Preaching Doctrine In Your Church

We turn in this post from the consideration of the toughest sermons you will ever have to write to the somewhat controversial subject of whether or not you should be preaching doctrine in your church during the year. The authors of the book, “Preaching Doctrine”, note in the introduction that the American Church has become fairly ignorant about doctrine. They give several reasons for this:

Churches have placed education in the basiscbeliefs of the Church on the back burner. Adult education, in particular, is lacking in many contemporary churches.
Preaching, too, has shifted away from doctrine to the felt needs of the people that we hope to reach.
In addition, the overall culture has moved strongly toward consumerism. So, unless there is a strong connection between a sermon and practical benefit to the hearer, the audience will be less interested.
And yet. one more reason is the radical individualism that exists in our culture here in the US.
And then, there is the overall secularization of the culture makes it less likely there will be an interest in what has been viewed as “boring” doctrine.

So What Do We Do About Preaching Doctrine?

Do we just yield and not talk about the basic doctrines revealed in the Bible? Or, do we find a meaningful way of preaching doctrine in your church that will build up your members in faith? In the next several posts we are going to explore this subject. Part of the background for doing this series of posts is the following set of facts:

When Christians were asked about the facts in the gospel:

-48% could not name the four Gospels.

-52% cannot identify more than two or three of Jesus’ disciples.

-60% of American Christians can’t name even five of the 10 Commandments.

-When asking graduating high school “born again Christians” over 50% of them thought Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife.

-61% of American Christians think the Sermon on the Mount was preached by Billy Graham.

71% think the phrase “God helps those who help themselves” is in the Bible

That’s humbling, isn’t it?

Why Is Preaching Doctrine Important?

Rueben Johnson preached a sermon in which he shared how preaching doctrine is important in the New Testament. You can find that sermon here. Consider these reasons.

Repeatedly Jesus was asked about His doctrine…Paul charged Timothy to preach sound doctrine..Titus emphasized the need for sound doctrine in a world gone mad…Jesus outlines false doctrines in the Book of Revelation.

Sound Biblical Doctrine serves as the bedrock for faith – it is the compass or the looking glass for consistency across the generations – as philosophies come and go, sound doctrine should remain steadfast and true.

Where the knowledge of God diminishes, faithfulness cannot exist.

There is only one safeguard against error, and that is to be established in the faith; and for that, there has to be prayerful and diligent study, and a receiving with meekness the engrafted Word of God. – A.W. Pink

Conclusion

So, preaching doctrine in your church is an important choice. In the following posts, I’m going to suggest a series of messages that will focus your congregation on the importance of the basic knowledge of the Bible as expressed in the basic doctrines of the church. I will not get into specifics of Reformed or Pentecostal, or Baptist, etc. theology, but give the general guidelines for considering what the Bible reveals.

So, it’s not really the conclusion, but stay tuned as we look at some of the ways that preaching doctrine in your church can be profitable for your congregation.

June 19, 2025/by Bruce Ballast