What To Do After Your Pastor Preaches A Bad Sermon

It Will Happen, So What Now?

We have all been there.

You walk out of church on Sunday thinking, “Hmmmm. That sermon was…… just okay.” Or maybe it was especially off and we think, “Man I need to say something about that because I didn’t enjoy it.”

As someone who preaches fairly often, I can tell you - if you in the congregation felt the sermon wasn’t the best, then probably so did the one preaching it. The hard part about preaching is you won’t always preach a sermon that changes the world. Sometimes you preach a normal sermon. Sometimes you preach a sermon and think about all the ways you wish you could change it. Sometimes the sermon you write is not near as good as the sermon you preach. And often times, the preacher knows it. They feel it. They are let down too.

The problem is we live in an era where you can listen or watch the best preachers in the world at your fingertips. You can see the best expositors of the Word, the best story tellers, or the most passionate! And often times, we watch their best sermons!

Then we come to church on Sunday and leave disappointed because our pastor isn’t Tim Keller or John Piper or Phillip Anthony Mitchell. Our pastor is just normal.¹

This brings us back to the beginning - What do you do after your pastor preaches a sub-par sermon? What happens when your pastor is a normal guy who preaches normal sermons?

Here are a few practical steps.

Encourage Your Pastor

I can’t think of a worse feelings than preaching a sermon that wasn’t my best and walking off stage to “Brandon here are all the ways your sermon lacked or wasn’t good enough.” That would be enough to discourage me from ever wanting to talk to anyone after I preach in the future. The walk down the stairs can be the loneliest walk you ever have.

A better option would be to simply express your thankfulness for them as a friend, leader, pastor, and/or preacher. Now imagine it - I walk off stage thinking about all the ways I could have said something better, how people might be responding, and I see a smiling face saying, “Brandon I am so thankful for your hard work. You are a blessing to my family.” WOW! Talk about a difference! Satan is already going to attack your Pastor after he preaches, so your pastor doesn’t need to be attacked by you too!

Church member - even if you aren’t the preacher or a pastor - you have a responsibility to care for and encourage the preacher especially after a sub-par sermon.

Practical Step: when was the last time you encouraged your preacher? When was the last time you said, “thank you for the hard work, vulnerability, and consistency each week”. If it wasn’t in the last month, you should grab your preacher on Sunday and encourage them!

Ask About Their Week

This is one I have never heard of happening before. What if instead of assuming your Pastor is lazy and that’s why they didn’t preach a great sermon, you assumed they had a hard week - maybe family was over-scheduled and crazy, maybe they walked with a dear church member through loss, maybe they were in the hospital hours checking on someone, maybe they are just sad, or maybe they are just human and the 40 hour work week was a lot this time.

As I write this, I am preaching on Sunday. Between catching our Elders up on things happening, weekly logistics, visiting a friend in the hospital, finishing our big missions push to care for orphans in Honduras, planning for our prison ministry, communicating with discouraged youth, writing communication for youth parents, asking our volunteers to show up early on Sunday, leading teams, preparing an Evangelism training, praying for our people, families, singles, and college students, it is a lot to balance. This is only Tuesday. This doesn’t even include my family, being a husband, being a dad, or walking my dog who deserves good walks.

Notice this: I haven’t even mentioned studying, sermon prep, writing, or practicing.

I think we would learn a lot of empathy for our Pastors if we started asking them about their week.

Photo by Jazmin Quaynor on Unsplash

Acknowledge Your Heart Plays A Role

This is another one we as Americans like to overlook. What if the problem wasn’t the sermon, but what if the problem was me? Worship on Sunday is a space to interact with God through singing, preaching, and the ordinances (or sacraments in some traditions). Yet like all of life, we should prepare our hearts before we expect to interact with God. Where you rushed to church because of the kids? Did you feel distracted? Did you drink too much coffee? Did you decide early on the sermon wouldn’t be good? We have to remember - we play a part in receiving the sermon just like the Pastor prays a part in preaching the sermon.

Some good guidelines: Why did you consider the sermon to not be good? Often times, we allow our preferences to cloud our judgment. In all reality, if the Pastor preached the passage faithfully, proclaimed Jesus as the only Savior for lost and broken sinners like us, and used some imagery - then it wasn’t a bad sermon. You might have just not liked the sermon, but that doesn’t make it a bad sermon!

Pray For and With Them

The greatest thing you can do for your Pastor is to pray for and with them. In this moment, you get to thank God for their gifting. If in person, you get to remind them their value and worth is not in how bad (or good) a sermon they preach. They are real and broken humans trying to point real and broken humans to the One who gives life. They won’t do that perfectly, and it is okay. Pastors need grace too!

Through praying with them, we get to remind them it is okay to not be perfect. It is okay to know a sermon doesn’t define them. It is okay to invite the Holy Spirit to protect them from the Enemy as he attacks.² We get to show them we care about their family, their life, their health, their off time, and so much more. We get to encourage them by praying with them!

As you pray for them throughout the week, ask God to remind them He is the One who saves not a sermon. Ask God to bless their preparation. Ask God to give them joy in the process. Ask God to protect their family. Ask God to protect them. Ask God to shine His face upon them. Pastors need prayer too.

Final Thoughts:

A huge problem in the church is we don’t have empathy for our Pastors because we don’t pray for them, we don’t talk to them, and we don’t care for them.

We all have bad days at work - if a preacher has a bad Sunday at work, it is in front of people they care for deeply and doing something they care about deeply. If they have a bad day, you don’t have to tell them. You could meet them in the hardships and remind them they are loved by God and their people. You can remind them of the grace they once experienced from God BEFORE they were ever a Pastor.

So, next time your Pastor has an off sermon or bad Sunday, you get a choice: you can encourage or discourage them. A sermon shouldn’t define your pastor. You get to remind them of that.

1. A calm reminder - John Piper isn’t your pastor. Your pastor is your pastor. You won’t call John Piper when you get a terrible doctor’s report, but you will call your Pastor. I encourage you to be thankful for who God has placed in your life to steward and shepherd you.

2. I know a lot of preachers like myself - the hour or so after preaching can be miserable - your adrenaline wears off, you are tired, you are vulnerable and Satan attacks. He reminds you all the things you could have said better, the things you missed saying, or how others may have or have not heard it.