Preaching just isn’t enough. It’s not enough to lead to dramatic, wide-spread, lasting life-change. I have to admit that writing those statements doesn’t feel good. It doesn’t feel good because at my core I’m a preacher. So why do I say such things? I’ll get to that in a moment.
Yesterday I wrote about a concept called “The Pyramid of Death”. If you haven’t already, you should read that post before finishing this one. Here’s the link. It’s okay, I’ll wait….
Okay, preaching just isn’t enough because it falls short of really taking people to the pinnacle of the pyramid. It doesn’t get people to evaluate an idea or message on a deep enough level. Skilled speakers can incorporate some great “why” questions into a message that will cause people to evaluate their beliefs and actions, but the effect is limited. Preaching gets the ball rolling, but I firmly believe that relationships are the tool God created to stir up the deepest thoughts and evaluations that lead to lasting life-change. This is why I’m such a believer in small groups and accountability relationships.
So that begs the question: Should small groups support the weekend preaching or should weekend preaching support the small groups. Personally, that’s a “chicken or the egg” question and I don’t care to get caught up in the nuances of such a discussion. What I will say is this: both the preaching of God’s Word and the sharpening of one-another that comes in the context of personal relationships are absolutely necessary for the ideas and messages of our faith to best become embedded in our lives.
Bottom line: Jesus preached, but he didn’t lead from up front…he led up close. Relationships make all the difference.