Grading sermons

For most teachers, grading assignments is one of the least favorite activities. That is certainly true for me. And grading sermons is one of the hardest assignments for me to grade. It is hard in large part because for many if not most pastors, their preaching is pretty closely tied up with their identity as a pastor. To give a low grade on a sermon can cut pretty deep.

It is also hard because, by the nature of ministry, God's work is done when the Holy Spirit works, whether or not we have done 'well.'

And yet, God calls us to serve with skill, and to serve to the best of our ability. As such, my job is to help these men understand ways in which their preaching might improve. So I tell them their strengths, but I also tell them what I see that could be done better.

Our top criteria in this class are: biblical, clear, relevant, and interesting. There are other criteria after that, but these are most critical. By biblical, I mean, the sermon accurately and 'manifestly' expresses the main idea of the main text. Accurate is simply that what the preacher claims is the idea of the text really matches the text. 'Manifestly' means that he makes it clear how this text makes that point. Preaching the idea of a text but without showing people it comes from that text reduces the authority of the message. And preaching something other than the main idea of the main text of the sermon might actually be preaching something good, but it speaks without the authority of the Word. Sometimes people preach "the right sermon from the wrong text." That is, they have preached something that is true to Scripture, but it isn't found in this passage. The better job a preacher does of convincing his audience that his main idea is directly taken from the main idea of the main text, the stronger the sermon.

I pray that my feedback is accurate, clear, and helpful. And I pray for hearts eager to learn.

And of course, I pray that they will grow in their effectiveness in communicating the very thoughts of God as expressed in the Bible! What an incredible task! I am thankful for grace.