How To Preach Ineffectively

[vinc]

How To Preach Ineffectively
By Charles Finney

1. Let your supreme motive be to increase your own popularity -- then, of course, your preaching will be suited for that purpose, and not to convert souls to Christ.

2. Avoid preaching doctrines that are offensive to the carnal mind, lest they should say to you, as they did to Christ, "This is a hard saying, who can hear it?"

3. Make no distinct points, and do not disturb the consciences of your hearers, lest they become alarmed about their souls.

4. Avoid all illustrations, repetitions, and emphatic sentences that may compel your people to remember what you say.

5. Avoid all heat and earnestness in your delivery, lest you make the impression that you really believe what you say.

6. Address the emotions, and not the conscience, of your hearers.

7. Be careful not to testify from your own experiences of the power of the Gospel, lest you should produce the conviction upon your hearers that you have something which they need.

8. Do not awaken uncomfortable memories by reminding your listeners of their past sins.

9. Denounce sin in general, but make no reference to the specific sins of your present audience.

10. Do not make the impression that God commands your listeners here and now to obey the truth. Do not let them think that you expect them to commit themselves right on the spot to give their hearts to God.

11. Leave the impression that they are expected to go away in their sins, and to consider the matter at their convenience.

12. Dwell much upon their inability to obey, and leave the impression that they must wait for God to change their natures.

13. Preach salvation by grace, but ignore the condemned and lost condition of the sinner, lest he should understand what you mean by grace, and feel his need of it.

14. Preach the Gospel as a remedy, but conceal or ignore the fatal disease of the sinner.

15. Do not speak of the spirituality of God's holy law (by which comes the knowledge of sin), lest the sinner should see his lost condition and flee from the wrath to come.

16. Make no appeals to the fears of sinners, but leave the impression that they have no reason to fear.

17. Preach Christ as an infinite amiable and good-natured being, but ignore those scathing rebukes of sinners and hypocrites which so often made his hearers tremble.

18. Admit, either obviously or casually, that all men have some moral goodness in them, lest sinners should understand that they need a radical change of heart, from sin to holiness.

19. Say so little of hell that your people will think that you do not believe in its existence yourself.

20. Make the impression that, if God is as good as you are, He could not send anyone to hell.

21. Make no disagreeable references to the teachings of self denial, cross bearing, and crucifixion to the world, lest you should convict and convert some of your church members.

22. Do not rebuke the worldly tendencies of the church, lest you should hurt their feelings, and finally convert some of them.

23. Do not rebuke extravagance in dress, lest you should make an uncomfortable impression on your vain and worldly church members.

24. Encourage lots of church socials, and attend them yourself.

25. Make it your great aim to be personally popular with all classes of your hearers.

26. Aim to make your hearers pleased with themselves and pleased with you, and be careful especially not to wound the feelings of anyone.

27. Especially avoid preaching to those who are present. Preach about sinners, but not to them. Say "they," and not "you," lest anyone should take your subject personally and apply it to their own life, securing the salvation of their soul.

 

[Faith In God]

Have you been to www.wayofthemaster.com?

this list looks familiar.

 

[tndrwarrior]

I was just wondering about number 24. What is wrong with encouraging church social and attending them?

 

[Faith In God]

I was just wondering about number 24. What is wrong with encouraging church social and attending them?

because the real work is evangelism, not social get-togethers.

 

[tndrwarrior]

well can't you evangelize at social get togethers?

 

[Faith In God]

well can't you evangelize at social get togethers?

yes you can. but hardly any non-believers attend those.

also, i believe Finney was a preacher who was sick of pastors over-emphasizing church activities over evangelism itself.

 

[Bizzlebin Imperatoris]

Good list. I like it

 

[tndrwarrior]

Okay but church togetherness also builds the members of the church up so that they are better able to evangelize to others. But I understand what you're saying.

 

[BigBrycer777]

I really gotta show my youth pastor this list.

 

[Faithman]

1: Yield to the Spirit. 2: Open mouth let go and let God.


One does not learn how to be a preacher, it is a calling. We can learn how to better use the gift. plegerize the bible as much as possible.

 

[herev]

I was just wondering about number 24. What is wrong with encouraging church social and attending them?

I'm with you, the church IS supposed to reach out and evanglize, but we are also to strengthen and support the memebers. While this is certainly done thorugh Bible STudy and training, fellowship is NOT a bad word. I do like the rest of the list

 

[Ebenezer]

yes you can. but hardly any non-believers attend those.

I find that we get a number of "outsiders" to a church social event and it has, on many occasions, been the means of bridging the gap between the world and the church

 

[Koey]

Very good list. I like to hear excellent preaching. Too often we have titilating excitement with empty content or wonderful content that is boring and dry. Rarely do we have wonderful content that is delivered in a manner palatable for all ages and with vim and vigor.

 

[Faith In God]

yes you can. but hardly any non-believers attend those.

