I recently heard of someone who made a mistake in his ministry. His mistake was to write down the title of a book for someone he was discipling to go and read. The book was written by an author from a very different stream of christianity. The content of the book was solid, nonetheless, he was run out of the church essentially as a false teacher.

I remember reading an article several years ago about the concept of a liberal education. At one level the concept of “liberal” refers to the wide and free reading across the spectrum. It’s ironic that today many of the liberal seminaries will never include “conservative” books on reading lists, yet conservative seminaries recommend and even require the reading of “liberal” scholars. Which is truly liberal? I went to two liberal seminaries, that is, ones which encouraged reading from all over the spectrum (please don’t misquote this sentence – I really went to two very solid and conservative seminaries, for which I am genuinely grateful!)

So let us read widely. Others may not appreciate the value of this practice, but they don’t have to know about it. It is not possible to have genuine conviction without the testing of our ideas. We can only test our thinking by reading outside of our own theological camps, whatever they might be. So read widely, but disclose wisely. Let the spectrum broaden as maturity increases. And if power-figures in your church are not mature enough to read beyond a narrow selection, then be discerning in your disclosure.

Alternatively, we could just read authors from our particular stream of Christianity, I know many who do this, but I suspect his would be a real mistake in ministry!

Preaching to the same people all the time is quite different to preaching to different people. I have the privilege of regular preaching in our home church, but also regular preaching to different churches and groups of people in my role with OM. I had an interesting experience recently that highlighted the importance of a preacher’s relational connection with the congregation.

Last year we spent a month on one of the OM ships while it was in the UK. This year I visited another of the ships for a quick four-day visit. I gave the same presentation on the subject of guidance that I did last year. It was almost identical. In fact, it was probably better since I took onboard a fair critique I received last year and adjusted that element this time. However, the response was very different. Last year I had numerous conversations after the presentation, and there was an openness toward the presentation and thankfulness for the session. This year there were some positive responses, but a noticeably higher level of negative reaction and outright rejection of the teaching. What was the cause?

Perhaps the people were different. No two groups of listeners are the same, and it is possible that the different situation onboard meant the listeners responded differently. Equally, it is possible that although content was the same, my manner of delivery was different. While there may be elements of both of these, I think the main issue was something else.

Timing. Last year I was onboard three weeks before I addressed this potentially controversial subject. People had heard me speak, connections had occurred, relationships were forming. This year it was scheduled as the first session. No history, no connection, no relationships . . . and a much more negative response.

If you preach to the same people every week, recognize the importance your connections and relationships have in regard to your preaching. If you are preaching to people who don’t know you, be aware of the risks that come when connection can only come from the delivery itself. Empathy and connection count whether people know you or not, and we are wise to think through the implications of this in our preaching.