Let’s start with Jesus.
When Jesus showed up doing his healing ministry, he wasn’t just being nice. He was checking boxes. The Old Testament prophets had said the Messiah would come and do very specific things: the lame would walk, the mute would speak, the blind would see, the dead would be raised. That was the résumé. And that’s exactly what Jesus went around doing. Anyone paying attention to the prophets should have looked at what Jesus was doing and said, “Wait a minute — he’s doing everything they said the Messiah would do.” That healing ministry was, in a real sense, his credentials.
But healing wasn’t the only thing Jesus did. He also taught in the synagogues, and he preached the good news of the kingdom. And here’s the thing — most believers in the body of Christ couldn’t tell you the difference between those two words if you asked them. Ask someone at church, “Does your pastor preach or teach?” and you’ll usually get a blank stare. “What’s the difference?”
There is a difference. And it’s a big one.
What Teaching Actually Means
The word “teaching” (or “teacher”) in the New Testament almost always comes from the Greek word didasko. It means instruction, plain and simple. Teaching is always instructional in nature.
Think about someone teaching you how to check your car. “That’s the dipstick — that’s how you check the oil. That’s the transmission dipstick, that’s how you check the transmission fluid. Here’s where the oil goes, here’s where the filter is, there’s the air filter, those are the spark plugs.” That’s teaching. It’s instruction. This is the way it is. This is how it works.
What Preaching Actually Means
Preaching is different. It generally comes from Greek words that mean to proclaim or to announce — to herald a message. Picture the old town crier walking through the streets shouting out the news: “The British are coming!” Something like that. A herald doesn’t explain — he declares. He announces. This is true, pay attention.
And here’s something interesting: in the Bible, whenever the word for preaching shows up, it’s almost always tied to the gospel. Preaching is heralding a message, and that message is almost always the good news. Teaching, on the other hand, always relates to instruction — walking someone through something so they understand it.
How to Tell What Kind of Church You’re In
Here’s a simple test. If you go to a church where the pastor gets up, reads a couple of verses, and then talks for 45 minutes without ever really connecting back to those verses — you’re probably not sure how what he said actually relates to the passage he read — there’s a good chance you’re in a preaching church. He’s using the verses as a springboard, not actually teaching through the text.
But if you go to a church where they read a passage, explain what it says, refer back to it constantly, and even bring in other passages to clarify and corroborate it — you’re in a teaching church. That’s instructional teaching.
Preaching Isn’t a Requirement for Pastors — Teaching Is
Here’s something that might surprise you: preaching is not a biblical requirement or qualification for pastors. Teaching is.
Why? Because we’re all called to preach. Every single believer is called to preach the gospel — declare it, herald it — whether or not you’re an evangelist. And no, that doesn’t mean standing on a street corner in Seattle with a bullhorn and a hat on the ground for donations. It means declaring truth wherever you are. If you’ve got small children at home, that’s your preaching ministry right there — making sure they know the gospel and understand what Jesus did on the cross. If you’ve got loved ones or coworkers, your life should be preaching to them, and when the opportunity comes, you should declare the Word of God.
Preaching has such a negative connotation in our culture — “he’s getting preachy again.” But that’s not what we mean. We’re not talking about being demanding, dogmatic, or obnoxious. Preaching is just declaring truth. “Jesus died.” That’s true. “Jesus died for you.” That’s true. Every time I say that to you, I’m preaching. I’m declaring. And we’re all called to do that — every single one of us.
That’s actually part of what’s damaging about calling a pastor “a preacher.” First, it’s not even a biblical title for a church leader — because preaching is something we’re all supposed to do. Second, it gives the false impression that only certain people are called to preach. We all are as Christians. It’s something believers are called to do: preach, declare, proclaim.
Teaching, though, is something every pastor must do. And that’s the part that’s wild — not many actually do it.
1 Timothy 3: The Qualification Is “Able to Teach”
When Paul wrote to Timothy, he laid out the qualifications for an overseer — and remember, overseer, elder, and pastor are synonymous terms in the New Testament. Paul says if anyone sets his heart on being an overseer, he desires a noble task. Then he lists the qualifications: above reproach, husband of one wife (a one-woman man), temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable… and then, “able to teach.”
