John Newton was not that great of a preacher. Newton preached during the time of great orators like Whitefield, Wesley, Davies, Tennent, and many more. Those who heard Newton were sometimes surprised that he had such a full congregation. He was sincere, orthodox, pious, but he was not “graceful in delivery”. Richard Cecil, a fellow Anglican clergyman, said this:
With respect to his ministry, he appeared, perhaps, to least advantage in the pulpit; as he did not generally aim at accuracy in the composition of his sermons, nor at any address in the delivery of them. His utterance was far from clear, and his attitudes ungraceful.
So why, in an age when preaching was at a premium, was a middling orator like Newton pastoring a congregation filled with people? Cecil gives the answer:
He possessed, however, so much affection for his people, and zeal for their best interests, that the defect of his manner was of littler consideration with his constant hearers: at the same time, his capacity, and habit of entering into their trials and experience, gave the highest interest to his ministry among them.
Newton genuinely loved his people. And they knew that he loved them. He wouldn’t use the pulpit to clobber them, to share their secrets, or anything of the sort. But he was often among the people and heard their hearts. This would inform his preaching.
When he picked a text he likely had a conversation in mind. He always aimed to help his congregation. His passion for Christ and his congregation bled out into the pulpit. He spoke their language. For an outsider looking in—he might have seemed bumbling, somewhat dry, and harder to follow. But he spoke their language and so they absorbed his words.
Should We Think of A Wider Audience When Preaching?
1 Peter 5:2 exhorts us preachers to “shepherd the flock of God among you”. That is a little more difficult to apply in our day. Who is “among us”? Do we include our wider online audience? Do we preach in such a way that our sermons would be fit for publication or YouTube snippets?
I think Newton may give us the answer here as well. He would converse often amongst his people: “Walking about an hour or two among the people, and sometimes drinking tea with them”. This would give him insight into their spirits were working and the things which they were struggling with. This would often give Newton direction in the pulpit. And as he noted,
“What is observed of ten persons in these different situations, may be applied to ten thousand. For though some circumstances vary, the heart of man, the aids of grace, and the artifices of Satan, in general are universally the same.
I think what this is telling us is that if we craft our sermons with our people in mind, the Lord will often see fit to give it a wider audience. Aim to help the people of whom God has sovereignly placed in your care and it will likely be fitting nourishment for a wider audience.
Of course, it is also possible that the way in which you speak to your people will land differently when it is picked up by a wider audience. We must be aware of this, but we cannot exchange speaking in the dialect of the flock of God which is among us.
Shepherd your flock. That is the one to which we will give an account when we stand before the Lord.
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