One Sunday, I remember looking out at the congregation of more than 1,000 people that I had the privilege of ministering truth to each week.
There was John, a recent convert. He was divorced and single. He had come out of a totally secular environment but was eager, inquisitive and loaded questions. He was sorting through his old lifestyle and was building new behaviors.
Heather had dropped out of church when she was 13, saying it no longer interested her and her friends. She had not been in the church for 14 years. Her life had become a complicated tangle of relationships, unhealthy habits and guilt. There had been a divorce. Heather knew some of the people in the church and many knew her. She felt uncomfortable being there but was genuinely trying to get back to God.
Jim was there with his son. I had met him in the lobby before the service and discovered he was a marketing executive for a large corporation. He told me it had been 30 years since he was last in church, a Roman Catholic Church as a child. His attitude towards the church and preachers in particular had been shaped by the media’s treatment of televangelists. He was there checking us out with his 12-year-old son.
Janice was sitting near the front with her husband. She had been in the church for about 17 years. She was certainly going to go to heaven, but the truth was, her faith was superficial and immature. She was legalistic and felt comfortable following her own rules. She drew comfort from the rituals and traditions of the church, but had difficulty with change. She was very conscious of her husband’s position and influence in the church.
Harold caught my eye. What a joy it would be if everyone in church was like him. Harold was mature, balanced and involved in ministry. He was able to flow with the ups and downs of life. He was biblically literate without resorting to clichés. He appreciated the historical practices of the church but was not bound by them.
As I was getting ready to preach, I realized I had five distinct groups of people. Each had unique needs and expectations. Each person brought his own emotional baggage to the service.
MY ONGOING STRUGGLE
From that time on, I struggled to understand each of these groups. I know I don’t preach to a homogenous crowd and I certainly don’t speak into a vacuum. The craft of preaching must be practiced in the marketplace of reality. I need to make biblical truth relevant to each of these groups.
Alert leaders are aware that fundamental changes are taking place within the church and society at large that are having a profound impact on the way we communicate our message. If ever there was a day when Christian communicators need to study their audiences, this is it. The day of dum-dum Christianity is over.
Here are the five groups that make up most of our congregations.
Group One: non-Christians who have a measure of biblical knowledge. These people know the basic truth of the gospel but for some reason have rejected it intellectually or at least have been unwilling to submit to it. They are familiar with the church and many of its traditions. Perhaps they attended Sunday school as children but dropped out in their teenage years. There are a lot of backsliders in this group.
Some of these people are chronic unbelievers, people like George who has come with his believing wife for several years but so far has refused to accept Christ himself.
Traditional evangelistic programs have been moderately effective in reaching this type of non-Christian. In fact, this is the primary group traditional evangelism has appealed to. These people are not offended by church traditions. They draw comfort from them, enjoying the warm sounds of the organ and the choir as they soothe their consciences.
Group Two: secular sinners. While this group is growing rapidly in society at large, it is still a small group in the church. For these people it is not a matter of obeying the Ten Commandments; they don’t know that there are any commandments. They come for a variety of reasons but they certainly don’t come to sing and worship. They are still wondering if there really is a personal God who is active in our world today. They are products of our post-Christian culture. They don’t know the language of the church and they certainly place little value on the traditions of the church.
Many in this group are misinformed about the gospel. Their ideas about the church have been shaped by the media evangelists, comedians or a preacher in a movie. They presume preachers are only after money. They come into the church thinking the service will be long, boring, predictable and irrelevant. Often they are not disappointed, and never return.
These first two groups are victims of the church spending its bank account of credibility during the past 20 years. They view the church and its preachers with cynicism and suspicion. In order to earn a hearing for the gospel, I have to earn the trust of these people, reestablishing my credibility every week.
Group Three: new converts. These are the people who excite me. They are the picture of eagerness and openness. They are a delight to work with and stimulating to speak to.
Of course these people bring a lot of preconversion baggage with them. Some of the trappings of the old lifestyle are still around. The emotional scars of the past are still visible. Counseling and discipling are obvious needs. They need basic truth. Every week they need Bible 101. One new Christian I’d led to the Lord put it all in perspective when he asked me in all honesty, “Pastor, did Moses live before or after Jesus?”
