2. From time to time, tell the preachers you are praying for them and looking forward with expectancy to the sermon. That will be a great encouragement and incentive to them to prepare well.
3. Be there. You may be surprised what an encouragement it is just to have you there, and what a discouragement to have you absent.
4. Thank them afterwards for things you learned. Don't flatter or just give them very vague comments about how good it was (if it was). Try to be specific and focus on the biblical content of the sermon, rather than just stories, anecdotes or illustrations. Tell them if there was something in particular you found helpful.
5. Be prepared to be constructively and supportively critical. Ask the preachers to help you see where they got a particular point in this passage; this will sharpen them up if, in fact, it didn't come from the passage, or indeed the Bible. It will encourage them to stick more to the Bible more next time. Be humble and respectful in the way you do this; remember, it is much harder to preach than to criticise preaching.
6. Relate to your preachers as one human being to other human beings. Remember that the best sermon by a remote preaching hero, heard on an MP3 recording, is no substitute for the word of God preached by a human being face to face with other human beings in the context of trust and love.
7. Be on the lookout for gifts of preaching and teaching in the church, and be ready to tap someone on the shoulder and suggest they develop these gifts and get further training. Mention these ideas to the pastoral leadership team in your church.
From Listen Up!, Christopher Ash, Director of Cornhill Training Course, London
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