Bad preaching vs weak preaching

A comment was made on my post about Christian minimalism to the extent that minimalism is the result of bad preaching. I disagree. It isa not bad preaching but weak preaching.

When I think of bad preaching, I think of Fred Price, Benny Hinn and their ilk. Those who (intentionally or not) distort Scripture in order to make it say what they want it to say. On points of theology they are just plain wrong. That is bad preaching, in my view.

Weak preaching is something totally different. This i preaching which fails to challenge our lives, confront our sin or convict us of our need to be righteous. many seeker-sensistive churches fall into this. Preaching about sin is not often done and if it is done, it often gives subtle comfort that those in sin may indeed remain there.

There is a church which I am familiar with in which the application from the sermon can often be boiled down to 3 things. Read your Bible. Pray. Be in fellowship. Yes, all those things should be done and done well, but when this is the depth of the application, there is something wrong. These people may read their little devotional book, say grace before meals and get together with friends from church and think they are doing God's will. The application of Scripture to their lives never goes beyond this because the man in the pulpit never goes beyond this.