This happens when their message comes more from culture than the Bible.
If you are a hipster preacher, always start your sermon preparation with God’s Word. Then, use your strength of taking timeless biblical truths and apply them to modern culture. If you focus on culture first, you will be tempted to twist the Bible to say what you want it to say, not what it actually says.
5. STYLES OF PREACHING: THE COUNSELOR
“We are all broken. There are no perfect people here.”
The counselor has a heart for broken people. Their sermons will touch on some of the deepest troubles of the human condition, such as depression, anxiety, addiction, suffering and divorce.
They also love to preach preventative topical sermons, like how to find your purpose, strengthening your marriage or raising spiritually healthy kids. Listening to the counselor preach makes you want to sigh in relief that you are not alone in your struggles.
The common theme of the counselor is the healing found in Christ.
The counselor sees the church as a hospital for the sick. Sin is the disease, and the cure is Christ. No matter what you have done or what has been done to you, there is forgiveness and healing at the cross.
The strength of the counselor is their heart for the broken. Many people are hurting and need the message of love, hope and healing that the counselor offers.
But the weakness of the counselor is that they can focus too much on God’s grace for sinners, and neglect His commands for righteous living. They can drift into teaching antinomianism—becoming too soft on sin and failing to communicate that Christ calls us and empowers us to a better way of life.
Counselors need to ensure that they balance talk of pain and suffering with hope. Address the issue, but don’t dwell on the problem. Spend the majority of your sermon talking about the solution found in Christ and the higher standard of righteousness that he calls us to. Also, when appropriate, try to keep a healthy sense of humor about our issues.
WHAT STYLE PREACHER ARE YOU?
Maybe one of these perfectly describes your style. Maybe you are a mixture of a few.
If you don’t know which you are, just ask. Your congregation or your spouse will know right away.
They key is to know your style so you can leverage your strengths and—most importantly—avoid your pitfalls.
In short:
- Motivators – Never preach works without grace.
- Philosophers – Don’t get so lost in the details that we cannot follow.
- Evangelists – Make more than converts. Make disciples.
- Hipsters – Don’t distort Scripture for the sake of cultural relevance.
- Counselors – Identify the problem but focus on the solution.
We have seen far too many gifted preachers fall into these traps. Don’t allow your preaching style to derail the reason you preach—the edification of believers and the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This article about different styles of preaching originally appeared here.
