We have a couple of other men here who fill in with the preaching service\u00a0occasionally and have asked me for suggestions that might help them improve.\u00a0 One of them has expressed an interest in possibly looking for a preaching job.\u00a0 So, I believe a “preacher training class” would be in order.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0question I want to ask you is what\u00a0some brethren ask when\u00a0a preacher applies for a preaching job.\u00a0 I thought it would be good to prepare him for his answering the questions if and when the time should come.<\/p>\n\t
When a congregation is considering a man to help them in preaching the gospel in their area, most of the questions will deal with the doctrine he believes and teaches. False teachers are prevalent (I John 4:1), so anyone wanting to preach ought to expect many questions to understand his knowledge of the Bible. Certain issues become hot topics among brethren, so expect questions on these topics. Writings and samples of lessons given ways to further understand a man’s knowledge of the Scriptures.<\/p>\n
One thing a congregation ought to be concerned about is the breath of a man’s knowledge. I’ve seen far too many one topic preachers. Oh, they preach on a variety of issues, but one particular topic keeps coming up with predictable regularity. Does the person teach from both the Old and New Testament (Romans 15:4; I Corinthians 10:11)? While we live under the New Testament, the Old Testament provides the background material and yields rich stories for illustrating points. And does the man teach both positive and negative lessons? Does he teach easy to understand lessons and lessons that take some thought? In other words, is he teaching the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:7)?<\/p>\n
A mistake many congregations make is assuming that a man’s education will tell you about his knowledge and his stands. What college a man attends tells you nothing about the man. Better is to know the preachers he has worked with and who he thinks are reputable preachers. That will give a congregation a better clue as to where a man stands.<\/p>\n
Since a preacher is involved in reaching the lost, a congregation will want to know about a man’s experiences in teaching others and the ideas he might have about reaching people in the community. The questions ought to be both about ideas to reach those who never heard the gospel as well as those who have left the faith. It isn’t the number of conversions that are important. Much depends on the area in which a man works. But even in an area where few respond, you should see the effort a man puts into the work.<\/p>\n
Many congregations want to know how much time a man is willing to devote to preaching. There are a lot of people who treat preaching as a 9 to 5 job. The questions might be indirect, but realize the core is finding out whether a man sees preaching as a job or as a life passion. They probably will want some idea of how long you are committed to staying in the area as well.<\/p>\n
There also ought to be questions about references. You can’t get to know someone well by just talking to him for a few hours. Congregations will want contacts of reputable people who can give them some idea of whether the man is worth supporting while he is in their area. They should want to talk to congregations where you’ve preached and know how long you tend to stay in various congregations. They should be looking to see if a congregation benefited from the preacher’s time with them or was it a period of turmoil and division. Sometimes division is necessary (I Corinthians 11:19), but if a man takes the wrong side then a congregation shouldn’t want him. If it seems that division happens everywhere he goes, then the man is not leading the lost back to the truth (II Timothy 2:24-26).<\/p>\n
But few preachers realize that they should be asking questions of their own. It isn’t enough to know whether a congregation wants you to work with them. You need to decide whether this is a group you can work with.<\/p>\n
Find out what the congregation does, separate from past preachers, in reaching the lost. How many conversions occur solely because of the preacher’s efforts and how many were brought to Christ by the members.<\/p>\n
How hospitable is the group? Do they love each other, or only spend minimal time with one another? How many Bible studies are going on in people’s homes? How often do people get together? My brother told me that he turned down one group when he realized that one elder had not been over to another elder’s home in over a decade.<\/p>\n
What types of problems are going on in the congregation? Are there factions? Is the doctrine being taught sound? Every congregation has problems. The question for you is whether you are willing and able to deal with the particular set of problems at this congregation.<\/p>\n
How many members are involved in teaching? Are there men willing to fill in when you have to be out of town?<\/p>\n
What is the congregation’s attitude toward paying a preacher? Few good preachers are serving for the money, but if you have a group that thinks it is their responsibility to pay as little as they can for preaching you’re going to run into problems. One of the things I consider is how my time was treated while visiting with a congregation. Did they offer to pay travel expenses? Did they offer to pay for the time spent on giving lessons? You want to have a group with whom you can feel “has your back” so you can focus on reaching the lost and not wonder if you’re going to make next month’s rent.<\/p>\n
