John Sweetman

Many younger leaders (and some older ones) are regularly listening to podcasts of sermons. Last week I looked at why I think that this is a really good idea. But there is also a down side. This week I want to explore some possible problems with this phenomenon.

1. People can become dissatisfied with or critical of normal preachers. If you listen to the best preachers in the world all the time, then you may well find yourself bored with the preacher you hear every Sunday. Who can compete with the top communicators?

2. You can’t assess the character or culture of the preacher. Both these issues are vitally important in preaching. What do you really know about the character of the preacher you are listening too (apart from what they say)? What do you know about their context? What is their church like? What is their community like? How does this influence their preaching?

3. A church can be divided if people develop different core values to their church by listening to a particular preacher. Preachers all have their own theology and consequent core values and these impact their congregation. If you just listen to one podcaster, it is likely that over time you will imbibe their core values. If these core values are different from that of your church, then there will be tension. I’m not saying that this is necessarily bad – maybe the core values of your church are wrong – but it has the potential for considerable criticism and pain.

4. New preachers will model themselves on preachers with far greater God-given giftings. A beginning young preacher in a local church recently spoke for well over an hour to an evening congregation and still wasn’t finished. He was modelling his approach on podcasters who can easily hold congregations for over an hour of preaching. The congregation suffered.

5. People may stop coming to church because they’re getting enough biblical input already. They will therefore not hear what God is saying through the Spirit and the local preacher to the specific community and individuals with whom they serve.

6. There’s often little opportunity for listeners to process what they are hearing. You can’t talk with a podcast preacher. You don’t usually talk about their sermon in a small group. Their input avoids healthy critique.

7. There’s the problem of itchy ears – listening to what suits and appeals to us, not what we need to hear. Paul said, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” (2 Tim. 4:3). This is always a danger when we control the input.

So the issue is not straightforward. Next week, I want to finish this series with a few ideas on how to use podcasts effectively for spiritual growth..