I preached my first sermon at age fifteen. All told, I preached more than 4,000 sermons over the course of thirty-five years. I spent twenty-five years actively pastoring churches in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. I started out in the ministry preaching primarily topical and textual sermons. In the mid- to late-80s, I began preaching primarily expositional sermons — book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. I love preaching expositionally. This approach forced me to be true to the text. For example, in the early 90s, I preached more than one hundred sermons from the book of John. I also preached through much of the New Testament, along with preaching sermons from Genesis, Exodus, Ecclesiastes, Psalms, and the major/minor prophets.
Over the years, thousands of people heard me preach, both at the churches I pastored and at revivals, conferences, and special meetings. There were times when people disagreed with me on this or that theological subject or objected to my Calvinistic beliefs. These folks would grumble and complain to their fellow members, saying they were no longer being “fed.” In time, off they would go, looking for a new pastor to “feed” them. It was not uncommon for me to hear that they missed my preaching or missed our church, but rarely did they return. To do so would mean admitting they were wrong as to the reasons they left.
That’s not to say that people were always wrong for leaving. No church or pastor can be all things to all people. I had certain beliefs that upset people. I completely understand why an Arminian Christian might be offended by my Calvinistic preaching. Calvinism and Arminianism are incompatible with each other, but I pastored more than a few Arminian Christians. They like me as a person or my family, so they ignored my Calvinistic beliefs, while, at the same time, accepting and appreciating my focus on holiness — without which no man shall see the Lord.
One thing I never did was change my preaching to please people. Preaching expositionally kept me from chasing rabbits or letting my feelings dictate what text I would preach from. Congregants knew ahead of time what text I was preaching from. This allowed them to read and study the text beforehand, though, to be honest, I doubt that many members did.
That’s not to say that Christians are never justified in looking for a church that “feeds” them. Some pastors are dreadful preachers, delivering rambling, incoherent, shallow sermons. After hearing such sermons, I don’t blame people for looking for a new church.
Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comment section.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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Thank you, Bruce, for your candid and honest reflection. Your words on the challenges of pastoring and the complexities of belief resonate deeply with me.
As someone who also left the faith after struggling for many years, your post brought up a lot of memories. I was dealing with complex PTSD and undiagnosed ADHD, and one of the most difficult things for me was the lack of a system within the church to address these issues. Mental and emotional pain was often attributed to sin or “the devil,” and there was no space to talk about the very real, physical trauma that was affecting me. The mention of “the devil” is a perfect example of a distraction from these real struggles.
It felt as though the church had no framework for a person with my specific struggles. It was always about the spiritual, never about the biological or the psychological. Your post helped me to remember that this lack of understanding was a key factor in my own journey away from faith.
Matthew—You have outlined my experiences very well. I “gave myself to Jesus” and was active in Evangelical churches for years because those churches and my “faith” seemed to offer a framework for dealing with my mental health struggles: specifically, around the PTSD I experienced as a result of childhood sexual abuse and the gender identity and sexuality issues that, I believed, were echoes of the devil’s voice in my ears. Thank you.
I never was involved with an IFB church. But I attended Evangelical churches and noticed a fair amount of “church shopping.” That seemed all but nonexistent among the Catholics among whom I was raised: They, like my family, tended to stick with the nearest parish. They might disagree with something the priest said, especially if it was on a hot topic of the day like the Vietnam War. But they didn’t seem to quibble over doctrine mainly because, as I realize now, they didn’t read the Bible—or, to their credit, even pretend to know what was in it.
What you say about expositional preaching is interesting: It’s more or less the “old school “ (and was my) way of teaching intro to literature and philosophy courses in college. Many younger professors teach in something like the topical approach you describe: The instructor might approach, say, “Othello” in a general way a feminist point of view or as a critique of colonialism. I don’t think there’s anything inherently wrong with that, but it can lead students to read things that simply aren’t there into the text or Shakespeare’s intentions (which, of course, we can’t know.) Also, students who are reading a text for the first time might conflate an interpretation with the actual text.
“Being fed” – I have vague recollection of hearing that phrase with regard to church along with the feeling that in our circle that was considered bad. One doesn’t attend church to be “fed” but rather to hear truth and worship God – that’s the message I recall. But in reality, in evangelicalism people are free to church shop in order to find the community/congregation where they feel comfortable (or if not comfortable a place they can rationalize is right for them). The church i grew up in went through 3 full-time pastors from the time I was 11 to 18. The first pastor moved to the outskirts of Nashville from Mississippi looking for a stepping stone to larger, more financially wealthy churches. The second pastor was a good speaker who spoke on historical and cultural elements surrounding his sermon topics, and I loved that. Unfortunately he was a Vietnam veteran suffering likely from PTSD and abused substances – he was fired. The third pastor ended up staying at that church for over 35 years. I didn’t like him at all – he didn’t seem as educated as the other 2 pastors, and he had this annoying smirk he used whenever he thought he was funny, and he thought he was funny a lot. I wasn’t sad to miss the bulk of his sermons as I was away at college and never returned to that church when I moved away 2 years after college. Not surprisingly, his son became a pastor at a church plant. Anyway, I guess a lot of people felt “fed” by his style of preaching because that church grew a lot.
An IFBer who says “I’m not being fed.” really means “The pastor isn’t preaching what I want to hear.”
Spot on. Spoken like a man in the know.🤣❤️🤣 I remember people praising me for my wonderful sermons, to then months later raise all kinds of hell about something I said they didn’t like. I learned early on that I couldn’t please everyone. People will praise me for my writing, ✍️, but I tell them, “Hang around long enough and I’ll write something that will piss you off.” 🤣
My political writing tends to rub some people the wrong way. I’ve lost readers over a political post they disagreed with. They agree with me 90% of the time, but they can’t handle the other 10%. I have lots of people I read that say things I disagree with. One guy is a Cubs fan — pure evil. 🤣 I ignore he’s a Cubs fan because he has a lot of good things to say. COVID brought an uptick in people getting upset over my pro-vaccine stance. One woman took to her blog to attack me. She had praised my writing ✍️ before COVID.