A critical factor to me is who were the past preachers and how long did they stay. Congregations that go through preachers every few years tend to indicate they are not content or have a lot of hidden issues.<\/p>\n\t
I most certainly appreciate the time and effort that you have taken to assist me with what I consider to be a very important subject.\u00a0 Also, I believe it to be a subject that is desperately in need of being taught and studied much more in-depth than the average congregation does because the work and responsibility of a preacher are grossly misunderstood by far too many brethren.\u00a0 Time allowable, my plan is to use your thoughts as well as some of my own and create a lesson series teaching this for all interested in learning more about the subject.<\/p>\n
You mentioned your brother turning down a preaching position reminded me of an experience I had several years ago when I also\u00a0refused an offer\u00a0when discussing the matter with the men\u00a0I asked what classes the brethren were teaching and how many\u00a0filled in for the preacher?\u00a0 I learned that the preacher did all <\/b>of the preaching and teaching!<\/p>\n
Visiting?….. Awww yes!\u00a0 I could talk at length about lax brethren when it comes to being hospitable and accepting their personal responsibilities of a Christian\u00a0who are supposed to be members working together.\u00a0 There have been several times that I have mentioned both publicly and on a one-on-one basis\u00a0that there are very few who are unable to do “something” to assist with the work of the church.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: We have a couple of other men here who fill in with the preaching service\u00a0occasionally and have asked me for suggestions that might help them improve.\u00a0 One of them has expressed an interest in possibly looking for a preaching job.\u00a0 So, I believe a “preacher training class” would be in order. The\u00a0question I want…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1511,536],"class_list":["post-20733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-preachers","tag-preaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":68556,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/preaching-to-be-paid-or-being-paid-so-you-can-preach\/","url_meta":{"origin":20733,"position":0},"title":"Preaching to Be Paid or Being Paid So You Can Preach?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 27, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall Men should not preach to get paid; men should be paid so they can preach. There is a fundamental difference in that statement: If someone preaches to get paid, the emphasis is on the preacher wanting to receive money from the congregation for the time that he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12258,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/someone-said-i-wasnt-doing-my-duty-as-a-preacher-because-im-not-always-out-on-the-street-preaching-what-do-you-think\/","url_meta":{"origin":20733,"position":1},"title":"Someone said I wasn’t doing my duty as a preacher because I’m not always out on the street preaching. What do you think?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 9, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A\u00a0young man, who is about 30 years old, married, and has a couple of children, took\u00a0a preacher training class.\u00a0I was informed by the preacher teaching that class that this man had\u00a0moved to this area several months ago.\u00a0The preacher asked me to contact him, so\u00a0I did so\u00a0last evening and learned\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43932,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-tell-people-im-not-interested-in-preaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":20733,"position":2},"title":"How do I tell people I’m not interested in preaching?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 11, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, Hope you can answer a question of mine that I need a biblical answer to. What to say to people who come up to you and ask you, \"Why don't you preach?\" I tell them not everyone is meant to be a teacher, and like it says in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58592,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-really-dont-want-to-preach\/","url_meta":{"origin":20733,"position":3},"title":"I really don’t want to preach","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 31, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Sir, Firstly, I would like to thank you for all your time and effort to put up all this material. I have been reading your questions and answers for a while now, and it helps a lot. It has come a time now, that I would write to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88265,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-i-need-to-go-to-school-to-preach\/","url_meta":{"origin":20733,"position":4},"title":"Do I need to go to school to preach?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 29, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Mr. Hamilton, I have studied the Bible all my life. I read everything I can. I preached for three weeks a year ago in a local congregation and asked all my elders to attend, and one did. He asked me if I wanted to teach in our congregation. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86006,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/ezekiel-and-preaching-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":20733,"position":5},"title":"Ezekiel and Preaching Truth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Ezekiel had a most challenging job, preaching the truth to people who were not ready to appreciate it. 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