Preacher's Block

This preaching tip was shared by Preacher’s Block co-founder, Hunter Bethea. If you’re interested in joining the most focused preachers in the world and getting these tips sent to your inbox every week, sign up here.

This morning, I had the privilege of meeting with one of our Sunday School classes to talk with them about a particular doctrine. They had just finished a study on that doctrine and had some questions, so I prepared a lesson where I talked through the doctrine, went over passages that addressed it, gave my own experience of the doctrine, and shared some of the Frequently Asked Questions I get about the doctrine, with my responses to those questions. When I opened it up for Q&A, someone said, “Wow, that makes a lot of sense. The person doing the video series was talking over our heads. You gave us the Elmore County Version.”

I was very honored for them to say that. You see, I often feel like I give them the “Seminary Version” or “Commentary Version” or “Book I Recently Read Version” of something. But what the class reminded me of is that they want to hear the truths about God in language they understand. That’s what Jesus did, right? He could have spoken in ethereal truths about the world but instead, he used agricultural metaphors and stories of everyday life. We would do well to do the same. What kind of language would your congregation understand? Not, what kind of language would you like for your congregation to understand? How can you share the truths of God with them in ways they understand, without minimizing those truths?

This goes for the stories we tell, the language we use, and the familiarity of Scripture we think people have. I think our people are saying to us “Give me the [Insert your county or city] version.” Give them the truths of God in ways they understand.