Recently a younger pastor asked me, “What do pastors miss or overlook when they preach that hurts them?”

It’s a great question. Like all things you overlook in life, you often don’t know it, and the things you don’t know can hurt you.

To answer this question, you must first have a clear goal for your preaching. You can see what I think the goal is here, but to sum it up in one word, I would say transformation. It is not knowledge, more bible information, a running commentary, or even some good tips and advice. It is life change, the transformation of our hearts.

Most pastors would say the same thing when asked, but the way we preach would give a different answer. When you dig into sermons, you will see the running commentary, political ideas, and a push for deeper knowledge. Deeper knowledge isn’t bad, but knowing more about God and the bible doesn’t make someone a follower of Jesus (James 2:19).

I looked at this pastor, and I said, I think pastors miss two things in their preaching. Most pastors do the first well in their sermons, but the other, most pastors miss, hurting them and their church.

First, the one most pastors get right: Pastoring through their sermons. 

Most pastors are wired as pastors and shepherds, and you feel this in their sermons. This is something I’ve had to work hard at over the years because it isn’t natural for me; the second one is, though.

Pastoring in your sermon is helping people find hope for their problems and hurts, letting them know you understand where they are walking, caring through your words, and providing comfort. To do this, you need to know what people are walking in with, what problems and baggage they are carrying, what heartaches they have, and what keeps them up at night.

In your sermons, do you take moments to pastor people? To shepherd and comfort them?

A shepherd also guides their church. This means pointing out dangers and things that can kill the church. This can be idolatry in the hearts of your people but also guide them when it comes to politics and cultural influences. This isn’t comfortable for anyone.

The second one, and most pastors miss this one, is Leading through their sermons.

As a pastor, one of the greatest things you have at your disposal is the ability to lead through your preaching. This means that in your sermons, you are leading your church somewhere to where you believe God is taking your church. Your sermons should reinforce your church’s mission, vision, and strategy. A pastor must continually say, “We are doing ____ because ______.”

This doesn’t mean that all of your sermons are vision-casting sermons or even about the church’s mission. But you need to connect your sermons to your mission and why you exist as a church, or what you are doing as a church.

For this to work, there is a critical component: your mission and desire must center around life change/transformation as a church. While every church would say its goal is to make disciples, not every church lives this out and tries to see lives changed.

As a church, do you want to see lives changed? Are all your systems and ministries centered around this idea? If not, you will preach to reach whatever mission and goal you have as a church.