time to prepare that sermon.”
- “My former pastor preached a much better sermon from that text.”
- “I wish {fill in the blank} would have heard that sermon.”
- “You act like you weren’t feeling well while you preached.”
- “I’m sorry I fell asleep while you were preaching. Your voice just puts me to sleep.”
- “Your subject/verb agreement was incorrect three times in your sermon.”
- “I wish you wouldn’t preach from the Old Testament.”
- “Let me tell you what you missed in your sermon.”
- “Are we ever going to be done with this sermon series?”
Pastors often take 10 to 20 hours to prepare a sermon. They pray for God to speak through them. They preach with conviction and fervency. And then they hear one of these sentences.
These ten responses are close approximations of what pastors have actually told me. I am sure there are many more. Let us hear what they are.
Posted on March 2, 2015
With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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If I were a pastor and a member of the congregation was thinking no. 8, I think I would very much like to hear about it – if someone’s going about thinking that parts of the Bible shouldn’t be preached on, they need correction, and fast.
“Pastor I’m just not being fed.” This was a comment from a member early in my ministry years. To say the least, I was hurt and spent the next week or so really mulling over everything I did in preparation and delivery. Then, I believe providentially, I heard another preacher state something along these lines, “Even if you’re the worst orator in the world and you open and just read God’s Word aloud, there is something there for everyone. God’s Word is rich and will not return void.”
Don’t let it get to you. You can’t help it if some people are finicky eaters!
I was told after guest preaching that I am riding the horse of the Spirit and am fighting it. She later said, “I don’t know if it is because you have been taught all of this Southern Baptist doctrine your whole life, but God doesn’t want you to be doing what you are doing and once you let the horse of the Spirit take you, you will be headed in a very different direction.” Even though I was thinking, “God hasn’t told me this,” and “Woman, don’t you know this is a Southern Baptist church,” I just smiled and said thank you for the words and went on.
My father was a pastor. Every Sunday after church, we would have a family lunch. Invariably he would ask my mother, “So, how was the message?” She would reply, “You showed no emotion. The Holy Spirit was absent in your message today.” Invariably this angered my father greatly. But he was unjustified when he physically hit her on a nearly weekly basis. In retrospect, I believe my father should have avoided requesting feedback from my mother. Further, my mother should have seasoned her feedback with grace. I believe that most pastors do the hard work of preparing sermons. Some days the sermons are great; somedays they are not even good. Regardless, Christ is preached. Further, I believe that all listeners should lean towards grace when offering feedback to a pastor’s message.
I’m sure many preachers have these experiences. 1. The sermon you had the most time to prepare and really liked gets no response. 2. The week pastoral emergencies ate up all your sermon prep time and you weren’t sure you really had a sermon at all and didn’t like it yourself you get multiple positive comments and requests for CD’s. And maybe my favorite 3. 3 different people come up saying that 3 different things I said really spoke to them, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t say any of those things.
Well said!
I usually preach without notes, but I do like to spend the Sunday School hour reading over my manuscript a few times. One Sunday I took off and forgot my manuscript, and I live too far away from the church to run home and get it, so I spent the Sunday School hour doing some serious praying. I was surprised at the number of compliments I got on that sermon. That’s not to say pastors should not spend adequate time in preparation, but the Holy Spirit has ways of compensating for our inadequacies and time crunches.
From yesterday…. a man came to me after the service who seemed to be going to a five alarm fire with this important question: “Pastor, what kind of toilet paper do you use?” (he meant at the church)
Wow. I am tempted to ask how you responded.
I have one well-educated member whose standard response is, “That was adequate.” Yesterday I preached on the Laodicean church and he said it was more than adequate. I have no doubt of his love for me and I interpret his comments in light of that love. In fact, I’ve heard several of the statements in the “10” but took them as tongue-in-cheek, rather than serious responses.
“Adequate” still stings to me.
“Adequate” stinks to me.
“I believe the correct pronunciation is ________. But hey, at least I’m listening.”
Yep.
Preacher your sermon was much better this week because you were dressed in a suit.
Response:
You might better take a picture.
I pulled out my cell phone had a deacon take a picture of me. Texted it to her with the caption, “Please look at the picture next week because I plan on being adorned in a sweater.”
Make sure your folks know you love them before having this much fun.
I hate suits.
Had someone say, “Your message last week when you wore a tie was better than this week. You spoke with more authority last week.”
I hate ties.
Comments upon how well I did or didn’t do are very telling to the mindset of the listener. I have a few who believes it is their responsibility to assess each and every sermon, and that usually means that they are not seeking to meet with or hear from God throughout. (Good and bad grades alike mean the exact same thing–since I might just be Balaam’s donkey that day.)
It seems to me to be church 101 that if the sermon isn’t for you that day, and indeed it might not be, that it is a really good time to be praying for the ears of those it is for. Or better yet, for the ears to hear and eyes to see what God has for them that day (somewhere in the service).
Thanks, Dave.