Notice it doesn’t say “able to preach.” Because this is talking about leadership, and the one who leads — pastor, elder, overseer — must be able to teach. That’s the biblical qualification.
The Pattern with Paul, Timothy, and Titus
Remember what Paul’s pattern was? He’d go to a city, preach the gospel, people would respond in faith, a body would form — and then Paul would move on (often because he was getting run out of town). He’d leave men like Timothy and Titus behind to shepherd what he started and now teach the people. That’s why the letters to Timothy and Titus are called the “pastoral epistles” — Paul is giving instructions for raising up pastors (teachers able to instruct) in the local churches these men were left to lead.
Earlier in 1 Timothy, Paul writes: “The things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others.” That was the whole point of leaving Timothy behind — raise up reliable men who are qualified to lead the church, and the qualification is: they can teach. They can instruct others.
Ephesians 4 and the “Pastor-Teacher”
When Paul lays out the gifts that make up church leadership in Ephesians 4, he says Christ “gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers… to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” A lot of people call this the “fivefold ministry” because there are five gifts listed there.
But here’s something worth noticing: pastor and teacher are linked together almost as one office — inseparable. And it makes sense, because “pastor” here is the exact same Greek word translated “shepherd”. So Paul is essentially saying Christ gave some to be shepherds and teachers.
Think about what a shepherd does — he feeds the flock. Can you imagine a shepherd who doesn’t know how to feed his sheep? They’d end up dead, or at least malnourished. A shepherd must be able to feed his flock — which means he must be able to teach the people.
What Happens When a Pastor Only Preaches
So what happens when a pastor gets up Sunday after Sunday and preaches — exhorting, encouraging — but rarely actually teaches?
Think of it like a sports locker room. Before a game, at halftime, after the game, a coach exhorts his team: “Alright guys, tough game today, but we’ve got this, let’s go rip their heads off,” or whatever the pep talk is. He’s motivating them, pumping them up. That’s exhortation — that’s preaching, in a sense. Encouragement, motivation.
But if that coach never stops long enough to actually teach the players how to play the game — the rules of the contest, how to handle the ball, the fundamentals of dribbling or shooting — you’ve got a problem.
Believers who’ve only been exhorted, encouraged, and motivated — but never actually taught — end up with no real foundation for their life in Christ. And when hardship hits, they can’t hold on, because they’ve heard a lot about “trusting God” but were never taught the Scriptures themselves.
What Happens When Christians Aren’t Taught
Here’s where it gets serious. Christians who’ve been exhorted but not taught end up believing things that simply aren’t biblically true. A few examples:
• “God will never give me more than I can bear.” This isn’t in the Bible. And yet roughly 95% of the body of Christ believes it. It’s a misreading of 1 Corinthians — the actual verse says God won’t allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. It doesn’t say he won’t allow the circumstances of your life to pile up beyond what you can bear. Two very different statements.• Marriage, divorce, and remarriage. People will want to remarry but unsure how to do it biblically. No guidance or teaching on this. The Bible does address eligibility for remarriage based on the circumstances of a previous marriage and divorce — but people have simply never been taught this. • Not being able to defend the faith. When a Jehovah’s Witness or a Mormon shows up at your door with a well-rehearsed argument about the deity of Christ, and you get rattled and walk away thinking, “Wow, I don’t know, maybe I don’t really understand this” — that’s what happens when you’ve never been taught the foundations of your own faith.
The Bottom Line
None of this is a small thing. When believers are constantly exhorted and encouraged but never actually taught the Word, they end up with no foundation — and it shows up in real, damaging ways: shaky faith under pressure, false beliefs treated as gospel truth, and an inability to stand firm when challenged. Teaching isn’t optional. Teaching isn’t extra if there’s time. It’s the qualification. It’s the feeding of the flock. And it’s what actually builds people up to withstand the storms that are coming. May God build up the body of Christ and bring forth more teachers of the Word of God. Amen.
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