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Preaching by Committee
Many worshipers see it as the loneliest part of a minister’s job: crafting a sermon alone, in the wee hours, the only aids a Bible and some reference books before presenting the fully formed product to the congregation the next day.
But increasingly, that view of sermon-writing is outdated. At a growing number of churches, the pastor’s message is the painstaking work of a committee — a panel of church staff and congregants who meet weekly to suggest sermon topics, critique the minister’s prose and examine how his or her preaching will mesh with other elements of the service.
One goal of these worship-planning teams is to ensure that the minister’s words will resonate with all segments of a demographically diverse congregation. Often, the team’s job is to turn the sermon into a multimedia experience, with specialists in music, drama and video technology making contributions that become just as important as the pastor’s writing.
"It’s happening more and more as they will all bring different gifts to the table," said Randel Everett, president of the John Leland Center for Theological Studies, a Baptist-affiliated seminary in Arlington.
Everett compares the trend to the way that TV programs built around a lead character gradually have been replaced by shows with ensemble casts. He said that he has noticed the movement toward collaborative sermons for more than a decade but that it has become prevalent in the last three years.
At Purcellville Baptist Church in Loudoun County, the Rev. David Janney meets with a worship committee for several hours every Wednesday afternoon to discuss his sermon. Janney typically shows them a draft 11 days before he plans to deliver it. The group of about eight people, which includes other clergy, administrators and one elder, also decides on sermon topics, selecting them several months in advance. …
Membership coordinator Dania O’Connor recommended starting the sentence, "When we don’t spend time with them," to acknowledge that everyone — even the pastor — sometimes fails to set aside enough time for family. Others agreed that that wording sounded less judgmental. …
Richard Lischer, a professor of preaching at Duke Divinity School, thinks that pastors are more inclined to seek advice from people with expertise in other fields because of the demand among worshipers for a multimedia presentation.
But ministers who shift the responsibility for biblical reflection to unordained staff and church members are shirking their duties, he said. " …
"What is lost is the complexity and the richness of the biblical message," he added. "The Bible portrays people who are struggling with the ambiguities of the faith." …
[ My, how sad that the preacher must craft a sermon alone, from a Bible and a few study aids. If he cannot get a message from Scripture, nor if he does not believe that Scripture alone is sufficient for instruction in right living (2 Timothy 3:16), he has no business in the pulpit. And "she" should not be there anyway. I am sickened by the increasing number of spams offering pre-made sermons and multimedia presentations. Only God can return the hearts of men, especially pastors-teachers, back to the Scripture as the sole source of faith and practice. Certainly, the prospect of a large following is tempting for a preacher to depart from Scripture in order to attract that following. But we cannot expect any godly social change, e.g., abortion, until there is a change in the Christian’s attitude, particularly the preacher’s, toward God’s Word. ]
– Lila Arzua
5 Pt. Salt 
Reading this stuff makes me glad I’m old and will soon be dead. Whatever happened to plain ole expository preaching with pointed application to the hearers needs. Let God fit it to the demographic complexity of the congregation.
i’m with GraceW on this one… nearing the end of the bridge does have it’s appeal, and all the more so when you see what passes for spiritual insight and experience today.Nevertheless, I will say – when you have a preacher whose sermons need checking, oversight and consensus – find a new preacher!
I cannot honestly recall the last time I saw a preacher open the bible and expound on the verse or passage at hand and faithfully convey the truth therein. The prevailing MO of today is to find a pleasant theme and then proceed to tear apart the bible in search of verses that support the theme. Lets face it , very few preachers are prepared to upset the tithing pewsitters , their livelihood depends on it. Its church growth or bust, and now its commitee based.
Ray,
What a sad commentary. No wonder God’s people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. “Where there is no vision [in our case, the expostion and application of God’s revelation], the people perish.