Preaching With Integrity In Your Ministry

Preaching With Integrity

We just completed a series of posts on the importance of preaching with passion.  Now we turn to another important subject: the importance of preaching with integrity in your ministry with your congregation.  Let’s get to it.

A List of Integrity Failures

I recently read an article that had as its title:  Legendary Pastors Who Fell From Grace, by Genevieve Carlton.  The names she shared are humbling.  Ted Haggard, caught in a gay sex scandal in 2006.  Jim Bakker, convicted of fraud and accused of raping one of the secretaries at his ministry.  Jimmy Swaggers, who  paid a prostitute.  Twelve others were part of that article.

We can add more today:  Bill Hybels, accused of sexual harassment.  Mark Driscoll, accused of plagiarism, but also accused by staff of inappropriate behavior.   Matt Chandler,  Falwell from Liberty University, Robert Tilton, and many others could be added to the list.

The Cost of Integrity Failure

One of the primary reasons people are leaving the church today is hypocrisy.  In other words, people look at us Christians and say we don’t live up to what we say we believe.  Each time one of us leaders is shown to be a hypocrite, the body of Christ is damaged.  People leave the church.  Potential converts turn away, and many of them mock the church.

So, it is very important that when we preach, we preach with integrity.   What does that mean?  Here’s a dictionary definition:

An Example

I like the last definition the best when I talk about preaching with integrity in your ministry.  Undivided.  Maybe a better definition would be that nothing is out of alignment  in our life.

When I was 16 years old I was on my way to pick up my girlfriend for a date.  I was turning left at a light near her home.  Unfortunately, another man was trying to get through the yellow light.  He hit my father’s car right over the back tire of the 1961 Chevy station wagon.  The car was immovable due to the fact that the fender was crushed against the tire.  A wrecker came and hauled the car and me to a local gas station where a mechanic was still on duty.  He looked at the car, and said that maybe he could get it drivable by cutting away the offending fender.  Out came the blowtorch.

In a short time, the fender was cut away.  He then asked that I try driving the car down the road.  I did so, and then came back.  He said that the car was not fixable, and I should only drive it home.  Why?  He said, “Everything is out of alignment.  When you drive that car, the parts are fighting against each other.  If you keep driving it, it will eventually just fall apart.  A car needs to have everything aligned correctly.”

Wise Advice About Preaching With Integrity

That mechanic gave me wise advice the day, advice that easily transfers to your life and mine.  Our lives need to be aligned.  If my life has things out of alignment with my values, eventually it will cause stress that will bring me down.  This is integrity: keeping our lives and values in alignment.  Preaching with integrity in your ministry is essential for your church community.

In the next post we’ll consider what those who fall have in common, and how to avoid being on such a list.  In the meantime, here’s Rick Warren defining integrity, with a warning about what this means for you and your ministry.