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The ACTS “Preaching Pastor Survey” offers a number of interesting and occasionally surprising insights into the place and practice of preaching in the six denominational constituencies that comprise the Associated Canadian Theological Schools. As the person charged with teaching preaching at ACTS, I have been asked to mine the data and reflect upon my findings. To that end I would observe the following.
Preachers are optimistic. More than half of the surveyed preachers (54.6%) say that they consider their preaching to be “very effective” in satisfying their listeners expectations. The remaining preachers all (45.5%) indicated that they were at least “somewhat effective” in satisfying their expectations. Maybe you have to be an optimist to lead churches and to spend so much time on such a culturally disrespected thing like preaching or perhaps these preachers are not in tune with what their listeners are thinking. It would be interesting, for instance, to survey these same preacher’s congregations to see if they are feeling similar. Regardless, this describes a strong sense of self-confidence in the work that they are doing. Almost half the preachers in the survey (43.6%) claim to be “highly skilled” in biblical exegesis and theological understanding. A further 52.4% claim adequacy in this area. Only 4% claim a lack of exegetical and theological ability. Whether or not this confidence is justified it speaks well to the self-image of these preachers and it validates the significant investment that the preachers seem to be willing to make in the work of their preaching.
Preaching is far from dead. We have been hearing for some time that preaching is anachronistic. It is common to believe that preaching is past its sell-by date and that it must be deeply altered or even jettisoned if we are going to be relevant for the next generation. But this kind of thinking does not seem to be indicated by respondents to this survey. Almost half the survey respondents (44.8%) say that preaching “is the most meaningful thing that I am called to do.” A further 53.7% say that it is “one of the most meaningful things that he or she is doing.” This is a remarkable finding given the pressure on preachers to focus on leadership, counseling, and so many other aspects of their work. In essence 100% of survey respondents see their preaching as meaningful work. It is not viewed as a mere requirement of the job, but as something that is core to their identity and their productivity. It might also say something about the commitment of the ACTS partner denominations to the Word of God and to its dissemination.
Preachers are willing to invest in their work. The high value given to preaching is reflected further in the evidence of investment in the work made by these preachers. More than 95% of these preachers are spending at least six hours per week in sermon preparation. More than 60% spend more than 13 hours. Almost 20% spent half their work-week (18 hours or more) in preparing to preach. These preachers are reading commentaries (99%), consulting theologians (96%), and “reading culture” (99%). These preachers want to improve in every skill area related to preaching (no aspect of preaching scored less than 28%). They are willing to work at it. 70% would be willing to attend a seminar or short course if it would improve their preaching. 41% would engage a formal course. 18% would enroll in a seminary degree program. The challenge then for us is to find ways to meet this need in a manner that would be perceived as productive by these preachers.
Our approach to preaching is still largely exegetical and didactic. In other words, our approach to preaching hasn’t changed much. The last ten years of homiletic discussion among evangelicals has opened the door to an increased interest in pragmatic preaching, narrative preaching, and other less traditional forms, but ACTS denominational preachers are still a very traditional crowd when it comes to sermon form. More than 70% say the form of their preaching is typically exegetical. 36.5% claim that they typically seek to teach listeners by “making an argument” from the text of scripture. Helping listeners solve problems, addressing issues in culture, involving listeners through story are all down the list. This probably reflects our continuing commitment to the exposition of Scripture. The idea that biblical exposition might allow for a greater integration or at least a variety of forms doesn’t seem to have sunk in for these preachers, for the most part.
Our preachers would rather study culture than confront it. The surveyed preachers describe a strong commitment to a study and awareness of their surrounding culture. 44% consider themselves “students of culture.” 53% deliberately “read the culture” in an attempt to bring relevance to their preaching. Only one respondent claimed to have no interest in making an impact or understanding contemporary culture. The effect these preachers hope to have on the culture, however, is understood largely within the private sphere. Trying to exert power within contemporary culture and speaking prophetically to the culture was described as significantly less important to these preachers than equipping Christians to evangelize and influence within their personal spheres and to encourage these same Christians to faithfully endure the challenges presented by the culture. In other words, these preachers study culture with a view to an indirect engagement with the world, rather than for the purposes of a frontal assault on culture.
Responses from seminary graduates are not significantly different from their peers. Those of us who work within the seminary context might have preferred to discover that seminary graduates show a greater sense of effectiveness than the rest of the sample, but with a few exceptions, the numbers don’t seem to be substantially different. While seminary grads are 17% more likely to describe themselves as “highly skilled,” they are actually less likely to view themselves as highly effective. 53% of seminary grads rated themselves as “very effective” compared to “55% of the group in general. Of course, almost all of the respondents described a great deal of confidence in their abilities, which may be a more positive way to interpret the findings. Clearly, seminary education is highly valued by the sample. 62% of all respondents say that their formal education has been essential in preparing them to preacher. 33% say that it has been helpful. These numbers will probably surprise some, but shouldn’t be shocking to people who think carefully about the complexity of the work that we are talking about.
Younger preachers are not as radical as we might think. This might be the most surprising finding of all. Given the literature about emerging and missional church models crowding our desks in recent years, we might have expected to read dramatic differences in the responses of younger preachers, but this was not the response of these post-boomer preachers. In fact, any substantial differences seemed to show up in surprising places. 14% of the younger respondents claimed that an understanding of contemporary culture “has had little impact” on the shaping of their understanding of the Bible and theology. This compares with 6% of the greater group. A strong majority (60.7%) of these younger preachers said that “explanation” comprises 75 to 100% of their typical sermon. This compares with 41.6% of the general group. Younger preachers are less likely to say that preaching was the “most meaningful” thing that they do (35.7% compared with 44.8% of the general sample). Not surprisingly they were also less likely to say that they were “very effective” (44.4% compared to 54.6% of the general group). They were also 50% more likely to invest in a formal course of program if it would improve their preaching.
Preaching is still a work done by men. A lot of energy has been expended in the ACTS partner denominations over the last several years on the issue of the qualification of women for pastoral ministry. Each of the six denominations have come to their own conclusions about the matter. Many women have been encouraged to come to seminary and many have been hired by our churches. A healthy portion of each homiletics class at ACTS seminaries is comprised of women. Still, women are not preaching, at least not regularly. Of the 134 survey respondents, only two were female. This is not to make any judgment about the propriety of allowing women to preach. It’s simply to say that despite much effort to open doors for women in our churches, the indication is that women still are not perceived as preaching pastors in their churches.
These comments do not speak to everything reported by the numbers, but only the most interesting and thought-provoking implications. Having described these things, I think it worth noting that the sample size, while strong, is probably not large enough to make such sweeping statements with a strong degree of confidence. It would be well to test these findings further through interview and experience.