All across the world we’re finding more and more pastors creating preaching teams and the more we talk to them, the more they love them.

As pastors we feel so much pressure each week preparing and delivering sermons, counseling, leading our staff, meetings, budgets, and so much more. 

Creating a preaching team at your church could alleviate the pressure and offer your church several benefits.

Here are just a few we’ve found:

1. It brings balance to the pulpit

We all have biases when it comes to preaching. We have a bent toward certain experiences, perspectives, etc. We also have different tones and methods of preaching. Bringing different voices to the pulpit allows more diversity and keeps your church from getting “used” to expecting the same thing every week.

This is a great way to avoid predictability and apathetic church attendance.

2. Gives the Pastor Rest

Preaching 40 – 50 times or more a year is exhausting. This exhaustion will effect your spiritual life, your health, your preaching, and your relationships. None of which should be neglected.

Creating a preaching team with people you trust in the pulpit allows you as the pastor to recharge, rest, and ‘sharpen the axe’ so you can continue to lead your church well. 

3. It allows for experts on the topics

Let’s face it, as much as people in our church would like us to be, we aren’t experts on everything. For example: some of us preaching regular, we may be young parents or not parents at all. That means we may not be the best person to preach on the topic of parenting.

Building a trusted preaching team allows us to draw in other ‘experts’ on different topics to make sure we are providing our churches with the best possible content to help them grow and learn.

4. It allows the pastor to continually disciple younger pastors

Let’s face it, we get better with experience. Just like you desired opportunities to preach in the past, there are younger pastors waiting in the wings ready and eager for more opportunities. 

Building a preaching team that includes younger pastors gives you the opportunity to disciple and help them grow, learn, and develop. 

We recommend creating a process or structure around this. Help them craft their sermons, preach it to you first, and give them feedback before and after they preach in front of the congregation.

This does take time and commitment, but it is a vital part of Christian leadership.

5. It allows the pastor to not be seen as the only pastor of the church

If all the pastoring and ministering falls on one person, that can become draining very quickly. 

By giving other people an opportunity to preach in the pulpit you allow them to be seen as another authority in the church. They become someone people in the church trust and all of the counseling, ministering, pastoring, etc. doesn’t just fall on you.

By having other “pastors” in the church, it takes an enormous amount of pressure off one person and allows others to lead alongside you.

Conclusion