THE STATE OF PREACHING 2022

Posted on Jan 11, 2023 in BLOG |

What is the state of preaching in the evangelical church in 2022?

Are we producing disciples of Jesus Christ?

The answers to those questions are both instructive and discouraging. Preaching today largely avoids doctrine and emphasizes felt needs and life apps. Doctrine divides, so we don’t want to teach doctrine. Felt needs and life apps are winning topics. People want to hear these ideas. Much preaching in the evangelical church today is about attracting people to church instead of teaching disciples to know the faith. We are seeing the results in our evangelical churches, as the 2022 State of Theology survey demonstrates.

 EVANGELICALS AND THEOLOGY

The love affair with attractional Christianity is not producing disciples of Jesus Christ. Churches are increasingly filled with biblically and theologically shallow Christians at best and illiterate at worst. Every two years, Ligonier Ministries and LifeWay Research partner in releasing the State of Theology in the American church. The findings for 2022 are shocking. Here are some statistics about evangelicals.
  • 48% believe that “God learns and adapts to different circumstances.”
  • 71% say that “everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God.”
  • 53% say that “the Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true.”
  • 56% say that “God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.”
  • 43% agree that “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God.”[1]

The statistics show a marked progression from even two years ago. The percentage of evangelicals agreeing that the Bible is not literally true has moved from 48% in 2020 to 53% in 2022. The percentage of evangelicals who say that God accepts the worship of all religions, including Islam, has grown from 42% in 2020 to 56% in 2022. Only 30% of evangelicals said that Jesus was not God in 2020, but now 43% deny the deity of Jesus Christ. These are not minor doctrines of Christianity that are being compromised. The evangelicals are abandoning the core doctrines of the faith. Preaching in the evangelical church has failed to teach the doctrines of Christianity, leading to widespread biblical and theological illiteracy.

 EVANGELICALS AND MORALITY

The findings from the State of Theology in 2022 on morality tell a different story.
  • 94% believe that sex outside of marriage is sin.
  • 91% believe that abortion is sin.
  • 72% believe that the Bible condemns homosexuality.
  • 63% believe that gender identity is not a choice.[2]

The progression from two years ago is, again, significant. The percentage of evangelicals that said sex outside of marriage was a sin was 90% in 2020. Now it is 94%. In 2020, 88% of evangelicals said abortion was a sin, and now 91% say it is. Interestingly, evangelicals who believed that the Bible condemns homosexuality dropped from 89% in 2020 to 72% in 2022. At the risk of overgeneralization, preaching today is effective at emphasizing morality and ineffective at teaching doctrine. 

 TWO CONCLUSIONS

What do these statistics tell us about the state of preaching in 2022?

First, evangelical preaching today fails to teach people to know the faith. Our job as preachers is to make disciples by “teaching them to observe all that I commanded you” (Mt. 28:20). A disciple is a learner of Jesus, one who thirsts to know and understand the words of God contained in the Bible. The purpose of preaching is to teach them those words because they nourish the soul (1 Tim. 4:6). Preachers are to “speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1). Preaching should call people to “stand firm and hold onto the traditions” they were taught (2 Thess. 2:15; 1 Cor. 11:2). Anyone who “does not abide in the teachings of Christ does not have God” (2 John 9). When we fail to teach people to know the faith, they become like little children who are distracted by every new outrage and attracted to every new and exciting fad (Eph. 4:14).

Second, evangelical preaching today stresses moralism. Moralism is all about doing good and being your best self. Much evangelical preaching is man-centered, not God-centered, in its quest for relevancy. Sometimes preaching becomes therapeutic with topical talks about how to deal with anger and how to have a happy marriage. The politics of social morality turn preaching into an effort to reform society. Topical preaching is good at attracting interest and can effectively teach moral truth. However, such preaching, driven by the wants of listeners, can devolve into tickling ears. Paul warned us that “the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires” (2 Timothy 4:3).

 ANEMIC PREACHING

The state of preaching in 2022 is weak. Although many preachers are faithful in teaching the Bible, preaching in the evangelical church at large seems to be sliding into therapeutic deism, to use a common term. People question the Bible because preachers question the Bible. It is one thing for the world to think that the Bible is irrelevant to modern life, but it is quite another thing when preachers preach as if the Bible is irrelevant. Afraid to teach doctrine because it might offend people, preachers imply that God’s words are not as trustworthy as their words. The downward trends we are witnessing in the evangelical church are the result of anemic preaching.

The crying need of the church is for God-centered, Word-explaining messages. Regular, systematic and sequential exposition of the Bible is the solution. Christ commissioned us to make disciples, not attract crowds. Missional preaching is needed to evangelize non-Christians, but expository preaching is needed to train disciples.

 

[1]https://thestateoftheology.com/?utm_medium=instagram&utm_source=linktree&utm_campaign=2022+results+now+available%3A+the+state+of+theology

[2] Ibid.