When am I Preaching? (5 Questions for Preaching in a Changing Culture)

When am I preaching?  This is the first of five key questions preachers should ask when striving to proclaim Christ in the midst of a changing culture.

Preachers and churches are familiar with a related question: Where am I preaching?  We understand that geographical changes bring cultural changes that impact preaching.  That is, if I’m preaching in Kiev, Ukraine rather than in Memphis, TN several elements of my preaching may be affected: the length of the sermon, metaphors and images that I use, the pace of my speaking, and even the topics upon which my preaching focuses.

Failure to account for the cultural changes of geography can result in embarrassing and offensive mistakes.  Though biblically sound, our preaching may turn people from God because of its cultural insensitivity.  How foolish it would be to preach in Kiev as if I were still in Memphis!

Preachers and churches may be less familiar with this question: When am I preaching?  We are less likely to realize that chronological changes also bring cultural changes that impact our preaching.

Failure to account for the cultural changes of chronology can also result in embarrassing and offensive mistakes.  These, in turn, may repel listeners from the gospel–despite the soundness of our preaching.

Here’s the reality for those preaching in the Western World–without changing geography, we have undergone immense cultural shifts related to chronology.  Our “where” has not changed.  But our “when” has.

There was a time when we were preaching in a Modern Time-Zone.  We preached in a moment when the narrative of culture was dominated by Modernism.  In this time-zone the following qualities reigned: dualism, faith in human progress, reason over religion, and human autonomy from God.  Christianity had a central role in society.

Now, however, we preach in a Postmodern Time-Zone.  We preach in a moment when the narrative of culture is dominated by postmodernity.  In this time-zone the following qualities reign (see my Preaching to Pluralists): pluralism, anti-institutionalism, pragmatism, interest in spirituality, ignorance of the Christian narrative, reliance upon experience, and desire for relationships.  Christianity has a marginal role in society.

Many of us have been trained to preach in  the first time-zone–to listeners familiar with a Christian worldview and who have a Modern mindset.  We now find ourselves in an alternate time-zone–needing to speak to listeners unfamiliar with a Christian worldview and who have a Postmodern mindset.  The greatest mistake would be to keep preaching as if we were in the first time-zone.  Like the great missionaries of yesterday and today who re-contextualized preaching for a different “where,” we in the Western world need to re-contextualize our preaching for this different “when.”