Changing Preaching Content
by Gardner Hall
In his book Reviving the Ancient Faith, historian Richard Hughes documents a noticeable shift in the content of preaching among “mainstream” churches of Christ in the 1960s and 1970s. The early 1950s featured speakers on the nationwide “church” program, “Herald of Truth,” who emphasized compliance with “the plan of salvation,” adherence to the patterns of New Testament worship, and the rejection of the false doctrines of evangelicalism and Catholicism. However, in the 1960s and 1970s, mainly because of the influence of Batsell Barrett Baxter, such themes “receded far, far into the background” to be replaced by subjects such as “peace of mind, how to develop healthy family relationships, and how to cope with anxiety and fear” (p. 241). The change in the preaching content of the “The Herald of Truth” program was widely copied. Thus, a whole new spiritual diet began to be fed to many “members in the pew.”
Without doubt, some adjustment in the common spiritual fare of the early twentieth century was needed. Some old sermons, especially regarding “the one true church,” were presented with a decidedly sectarian slant, implying that “the church” was something like a network of faithful congregations with its accepted preachers, schools, papers, and parachurch organizations, and that one must be a part of that network to be saved. Teaching on the family, inner peace, grace, and confidence of salvation was probably underemphasized among some old-style preachers, but certainly not all. I especially think of the dearth of teaching against racism.
However, any needed adjustments should not have involved a corresponding neglect of old themes that originated not so much with “old preachers” as with the scriptures: the conditional nature of salvation, the dangers of a presumptuous attitude towards God’s authority, the nature of apostasy, the dangers of compromise with faddish philosophies of the world, etc.
I think I see a change in preaching styles among brethren I know. It’s not that more teaching on topics like the family, trauma, and inner peace isn’t needed. It absolutely is! The problem is a corresponding neglect of the old biblical themes mentioned in the previous paragraph. The fact that some preachers may have overemphasized one type of teaching content 75 years ago to the neglect of others doesn’t justify completely discarding it now.
Ancient prophets like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Amos gave graphic warnings about making concessions to the surrounding culture. Jesus, Paul, Peter, and John repeated them in the New Testament (Luke 8:14; II Timothy 3:1-5; 4:3-5; II Peter 2). Congregations that change their spiritual diet to downplay such warnings because they are distasteful to some, will be the first to make compromises with the popular trends in the evangelical world: entertainment-oriented worship, instrumental music, women in roles of congregational authority such as the eldership, and “open membership” (acceptance of all as members, without regard for whether they have obeyed the gospel).
Batsell Barrett Baxter, named by Hughes for being a key figure in the change in “preaching styles,” was my father’s favorite teacher at David Lipscomb College and spent much personal time with him. He says that his old mentor would be aghast at how far “mainstream” congregations have evolved since the change in emphasis that he promoted on the Herald of Truth. Someone close to me says that the best notes he had for many years on biblical authority came from a class he took under Batsell Barrett Baxter. Such notes would be out of style today! However, coming generations often take what we feel are needed modifications much further than we could imagine.
The remedy is the same as it was two thousand years ago: “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (II Timothy 2:2).
