Why “Just Preach The Gospel” Is Terrible Advice | Pro Church Daily Ep. #103
Why “Just Preach The Gospel” Is Terrible Advice | Pro Church Daily Ep. #103
“Just preach the gospel” is a common retort Brady sees used online. He discusses why this is bad advice, and how this statement is being misapplied.
See full post here: https://prochurchtools.com/just-preach-gospel-terrible-advice-ep-103/
WHAT’S IN THIS SESSION?
“Preach” is a verb. It demands a medium (1:59)
“Preach” requires a listener (2:55)
This statement is being misapplied (3:33)
Timeless message in a timely medium (4:12)
Attention is the most valuable commodity your church can possess (4:30)
This statement does a disservice to the Gospel when it prioritizes mediums with less attention over mediums with more attention for the sake of tradition (5:32)
SHOW NOTES & RESOURCES MENTIONED
– https://prochurchtools.com/
– https://www.facebook.com/prochurchtools
– https://www.storytape.com/
– https://nucleus.church/
– https://www.instagram.com/bradyshearer/
– https://twitter.com/bradyshearer
– https://www.instagram.com/alexander.mills/
Preach Brady!
I have nothing against a horse & buggy strategy if your happy with its effectiveness. Go for it.
I think I’ll use today’s technology to reach folks where they are. I say use every media available concurrently until it’s lost its effectiveness.
I agree in using the new media to somehow spread the Gospel, however, in most churches around the world, the main issue is that churches are filled with "believers" instead of being filled with "disciples", and the end result is that you have a bunch of believers that become "church goers" but just a handful of people that are passionate about "sharing the Gospel" while everybody else is just interested in "attending church" to "hear the message" and to "learn something" that makes them "feel good" and then they simply repeat this process every week.
The core issue is that sadly, now days, our goal is to share the Gospel to make believers, but we’re missing the mark because Jesus meant for every believer to become a DISCIPLE who’s mission is to make more disciples as Jesus instructed us in Matthew 28:18-20.
Somewhere down the road, Jesus’s primary teaching method of making disciples one-on-one with the people around us was replaced by let a single preacher do all the preaching from the pulpit while we all listen to the message. That’s why we are clueless about how to effectively make disciples one at the time ourselves to fill our churches with more disciples that will continue Jesus’s discipleship method, instead of simply making purposeless believers.
There was a time were myself I was in the group of "believers", and at some point I was asking God, why "nobody" including myself is doing any efforts to share the Gospel, when I found what I believe is the "missing link" in Christianity, the "lack of effective one-on-one discipleship".
I found an extremely helpful discipleship material wrote by Greg Ogden and I honestly believe that EVERY CHRISTIAN MUST READ AND APPLY to restore what Jesus intended in the very beginning, for all of us to make disciples and teach them to obey everything He commanded us.
Reference: http://discipula2.com/transforming-lives-for-christ/
If the link above is not allowed by YouTube try to put together the following:
discipula2 dot com/transforming-lives-for-christ/
Excellent.
Timely mediums to communicate the timeless message of Jesus. Awesome.
Good stuff mate. Thanks for always challenging the status quo!
Well said!
I don’t think you addressed the problem. These people aren’t talking about not preaching it in different mediums. They are talking about not using fake glamorous means of making the Gospel appealing. Because as I’ve been told before "what you win them through is what you win them to." You want to be so careful not to try to make the Gospel look any more glamorous than a naked man of God on a Cross. Jesus came as a man with nothing to write home about in appearance. It was his message that drew people to him. How are we representing Christians? As hip, rich, trendy people or hurting broken people desperately in need of a savior?
Pretty soon Churches will be outlawed, heavily regulated and controlled by the state (Canada is ahead of USA on this), so digital mediums may be the only free availability in the future to be preached from and to.
I serve in my churches av/tech team and typically operate our Livestream feed. We average about 100 live viewers every Sunday. Those are 100 more people hearing the spoken Word of God and message of salvation otherwise missed.
Thank you for this video
I can’t recall who, but someone ‘old’ once said, but "Preach the Gospel, and if need be use words." I understand that to mean act in a Chrsitlike manner so people see the difference in your actions?
Preaching on street corners (aka Whitfield & Wesley) worked very well in their context. But today not so well. [Been there done that got the T shirt.] In the 21st century, God has blessed us with a way to reach out with the love of Jesus where people are.
I like what Brady says (often) "Love God; Love people, and make disciples."
Sterkte voor en toe.
Great video man. The reason I love Pro Church Tools is because it is helping our church preach the Gospel by way of helping to expand our reach. When we get better at reaching the 167 we get better at sharing the beautiful Gospel of Jesus Christ. I think of what y’all offer is a way for churches to “game the system” ,so to speak, so we can gain more peoples attention and then it is up to use to use those tools affectively for Jesus. Thank you for what you do!
If church works for you – great! However, the gospel of salvation is meant for folks that don’t normally frequent the church. Oh no! Does that mean I have to go where they are to reach them? That just sucks!
I absolutely love and appreciate 1 that you handle and respond to these issues. And 2 HOW you respond. Respect, truth, grace, love … You guys are absolute Gold, pure gold! Thank you
Love your videos. A few things came to mind while watching this video: "Become all things to all men", and "Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves". Nothing wrong with learning from our enemy and employing his tactics. I know older people are resistant to change though and It’s hard for them.
Thank you for making this.
Guys this video is absolutely wonderful.
"A timeless message with a timely medium" this is a genius way to describe the process that we need to follow to navigate the current culture shift. Thanks as always for your devotion to promote the moving forward of the modern church. You guys are great.