I find that we get a number of "outsiders" to a church social event and it has, on many occasions, been the means of bridging the gap between the world and the church

I find that when a church sposors an event and expects non-believers to show, they omit witnessing as much as possible.

 

[alaskamolly]

It really depends on the vision behind the social activity.


If the vision is building relationships, so as to get an "in" with the outsiders, so as to share the Lord with them as the relationship grows, then AWESOME.

So many in our current post-modern generation simply will NOT listen until there is a relationship established... In that case, social activities are very wise.


If social things go on just to have fun, the motive being: "ME, HAVE FUN," then we've got a problem.

...There's nothing wrong with having fun--Christians ought to (duh--we've got good reason to be joyful!)--but when there's a continual emphasis placed up that, you've got priorities that are out of line with our calling as Believers.



My 2 Cents,
Molly

 

[clonenomore]

I'm with you, the church IS supposed to reach out and evanglize, but we are also to strengthen and support the memebers. While this is certainly done thorugh Bible STudy and training, fellowship is NOT a bad word. I do like the rest of the list

I agree with this. I preached a messaged entitled "Shockingly Refreshing" where we looked at how we can be refreshed and renewed after constant attacks by the devil -- because if we follow the Great Commission and share our faith we will be attacked. One of the ways that we are refreshed is through fellowship -- when I say fellowship, I mean Christian fellowship. In the Bible, "fellowship" often means "sharing with one another". We were created for fellowship. Jesus stressed the importance of fellowship in Matthew 18:20:

"Whenever two or three of you come together in my name, I am there with you." CEV

Does this mean that God is not present when we are alone? Not at all -- God is omniporesent and omnicient (all places at all times). So He is there when we are alone, but Jesus was stressing the importance of being around fellow believers. This fellowship allows us to be built up, strengthened, and refreshed. Fellowship also holds us accountable.

I'm not saying that we should close ourselves up in our nice, "safe" sanctuaries in our little fellowship groups -- in fact, Jesus told us that we are to go into the world to make disciples of all people. But when we get tired, beat up, and just plain wore out from the attacks by the devil, a way to get renewed is through fellowship.

 

[Koey]

I was at a week long festival where there was preaching twice a day. I was bored to tears. I happened to be in the speakers room at the end listening to them slap each other on their backs. They asked me how I thought it went. Sorry, I'm not a good liar. I told them it was one of the most boring weeks I had ever spent. Needless to say, I was not popular. After all, you are supposed to flatter and schmooze preachers aren't you? That denomination recommended their preachers go back for remedial preaching classes every 5 years. I'll give that a hearty Amen!!!!!

Another denomination I know of, where their preachers are glitzy, and often blame the Holy Spirit for their shallow and empty messages, offered free refresher classes to their pastors. They all said that they already knew how to preach and were quite happy - no thanks. Talk about self-deception. It reminds me of some of those singers who try out for that TV talent show, Idol, and just like idolatry, too many of us idolize the sounds of our own voices, and are blind to the need for any improvement.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

 

[alaskamolly]

Yes, that is certainly one of the dangers of preaching...

Most people aren't willing to tell a preacher the truth about whether or not the sermons are hitting home...and most preachers aren't willing to actually ask (and be open to any answers, good and bad).

I've been bored to tears plenty of times...I just use it as a good opportunity to get into the Bible and do some personal reading. It's better than sitting there trying not to pick my nose...

But I'll admit--I've never gone up to a boring preacher and told him his sermon was dry, dull, and lifeless... I'm not sure I really should, either... How do you fix a dead sermon? It's not about adding these three little "fix-it's" to the sermon preperation, or telling more jokes, or having better posture when speaking...it's about having (or not having) a living vital relationship with the Vine...

Seems to me that whenever some one is genuinally in love with Jesus, it's a pleasure to hear them share (on whatever). When someone is seeing the Lord in His Word, it is delicious to my ears. Doesn't matter if the preaching is being done expository-style or otherwise--I could really care less--it's just LIFE to me, like water in a desert, and it's always a BLESSING. (When I'm bored in a situation like that, I know it's MY problem--not the preachers).

When a man is thirsting for God and fighting to know Him, his preaching is always life-giving food to the sheep. It doesn't matter if his "speech" is rudimentary and full of grammatically-incorrect phrases, or if his appearance is plain, or his pulpit is a cardboard box--it's not all of that stuff that the sheep need, it's JESUS.

But most preachers aren't speaking from a place of meeting and searching hard after God...so the sermons come out dry and crispy, regurgitated former meals, words upon words and an old joke thrown in to try and wake the audience up every so often.

You know what wakes me up? A man who's running hard after God.
They're a rare breed, but blessed is the congregation that has men like that in it's fold.


Warm Regards,
Molly

 

[vinc]

Amen to that reply Molly! God Bless you bro!

 

[alaskamolly]

"Sis," actually...




Thank you, though.

Warm Regards,
Molly