How To Be a Great Preacher and Minister

Preachers should be called to ministry, not just train. We are seeing in today’s church a lot of persons, who are preaching the gospel, but God did not call them to be a preacher. What we are finding is that many of them took it up themselves to preach the word of God because of money, fame, and influence that oftentimes comes with being a preacher.

I do agree that ministers including preachers should get training if they choose, but what we are seeing today is many people that took it upon themselves to be a preacher but there is no anointing. It is the anointing that will make your ministry as a preacher of the gospel very effective.

If God has revealed to you that he has call you in the ministry to preach his word unto his people, here are 7 tips that can help you to be a great preacher and minister of the gospel:

1. Be yourself. When God called you he did not call you to be TD Jakes, Joel Osteen, Noel Jones, or anyone else, but he called you to be you. The world is short of genuine people who are not afraid of being who God called them to be. Not many people might like your style of preaching but do not let them cause you to lose your true identity.
2. Draw close to the Lord daily through studying his word and prayer. As a preacher YOU MUST stay connected to God and you can only do this by constantly studying your Bible and talking to him through prayer. Sometimes you will have to lock away from everyone else for a period of time and get down in some deep studying and prayer. If you stay connected God will download what he want you to speak to his people. Moreover, God will open your understanding to his words and reveal new things unto you. You will never be as effective as you should be if you don’t stay connected to the source.
3. A preacher must be separated. If you want to be effective and the Lord uses you mightily, you have to separate yourself from gossips, backbiters, idlers and sin. You cannot allow your spirit to be contaminated by too much negativity. Spirits are transferable; this means that if you hang around the wrong crowd their attitude and way of thinking and behaving will rub off on you and soon after you start gossiping, backbiting, among others. Many powerful ministers and preachers lost their anointing because of being in the wrong crowd, and by living a sinful life.
4. Listen to other preachers. I am not asking you to copy their messages, but by listening to other preachers you can learn new ideas, and get new revelations from them. Similarly, you can watch how they transition from one point to another and how they bring across their messages effectively.
5. As a preacher you will be criticized and persecuted, be willing to accept these. Not because you preach the gospel you will be exempted from criticisms and persecution, once you accepted the call of being a preacher the very opposite will happen to you. As a preacher, you must expect and welcome criticisms and persecutions from church members and from officers of the church. These can either build you or break you; you will have to choose which one it will be. The Lord sometimes will allow criticisms and persecutions to come our way to test and build us. You cannot expect to be a great preacher and not be able to deal positively with criticisms and persecutions. When it comes, listen, take what will help you to grow, throw the rest in the garbage bin and move on without holding any grudge against those who criticize your ministry.
6. A preacher must stay focus. Preaching the gospel is a very high and rewarding calling; because of this the enemy will send many distractions and things to pull you away from God and your ministry. You cannot allow people around you and things of this world to distract you from what God called you to be and do.
7. Exercise great humility. When the Lord use you mightily, humble yourself and do not take the credit but give it all to God. Pride will pull you down faster than you went up as God draw himself away from those that are lifted up in pride. When people sees someone that is lifted up with pride they will want nothing to do with you and your ministry.

Preaching the gospel is an exciting and fulfilling ministry. If God has called you to be a preacher it is very important that you humble yourself and stay connected to God. The enemy will come to test and destroy you but you must stay focus. Remember it is God that has called you to ministry so he should be your director.

What steps have you put in place in order to be a great preacher? Have any experience, tip, suggestions or anything you would like to share? Post it below and be a part of the discussion.