“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”
Definitions are everything. In Power in the Pulpit, Jerry Vines and Jim Shaddix define expository preaching as “The process of laying open the biblical text in such a way that the Holy Spirit’s intended meaning and accompanying power are brought to bear on the lives of contemporary listeners.”[1] According to this definition, faithful preaching is focused on the Bible because that is where God has chosen to reveal Himself. Through the process of explanation, the preacher connects the world of the original audience to the readers of today.
Expository preaching is powerful in itself, but its impact can be multiplied through a long-term pastorate. According to church experts, Thom Rainer and George Barna, the average tenure of a pastor is around 4 years. Other studies suggest the number is between 5 and 7 years. In 2021, Lifeway Research released a study that stretches the average pastoral tenure to 10 years.[2]
Ten years is a worthy goal for pastoral service in one church – twenty year is even better. It’s long enough for the professional minister to become a pastor to the people. It’s long enough to work through all of the typical seasons of life in a church and for the preacher to work through some seasons of change in his own life. Two decades is a sufficient amount of time to see children who have grown up in the church have children of their own.
Years of experience isn’t a guarantee that a preacher will get better, but it is an opportunity. The preacher learns the Bible better over time as his relationship deepens with the people. The calendar urges the preacher to explore passages and books that he’s less familiar with.
Here are five benefits that come with preaching expository sermons in the same church for more than 20 years. The first benefit is Bible literacy. There is no magic number of times you must read the Bible to achieve literacy. But if you don’t read it, you will definitely never learn it. Expository preaching helps people gain a basic understanding of the Scriptures in their original context by studying them one book at a time. Skillful preachers will interpret passages in such a way that their listeners can follow and duplicate their approach on their own.
This process involves several factors, including the base-level literacy of the congregation when the pastor begins his ministry. Some churches have more mature believers, and some churches have a lot of new Christians who are unfamiliar with the overall story of the Bible. Another factor is the pace of the preacher as he works through books of the Bible. Shorter epistles can be covered in a few weeks but longer books like Genesis can take over a year. The amount of turnover in the church is another factor to consider as people are added or subtracted.
Another benefit is gospel centrality in connection with the overall storyline of the Bible. Approaches to evangelism like “The Romans Road” would make it seem like information about the gospel is limited to certain passages or books of the Bible. The Gospels and the Epistles are a convenient source of information about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But the Old Testament is full of information about God’s plan of redemption, like the prophecy about crushing the serpent’s head in Genesis 3:15 and the promise to make a new covenant between God and his people in Jeremiah 31:31-34.
A long-term ministry allows the preacher to emphasize the gospel message as it’s developed throughout the Old and New Testaments. Graeme Goldworthy traces a number of thematic ties between the Testaments in his book, Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics. These ties include salvation history and eschatological consummation, type and antitype, promise and fulfillment, old and new covenants, law and gospel, and even the connection between Israel and the church.[3] The gospel is central to the whole Bible, and it takes more than a few sermon series to drive that point home.
The third benefit is spiritual maturity, which flows from the Scriptures. The Apostle Paul spent a considerable amount of time building up the church at Ephesus. He had high hopes for this church because he did not hold back from declaring “the whole counsel of God” to them. (Acts 20:27, ESV). This was a way of saying that he expected them to grow in their relationship with the Lord because he had taught them the whole Bible.
There are other ways to interact with God’s Word besides preaching. People can read it, study it, memorize it, and meditate on it. Hearing it proclaimed in the context of a local church, however, is a powerful way to develop spiritually. Theologically balanced sermons encourage unbelievers to put their faith in Christ, new believers to develop Christian character, and long-time believers to adopt the skills they need to serve others.
Ministry sustainability is an additional benefit of a long-term pastor. Expository preaching is a significant weekly commitment. It can take anywhere between 10 and 20 hours a week to produce a quality text-based sermon. Even if the number of hours is consistently on the lower side of things, it’s more than a full day of work each and every week. Effectiveness also requires planning, training, filing, and coordination for staff.
The time and energy spent on preaching (not to mention the other duties) will encourage a pastor to work with and through others to accomplish the overall ministry of the church. This is an often-overlooked benefit of expository preaching. If the pastor-teacher is following the approach of Ephesians 6:12 by equipping the saints for the work of the ministry, then the members will be involved and the church can continue its ministry indefinitely. If the pastor-teacher tries to do all the work himself while also preaching content-rich sermons, he will burn out at some point, and the ministry will slow to a stop.
The last benefit is church vitality. Healthy priorities for the church are drawn out of the Bible. The preacher has a special opportunity to cast a vision for what each local congregation is to be in its pursuit of the Great Commission of Jesus Christ (Matthew 28:18-20).
It takes time to build growth and stability in a church. Membership practices and leadership development have to be an ongoing priority. Evangelism and discipleship ministries don’t appear overnight. As an organization of humans, emergencies and problems pop up regularly. This all highlights the importance of an ongoing pulpit ministry in the church.
The power of expository preaching is seen most clearly in the congregations that receive it. The longer the preacher can stay and expound on the Word of God, the more clearly that power will become. Blessed are the churches – and the pastors – that get to spend decades together serving the Lord.
[1] Jerry Vines and Jim Shaddix, Power in the Pulpit: How to Prepare and Deliver Expository Sermons (Chicago: Moody, 2017), 30.
[2] “Study of Pastor Attrition and Pastoral Ministry,” https://research.lifeway.com/pastorprotection/
[3] Graeme Goldsworthy, Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics: Foundations and Principles of Evangelical Biblical Interpretation (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2006), 241.
This is so good
We love how you are striving for all of this and what is important!! We are behind you working and supporting and praying for the Holy Spirit Love, marlene
Thank you, Marlene. Many people value text-driven preaching, but they don’t always know why. I hope this helps to clarify.