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The mission of Church & Family Life is to proclaim the sufficiency of Scripture for both church and family life.
How Transparent Should Pastors Be from the Pulpit?
Mar. 2, 2018
00:00
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Transcription

How often should a pastor include himself in making application to the congregation of matters of walking in practical righteousness? It's a hard question. I think some pastors have a habit of being so transparent that they're in the danger, unfortunately, of making too many of their sermons seem as though they're a little bit pastor-centric, and as though it's frequently quite a bit about them. Our sermons are not meant to be biographical studies of our own struggles, and so we don't want to overdo that, but there should be regular and frequent inclusion of himself as one to whom the word applies without distracting the congregation with all sorts of digressions about his own walk with God and as though this was something about him. You

How transparent should pastors be from the pulpit?

Dennis Gunderson explains in this video that it is important for pastors to be transparent in their sermons but that they should exercise discretion on how transparent they are.

For instance, some pastors are too transparent in that their sermons become all about them. Sermons are not to be about ourselves entirely. There shouldn't be unnecessary distractions or digressions. 

Philippians 2:3 (NKJV) - "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself."

Speaker
Dennis Gundersen is President and owner of Grace and Truth Books, a Christian publisher of more than 60 books, with a primary focus on reprinting 19thcentury children's stories with a character building emphasis. Dennis has served as Senior Pastor at three Tulsa churches since 1984 and is currently devoting his time to writing, publishing, conference speaking and a role as a visiting professor at Tlapaneco Bible Institute in the state of Guerrero, Mexico. He is author of two books: "Your Child's Profession of Faith" and “Courtship or Dating: So What’s the Difference”, and he is a frequent speaker at church conferences, men's retreats and home education conventions. He and his wife Naomi have been married since 1976, and have four adult sons who were all homeschooled. For relaxation, he is an avid mountain climber, cyclist, and photographer.
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