Small-town pastor, you have the privilege of preaching bespoke sermons. \u201cBespoke\u201d is a word often used to describe clothing or furniture carefully crafted for a particular customer or user. It\u2019s not mass-produced. It\u2019s not off-the-rack. It\u2019s made with a particular someone in mind. It fits that person perfectly. You can preach like that.<\/p>\n
Good sermons that stay small can go where a big sermon never could. If your congregation has 85 people and you\u2019re an even reasonably faithful pastor, you\u2019ll know every one of them with a significant degree of familiarity. You\u2019ll know their histories, griefs, struggles, insecurities, weaknesses, joys, and aspirations. You\u2019ll also be attuned to how they relate to one another\u2014where the tensions and stress points lie, what the relationships are like. You\u2019ll have the kind of granular and overall understanding of your congregation that a big-church pastor never could. And you can preach to that. Your sermons can fit.<\/p>\n
You can preach a sermon that would never work as a podcast. It wouldn\u2019t fit someone living on the other side of the country, working a job that doesn\u2019t exist in your small town. It wouldn\u2019t fit someone with a different educational level from the people sitting in front of you. You can preach a sermon that will only fully serve these particular people in your life and in your church. In Love Big, Be Well, Winn Collier\u2019s fictional small-town pastor Jonas McAnn says he wants to preach sermons that fit only in his town, to live a life that wouldn\u2019t make much sense except in his own place. That\u2019s a bespoke ministry.<\/p>\n
Read it all<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sermons that stay small can go where \u201cbig\u201d sermons never could. https:\/\/t.co\/YAW6nye378<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 The Gospel Coalition (@TGC) November 6, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n