Group Four: immature Christians. This is the tough group to handle. Weak Christians have been legitimate believers for some time, often many years, but they have never grown up spiritually. There is no evidence spiritual maturity.
There is a basic difference between the immaturity of a new Christian and the immaturity of a longstanding Christian. New Christians are immature because they haven’t had time to grow up. Group Four Christians have had enough time, they just have not been disciplined in the faith.
Immature Christians, have the external markings of church people, but are superficial in their relationship with Christ. They haven’t thought through what they believe and why for themselves. They hide behind the teachings of the church rather than developing personal convictions. They handle change poorly.
Weak, immature Christians have difficulty distinguishing between personal tastes and biblical absolutes. Traditions are more important than Scripture. They often confuse separation from the world with isolation. They feel uncomfortable hanging out with sinners in order to share their faith. In relating with others, both in and out of the church, they have difficulty applying their personal convictions gracefully. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day would fit into this group.
Group Five: mature believers. Oh that this group would increase in number! Mature Christians are strong in their faith, biblically knowledgeable and capable of relating authentically with people in and out of the church. Because they can distinguish between the eternal and the temporal, they have little difficulty with change. They know the difference between biblical absolutes and morally relative behavior.
MY CHALLENGE!
Each week, I am called to minister to all these people. I am to reach out with love to Groups One and Two with a rational, relevant explanation of the Gospel. At the same time, I am to provide entry-level spiritual nourishment to the new believers in Group Three. I find it easy to celebrate with the mature believers in Group Five. I enjoy getting into the deeper things of the Word in my preaching.
It is Group Four that causes the greatest concern. In fact, most problems in the church come from Group Four, the immature Christians who have been around for a while but who have never grown up spiritually. Many church-hoppers come from this group. They are the source of tension. I always have to be careful not to offend them.
The trouble is, these people think they are in Group Five because of their longevity in the church and their familiarity with church programs.
The tension comes when I try to reach all these groups at the same time. Just thinking about reaching them all at the same time, gives me a knot in my stomach. If I appeal to the first three groups, I risk offending those in Group Four.
Yet, if I appease those in Group Four, I risk alienating those in the first three groups. The dynamics of communicating the unchanging gospel to the secular audience, the kind of preaching that is necessary for unchurched people considering the message of Jesus, may offend existing believers. But not to adjust means the church becomes ingrown, Pharisaic and ineffective.
Unfortunately, weak Christians are often the largest numerical group in our churches. Because they often control the power structure of a congregation, a pastor must continually walk on tiptoes deciding what is right or wise to do. Change may be the right thing to do, but if it divides a congregation and antagonizes leadership, what point has been served?
Adjusting the ministry to target secular, non-Christians will be frustrating because unless those in Groups Four and Five invite and welcome those in Groups One and Two, to the church, the audience you are targeting and designing the service for, won’t be exposed to it.
This is why spiritual revival is needed within the church. Revival brings spiritual aliveness. In revival, people see themselves as God sees them. In true revival, God reorders our attitudes and priorities. Only revival can move people from Group Four to Group Five. It is Group Three and Group Five people who bring Group One and Group Two people into the church. A truly revived church is irresistible.
MY SOLUTION:
I have concluded that I cannot get optimum results if I try to preach to all five groups at the same time. If I try to, my communication will be compromised so that no one will be satisfied.
I have determined that I will target a couple of the groups at a time. I let the congregation know my intentions and schedule. This tells them when it is most appropriate to bring unchurched people with them to a service.
I have determined every week, to strip my platform vocabulary of churchese as much as possible so outsiders will be able to grasp the meaning. I try to use a relaxed conversational style as much as possible.
I have used a “preaching committee” to evaluate my preaching. They help with both topics and style. I do not use anyone from either Group Four or Five on this committee nor do I let people in the church know about the committee. These people have helped me a great deal in stripping church clichés from my vocabulary.
A complete directory of articles can be found at http://calsinsights.com/
You can receive this material regularly by email – just fill in your email address at the bottom left side of the home page under subscription options and you will receive a copy of each new article as it is posted.
To forward the material to someone else, press the “share this” button and fill in an email address.
I appreciate all your comments and suggestions.