As a preacher in a church there is a tension to be faced. On the one hand, every time you stand up front to preach you are answerable to God for your stewardship of the opportunity. Consequently you must feel a sense of the burden of preaching what is needed and what is right for the people. Like parents with a child, sometimes it is necessary to give a certain medicine. It’s not a time to make decisions based on what the child would prefer in that moment.
On the other hand we have to hear what listeners say. Preaching is communication, and if the recipient does not receive what the sender intended, then something is not working. It may be that they are hard hearted or don’t know what they need, but on the other hand, we preachers aren’t immune from error either. Perhaps we haven’t realized that our communication is failing to communicate, that our message is not comprehensible, or our application is not connecting. Perhaps we need to hear some feedback that could help us be better preachers.
I firmly believe in the preacher’s answerability to God and in the preacher’s need for feedback. These two things are not mutually exclusive, but there may be times when a balance is needed. It’s always easier to label others and stand secure in our own insecurity, but let’s be sure that critique of our preaching is not actually a legitimate cry for something that we could do better, that they would value more and that God would actually be pleased with!
