Dealing with Sin By Mass Proclamation or Propinquity Effect Theory

Okay, never mind the title of this post as I have no idea what it means, but here's my theory. A significant number of pastors do not use an exhaustive approach to help people deal with sin.

I need to prefice this by saying that I believe there is a strong tendency to model pastoral ministry after very unrealistic expectations. Pastors are different in personality and ability yet we have a tendency to want all pastors to be one thing. I won't go into a discussion here about what that "one thing" is but I think each pastor's ministry will look very different and that's okay.

My theory is that you can break down how pastors help people deal with sin into a couple of very broad categories. On the one hand you have pators who use mass proclamation. These are the ones who preach fire and brimstone each week. They are constantly talking about the need to repent and they would never miss the chance for an altar (or alter) call.

On the other hand you have those who help people deal with sin at a very personal level. They do this out of a close relationship and they are more specific about the sin. There mass proclamation is more teaching and altar calls are few.

Many pastors are good at both and use both regularly. Most others use both but rely heavily on one or the other. However, I think there are a significant number of pastors who have the ability to do one very well but are very poor at the other. In other words some pastors are very good at fire and brimstone in a mass setting but won't say a word about sin on a personal level. Likewise, some rarely talk about it in a large setting but are extremely good at identifying sin and helping people repent on the personal level.

I know there are some who would insist on one over the other. And there are those who feel that a pastor should have expetise in both. But I think we need to be careful about asssumptions. I have heard people say, "Pastor So-and-so never preaches about sin and hell." The accusation is that he is soft and probably a liberal. But it might just be that he does deal with sin on a personal level all the time. Others might conclude that not dealing with sin is the way to go because they have heard that another pastor rarely mentions it on Sunday and his church seems to be thriving. In actuality that pastor might be saying a lot about sin in a different setting.

Anyway, just a theory.