Expository Preaching Blog #36 – “Expository Preaching or Counselling?”

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Today I am going to meddle. I will offend some people. I will step on some toes. That is ok because frankly I don’t care. I want to obey God. If you disagree with me that is fine I will still be your friend. I will still even do ministry with you!

Let me also start and say I am not against counselling, Biblical counselling and pastoral counselling. You can use whatever title you prefer. I have done it from time to time.

But I am against substituting counselling for expository preaching. I believe that the largest part of a pastor’s time should be spend in preparation for preaching and teaching. It takes time and an investment of time and effort to be a good expository preacher. I believe there is no substitute for expository preaching.

I have seen pastors spend more time devoted to counselling than to the Word. It is easy to do. As a pastor I spent very little time in personal or couples counselling. I simply did not have time for it. I needed my time to “feed the flock.” (I Peter 5:2)

When I was preparing for pastoral ministry many decades ago I remember the words of a beloved senior pastor. He said “I primarily provide Biblical counselling 3 times a week. Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night. Attend the services at those times and you will receive 99% of the counselling that you will ever need. If you still have something that you want addressed come see me and I will carve out an hour of my time for you.” I lived by that philosophy for over 30 years of pastoral ministry and never regretted it.

Jesus met very little with individuals one on one. He taught in small groups of 3 – 12 people. But most of his ministry was with groups of 100 or more up to 5,000+ people at one time. His disciples in the church early church in the Book of Acts did the same thing.

I have never seen an extensive counselling ministry start or grow a church. I know that some churches have full time counsellors on their staff. That is their choice. I just don’t see the need or the justification of the time and resources. I won’t argue with those that do.

I spoke at a Christian college chapel years ago and in my preaching context, I made reference to this issue. They had a counselling major at the time that they were promoting. Needless to say I was never invited back to speak again. That is fine and my feelings weren’t hurt. Their counselling major and degree brought students and money into their education institution. That is what most colleges are about anyway. You need the money and students to survive.

My church was flourishing at the time by souls being saved, baptized and added to the church. We had no formal counselling ministry in that church. We too busy ministering the Word and obeying the Great Commission.

Preach the Word! Teach the Word” Practice the Word. That is the main thing. I will die on that hill and I will never apologize for it.

 

Rev. David Johnson

Former Pastor

First Baptist Church of Austin, MN

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