Preaching Teams: Variety

This post is an excerpt from my e-book, Preaching Teams: Sharing the Load and Building the Kingdom Through Collaborative Proclamation. For a free download of this 40-page book that covers a philosophy and rationale for team preaching, as well as many practical tools and tips gleaned from my 20-plus years on preaching teams, please click here:

Variety of Personalities and Styles

Multiple voices in the pulpit benefit a congregation in other ways.  Each preacher brings a unique story, a particular set of experiences, and a personal style to the task of preaching that enriches the experience of the hearers.

This enrichment comes in several ways.  First, each preacher’s style, story and experiences will connect with different people differently.  The more variety, the more opportunity for every member of the congregation over time to hear a preacher with whose story they most identify, whose experiences resonate with their own, and whose personality most easily draws them in.

But the goal is not always simply that everyone should feel comfortable and connected.  They sometimes need to be challenged as well.  Some preachers’ styles will most naturally comfort. Others will lean towards instruction.  Still others will tend to confront.  The lone preacher will sometimes struggle to generate the style that is most needed in a particular situation.  A preaching team made up of complementary strengths and personalities frees every preacher to preach from their own strengths with greatest benefit to the hearers.

One of the classic definitions of preaching is “truth conveyed through personality.”  Each of our personalities tends to embody each truth uniquely, and some truths more easily than others.  We all play some notes effortlessly and others with less ease.  A preaching team can ensure that each note is played by a preacher who is best equipped to play it.