Greetings to you, sir,<\/p>\n
I trust you have been doing well with your family.<\/p>\n
I have this concern bothering me. As a preacher, I understand that at some point I will have to share the pulpit with others, but at what point should that be? I have some who are so eager to mount it, who feel that the preacher can’t be the one preaching all the time. Some feel offended for not being called to the podium. Not being long in the congregation, I feel disturbed because there are many things I have yet to teach the congregation, but they already feel they’ve known and are ready to showcase.<\/p>\n
Secondly, how can a preacher manage a congregation without eldership?<\/p>\n
Thank you. I await your response.<\/p>\n\t
One of your duties as a preacher is to teach others to both teach and preach. “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also<\/em>” (II Timothy 2:2). Encourage the men who desire to address the congregation and present lessons. Listen attentively and after the lessons, privately speak with them and give them encouraging words about what they did well and how they might improve.<\/p>\n Not everyone is able to spend long hours preparing lessons for each Sunday, but when a man says he has a lesson ready, then schedule them. In this way, there are going to be times when you are ill or traveling and you will not have to be concerned about who will be teaching while you are gone.<\/p>\n For younger men, we have opportunities after class on Wednesday to give a short, 5-minute lesson and once a month we have a singing and a 10-minute lesson. These become opportunities for men to practice speaking before the congregation.<\/p>\n A preacher does not run a congregation. (See Preachers<\/a> and So You Want to be a Preacher?<\/a>) He may be well-versed in the scriptures and can advise a congregation as to what should or should not be done, but it is the congregation that must make the decisions. Even with elders, the elders guide the congregation to make good decisions without being dictators telling the group what to do. (See The Rule of Elders<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\t I’m so deeply grateful for always answering my questions. I’m filled with joy. Thank you for your guidance, sir. It is always wonderful, truly educative, and powerful as usual.\u00a0 I admit there are areas I have failed as you have rightly addressed, and I will have much to learn and to do.<\/p>\nNevertheless, I am still in need of clarity on this: I have come to meet with the congregation of the Lord here to teach and give a sermon during worship. Now, where does the preacher base his attention most; that is, which should be his main duty? Is it teaching or giving a sermon? Or both?\n\t Both are important and both should be done to the best of your ability. And you should be training men to be able to handle giving Bible classes.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Greetings to you, sir, I trust you have been doing well with your family. I have this concern bothering me. As a preacher, I understand that at some point I will have to share the pulpit with others, but at what point should that be? I have some who are so eager to mount…<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[536],"class_list":["post-62140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-preaching"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":22060,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-should-a-congregation-go-about-selecting-another-preacher\/","url_meta":{"origin":62140,"position":0},"title":"How should a congregation go about selecting another preacher?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was wondering if I could get your advice on selecting a pulpit minister. Our minister stepped down due to fleshly and worldly desires, like Demas \"having loved this present world.\" We have an interim minister at this time. We have other ministers who sent resumes but didn't have\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":92221,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/advice-to-younger-preachers-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":62140,"position":1},"title":"Advice to Younger Preachers (McDonald)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 18, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Robert L. McDonald via Expository Review, April 1983 When I first began preaching, in the late 40s or early 50s, I looked to older preachers for any help they could give me. I was delighted to hear them reminisce about their many experiences and problems encountered. Over the years,\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":20733,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-questions-should-brethren-ask-of-a-man-wanting-to-preach-for-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":62140,"position":2},"title":"What questions should brethren ask of a man wanting to preach for them?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 2, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"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\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":30801,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-should-be-done-if-a-visiting-speaker-starts-teaching-falsely\/","url_meta":{"origin":62140,"position":3},"title":"What should be done if a visiting speaker starts teaching falsely?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If an elder at a congregation puts a visiting speaker in the pulpit who has no business being there, and you have a lot of visitors in the audience, what should the preacher do or say about that? I might add that the elder's knowledge is nowhere close 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":34711,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-a-man-be-picked-as-a-preacher-who-is-pouting-because-he-wasnt-picked\/","url_meta":{"origin":62140,"position":4},"title":"Should a man be picked as a preacher who is pouting because he wasn’t picked?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The preacher of a congregation developed some health problems and one of the men who served as song leader stood in during the preacher's absence. He thought he would be chosen after the death of the long-time minister, but he wasn't. He then has refused to do a talk,\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":6702,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/must-the-duties-of-preaching-be-evenly-distributed-among-able-and-qualified-men\/","url_meta":{"origin":62140,"position":5},"title":"Must the duties of preaching be evenly distributed among able and qualified men?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 22, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: It appears that\u00a0you have an extremely negative view on either the practice of mutual edification, the brethren who follow it, or both.\u00a0 If this is the situation, I pray you will give me the opportunity to stand on my own without making too many assumptions regarding my motivations or\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62140\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Question:<\/h2>\n
Answer:<\/h2>\n