Yes to Negative Preaching

The advice that most preachers get is not to go negative in their preaching. Certainly, in the United Methodist Church, most of us do not like to be negative in our preaching. Many of us have heard hurtful things said from the pulpit. Some of the hurt was intentional, but most probably was not. With almost every “No” we can think of exceptions. We will likely think of ways we have transgressed in our lives.

Yet, if we pause for a bit, “No” is an important word in many settings.

I invite you to reflect for a moment about the many contexts in our lives when we appreciate negativity.

Parents are frequently negative. They protect them by telling them not to cross a busy street, touch a hot stove, talk to strangers, and even not to ride a bike without a helmet.

The office is negative. You are not to post offensive posters, make sexual advances, use inappropriate language, offer or receive bribes, and so on.

Schools have rules like not running in the hallway, no bullying, no religious proselytizing, no prayers, no plagiarizing, and so on.

If you work for any level of government, you probably have a long list of do and do not.

Sports are among the most negative. The rules of golf defy explanation. The NFL rulebook is negative.

Yet, in the church, everything is to be sweetness and light. In particular, the preacher is to be positive. For me to come clean here, I am among those preachers who do not like to go negative. You see, my thought has been that most of us throughout the week have probably had enough negative to face throughout the week. I would rather lift people up with faith, hope, and love. I still think such themes out to be our focus as preachers.

Yet, the Bible has many places where it says “No” to the old life in order to embrace the new life of the people of God. For example, Paul was not shy about saying no to sexual promiscuity, impurity, obscenities, greed, and darkness. Such a “No” may seem harsh. Yet, I invite you to reflect upon the “No” Paul offers, especially when he considers the old way of life or offers a list of vices or works of the flesh. Do such negatives apply to today? Although Paul ranges wide in the negatives, many of them have to do with sexuality. Among the quite real issues sexually today is the availability of pornography. Such availability is harming marriages, dating, and pastors.

If we take our Bibles seriously, we cannot avoid negative preaching. The Bible does say “No,” and we as preachers need to share it with our congregations. You see, such negativity may save a life, a family, a marriage, or the calling of a pastor.[1]

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[1]  --For more about pastors and porn, see: Morgan Lee, "Here's how 770 pastors describe their struggle with porn," christianitytoday.com, January 26, 2016. Retrieved October 22, 2016.