In October 2019, Grace Bible Fellowship of Silicon Valley merged with Creekside Community Church in Cupertino, California. Taking elements from both names, we became Creekside Bible Church.
After our two congregations came together, we had a combined total of eight elders: five staff elders and three lay elders. Among the five staff elders, four preached regularly. Of these four, two—one from Grace Bible Fellowship and one from Creekside Community Church—preached most often.
Among the many questions that church merges generally elicit, one of the more urgent in our case was how to arrange the preaching assignments. Two men were used to preaching most of the time, while the other two wanted to preach more regularly. Who would preach, and how often?
As we were discussing this problem, one principle kept weaving its way into the conversation: “What is best for the congregation?”
That was the right question. While no man should vie for the pulpit out of personal ambition, it is hard to relinquish that glorious task when you’ve been handling it most Sundays. But our personal desires, while not unimportant, needed to yield to a greater concern: What will do most good for this church?
We concluded that it would be best for our new congregation as a whole to hear from both lead pastors regularly, while also hearing from the two men who were aspiring to preach more often. From my perspective, it was edifying to observe these two lead pastors willingly trim their pulpit time because they wanted to build up the congregation rather than their own reputation as the primary preacher.
Over the last seven years, our team-teaching model has solidified. Some of our elders have left to pursue other gospel ventures. Others have remained, while still new elders have joined our team and shown great promise in the pulpit. As it stands right now, we have two men who preach about eighty percent of the time, and two other men who preach about twenty percent of the time.
While this team-teaching model is not the most common in evangelical churches, we’ve found it yields great fruit in our setting. Here are some of the blessings and advantages we’ve discovered through this process of opening the pulpit to more than one man.
The Congregation Experiences Built-in Variety
When the congregation hears from more than one preacher on a regular basis, they experience a variety in biblical material (see below) and preaching style. While the congregation must be taught to value biblical content over a particular preaching style, different preaching styles can help capture and keep the congregation’s attention over time. When someone new enters the pulpit on a given Sunday, the people take notice and may find that a new voice renews their focus to listen carefully to the Word.
It Promotes Unity at the Leadership Level
When a local church has a regular team of preachers it fosters a healthy camaraderie at the leadership level. Having a plurality of preachers models for the congregation a united front on how to view the preaching ministry: the proclamation of God’s truth is the priority, not showcasing and elevating some specific personality.
The pulpit should be known for exalting Christ and His truth, not propping up some sinful man’s persona. Having a team of regular preachers guards against the ever-imminent reality of the personality cult emerging so common with churches that focus on just one man’s personality and giftedness. As such, having a team of preachers can help guard against unwanted idolatry in the church.
Paul knew about the risk of personality cults in the church more than anyone (1 Cor 3:1-9), and he condemned it. In fact, Paul began his preaching career as being part of a preaching team at the church of Antioch where he ministered alongside Barnabas and three other brothers (Acts 13:10).
The Congregation is Provided with a Breadth of Biblical Knowledge
Our current model has each preacher fill the pulpit for at least two weeks in a row (often more, particularly for the men who preach most of the time). We also have three of our preachers preach from specific sections of Scripture. Currently, one of our men is in the book of Luke, another in 1 Timothy, and a third is called our “Old Testament guy.”
By scheduling each preacher to be in the pulpit for two to five weeks in a row, we maintain continuity and depth in the biblical material from week to week while also exposing the congregation to a broader range of Scripture. In any given three-month period, the congregation could hear two messages from the minor prophets, five messages from Luke, four from Timothy, and a topical message.
This variety from the whole range of Scripture also follows the model Paul set before the Ephesian elders, namely, that they should teach the “full counsel” of God (i.e., the whole Bible) to the local church as he did (Acts 20).
Each Man is Afforded Time for Other Ministry Work
Sermon preparation is a serious grind. Depending on the passage and my familiarity with the topic, a single sermon could take me anywhere from ten to twenty hours to prepare—from initial exegesis in the original languages, to supplemental research, to crafting the final manuscript. That’s a lot of hours, but God has the highest standards and expectations for those who teach His Word (2 Tim 2:15; Jam 3:1)
But on the weeks when I am not preaching, I don’t schedule in ten to twenty hours of recreation to fill in the gap. No, I get to work on other ministry opportunities to serve the church.
Because I don’t face the rigor of sermon preparation week after week, month after month, I can focus on other responsibilities, like teaching and discipling the folks in our Young Professionals ministry, managing and writing for our publishing ministry, training the young men on our staff, overseeing other church-wide ministries, and handling administrative items for the elder team. Beyond my local church responsibilities, I’ve been able to give some time each week to a local seminary as their academic dean. All of this is possible because I share the preaching task with other men.
Each Man Gets to Sit Under Preaching
When does a solitary preacher get to sit under preaching? With the abundance of online resources, any pastor can access sermons whenever he wants. That’s good, and I believe it is wise for a pastor who preaches each week to make intentional use of these resources. But there is something unique about live preaching, especially when it comes from a fellow member and leader. As we listen to our brother with whom we share fellowship and ministry, we place ourselves under the Word of God as obedient children, making sure to listen carefully to the Word and apply it to our lives. Yes, a pastor must make sure he applies the truth he preaches to himself, or his ministry will be a sham (see 1 Tim 4:6, 15-16). But it is also good for him to sit under preaching for the sake of his own soul. A team-teaching model allows all the preachers to regularly sit under preaching for themselves.
What About Small Churches?
I am aware that our team-teaching model requires a larger staff. In the next article, I will defend this model biblically. But I will also (spoiler alert) make the case that churches have the freedom to structure their preaching team in the way that best serves their local congregation. This point matters because some churches do not currently have the manpower to support a team-teaching model.
Nevertheless, as I will also argue in the next article, the New Testament model for church leadership is a plurality of qualified men overseeing the church. Among the qualifications that an elder must have, the ability to teach is non-negotiable. Yes, there is a spectrum of gifting among the elders—some elders are more skilled teachers than others—but even then, Paul assumes that there will be more than one elder who is particularly gifted in teaching (1 Tim 5:17).
A solitary preacher, then, should make it a priority in his ministry to raise up other qualified men who are “able to teach others also” (2 Tim 2:2). So, while his small congregation may never experience a team-teaching model like ours, they should hear from a variety of skilled men on a regular basis. This pattern will be good for the congregation and good for the preachers.