In the current atmosphere, in America, a church presence on line is a must. There is so much negative responses against Christians, God, and salvation, that just preaching the gospel in Church, is a losing battle. With the decline in church attendance, how else are we to reach the non-christian? Television is a breeding ground for immoral thought and actions, hate, and every negative response to the Word. You are right on, change is our only hope to win souls for Jesus.
Wow, you both built a wonderful straw man that you effectively burned. Did you take the time to really understand the heart behind those who say "just preach the Gospel"? The concern is not just fear of new media. Many of us aren’t afraid of new media. What we are afraid of is the tendency towards ear-tickling and entertainment-based outreach. What you win them with is what you win them to. Using different mediums is not bad, per se. We should be intelligent enough to use effective tools available today. But, you are being disingenuous if you don’t admit that many today are focusing an inordinate amount of attention on the presentation of the service, and not nearly enough attention on the heart of the message: the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m a pastor and a school teacher in a Christian school. I see the multitude of church-goers today who are just as lost as those outside the church. Why? Because they’ve been won to the show, but not to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Theology matters.
Love how you won’t shy away from topics like this. GG
I agree. I think style may change but the message must be constant. The rebrands their products all the time without changing it content. We the church must accept that we can’t make any impact by using the same old branding.
The problem is most churches completely FAIL to provide ANY gospel.
This is why the failures we are having in the church.
The medium is not the issue, the content is.
“Preach the gospel” usually is said not in response to the medium, but rather speaking towards the lack of substantive content in the medium.
In today’s day and age, the lipstick (digital media) can indeed be put on a pig… with a lack of solid, Bible centric content.
The packaging can gloss over the content, hiding its deficiencies.
Brady, you’re putting words to things that I’ve seen and thought and felt (As someone who works in creative media ministry). I love it, thank you for this video!
Great thoughts guys. Love the reminder that our message doesn’t change, but we want to "preach the gospel" where there are people to hear what we’re saying.
Spot Friggin On
Yes, we have to preach the gospel always, but, Jesus wants us to preach the gospel with all we are, all we have. Since last year He has told me where I am from what He has given me as: In my place of work, the abilities He has given us, and that we have developed to preach the gospel. In my case, I work with videos, animations and study Information Systems (programming, computer networks, web site creation, everything connected in the area of informatics) (I do not know how this course is called in the USA.) But, I I’m going to use those tools He gave me to preach the Gospel. And in our society spends a lot of time on the internet, and why not use the internet to preach the Gospel?
LOREN CUNNINGHAM, founder of YWAM, wrote a book called 7 the areas of influence in society, we were called to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, with all that we are and all we have, and if He has put these tools into us our hands and put us in our workplaces so we can spread the Gospel and earn lives for Jesus.
OF COURSE PREACHING NEEDS A STRATEGY!
For reference, here is a guide: If there are people around, preach. That’s a strategy. When the upper room happened in Acts, what did Peter do? He looked around, saw people, and started preaching.
I think it’s fair to critique a strategy that mentions nothing of the Gospel. If we’re talking about Christ, it should be included and tied in somehow. Whenever I think of the phrase "Just preach the Gospel", I’m thinking about methods and things that turn certain aspects Christianity into idols.
Examples: Name it, claim it. No Gospel. Self help. No Gospel. You’re all going to Hell unless you start acting right! No Gospel.
Discussions about HOW to preach can be important, but only if what is being preached is correct.
Totally agree, we have to use all the tools we can to preach the gospel
I came for the BOOM – and got it! Well done, gentleman.
Brilliant guys!
If I refused to implement a strategy to reach people with the gospel message I would have lost out on the opportunity to communicate that message with many people. We have been watching your videos and implementing them in our church. We improved our website and just three weeks ago and added the "Plan A Visit" page. We are so excited that it works! We just got our first plan a visit from someone and they are bringing their family to our church service this Sunday. And guess what, they’re going to hear a timely message of us "preaching the gospel". We would have never had this opportunity to reach someone with our message of hope had we not planned and strategized! Keep helping us Brady! Most of us need the help you give. You are making a huge impact in the kingdom of God. And if this family that comes Sunday makes a decision for Christ (if they haven’t already) you and your team will get a crown in heaven too because you taught us how to reach our harvest!
Very well, sirs! I appreciate your attention to detail in this video. Any time we have someone’s attention, it is an opportunity to capture them with the life-altering truth of Jesus! Great insight!
So good. Why do so many Christians believe that new methods of reaching people go against the message of Jesus?? I have found more pride and ego among Christian circles than I have in some secular communities. If people think that we shouldn’t have to think and strategize about how we’re going to reach people the most effectively, that’s just plain irresponsible. To be strategic isn’t taking the job of the Holy Spirit as some often think. If that were the case, I should be able to pray, “God, provide me a job” without ever having to actually going and applying anywhere, or trying to make my resume be the best it can be. Thank you for articulating this so well, and normalizing the conversation around the topic!
"we are not prioritizing scripture, we are prioritizing tradition". That statement summarizes the entire problem. Thanks guys
Hi there. I’m a UMC pastor and so appreciate your words in this video + more broadly the ministry you’re offering to YouTube!
Based on your comments today re preaching the gospel in a timely manner, I wonder if you’d be willing to make a video in the future describing a template/model for preaching the gospel on YouTube. I’m a skilled videographer and often have thought about putting my sermons on YouTube but feel that such content isn’t very magnetic for people not connected to my congregation. Yet, a part of me feels like a different way of presenting a sermon could resonate on YouTube, like maybe a more informal, 5-min reflection based on the biblical research I did for the sermon. I also wonder if the “best” use of video for churches is to record intros to group discussions that small groups could use as a jumping-off point for their meetings. I would love to hear your joint thoughts on this topic!
Are you saying that women should be teaching from the pulpit? I do filmography, social media and advertising, so i agree with the rest of your video.