Every Sunday you pray, prepare, practice, and preach your sermon to your faith community believing life change is going to occur. And then on Monday, over 80% of those who heard your sermon have no idea what it was about. How do you increase their retention to deepen their life change?
Deliver engaging sermons that are memorable and transformational by crafting thought-provoking content, using intentional structures, being relatable, and spending ample time in preparation.
Introduction
The awkward feeling in the air was palpable. I could feel my ears start to get hot and the sweat factory in my body kick on. All the while, sixteen pairs of eyes were staring at me waiting for me to say something profound, something impactful…heck they probably would have settled for me to just say something that made sense.
It was my first youth pastor position…well, I guess it was my only youth pastor position, and I had been preaching every week for about 6 weeks. By that point, I had exhausted all the sermons I had wrote in Bible college and as a youth volunteer. I was now venturing out into fresh material that had never been tested.
By evaluating the 10 minutes of preaching everyone in that room had endured, including me, it was clear I was just not cutting the mustard. It was too deep theologically, bland in its structure, and monotone in its delivery. Maybe I had missed God when I heard him call me into ministry because no young person should have to endure this kind of torture…my preaching was awful.
In over 20 years of ministry, I have lost count of how many sermons I have preached. Yes, I did continue to preach despite this experience. Now, for full transparency that youth position I held for a year and a half was the only position I have had where I preached on a weekly basis. This is why I appreciate those pastors and ministry leaders out there who do craft sermons and deliver them 40-50 times a year.
The Craft of Preaching
Preaching is a craft. It is a skill that deserves to be developed, honed, and mastered for two reasons:
- The contents are the living word of God that deserves to be presented in the clearest and most engaging ways possible.
- People deserve to hear a compelling presentation of God’s word in order to know Jesus more and engage in his mission more passionately.
Every week in churches around the world people gather. Now, they come for a variety of reasons: see their friends, engage in worship, take a break from their kids, get involved, and grow as individuals. But, the main focus of every church service should be the presentation of the scriptures.
In our series, How to Overcome Biblical Illiteracy, we are looking at how to position ourselves as pastors, ministry leaders, and believers to bring the Bible to life and engage people with the scriptures more effectively. In the introduction I gave 4 ways you can fight the fight:
- Expository Preaching: The Key to Growing a Healthy Church
- Engaging Preaching
- Practical Application
- Systematic Devotions
Each of these are vital steps pastors and ministry leaders can take toward getting their faith communities more involved with the scriptures.
This week we want to look at how to make sermons more engaging. Too many of God’s people come to church every week and hear sermons that barely keep their attention, let alone engage them.
Abraham Lincoln said,
“I don’t like to hear cut and dried sermons. No—when I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees.”
Many of the congregants sitting in churches on Sunday morning may agree with President Lincoln and long for something, anything, that will make them smile, cheer, or feel any deep emotion.
Preaching is challenging, though. As preachers, we carry the weight of presenting the Gospel responsibly while also trying to make it interesting and coherent. We aren’t just communicating information, we are communicating life change from the words of the Creator. Most everyone who hears us on a Sunday morning has no appreciation of what we go through to deliver a sermon.
How to Preach Engaging Sermons
For better or worse, we shouldn’t expect them to appreciate what we go through. As leaders, we simply do what we have been called to do, present engaging sermons that divide the word, feed the mind, and inspire the heart. So, how do we do that?
Use Thought-provoking Content
As preachers, we have the greatest source material there is. We are communicating the wonders and mysteries of the Creator of all things who came to earth as a man, died as a ransom for our sins, and then rose again to declare his victory over sin, hell and the grave. It just doesn’t get any better than that…but I have heard a countless number of sermons that fail to convey such awesome power.
Usually when I find myself listening to a sermon that is void of the awesome power of the scriptures is because it is void of the scriptures themselves. Often times there is a scripture at the front end and maybe a couple scattered throughout, and that is if you are lucky. (I once heard a “sermon” developed from the book The Art of War by Sun Tzu and didn’t contain a single scripture.)
We first and foremost need to start with the scriptures and pull from the truths we find there. This is why expository preaching is so valuable.
Beyond the scriptures themselves, we need to unearth other great material that is available to us in books, quotes, stories, research, and videos. Sermons should have layers of information that, when peeled back through preaching, is a journey of discovery for the congregation.
This is what makes movies, fiction books, and legends memorable. When we pick up the Lord of the Rings Trilogy or the Chronicles of Narnia or watch Schindler’s List and Forest Gump we are moved. We are moved because we are confronted with our own dreams, fears, ambitions, shortcomings, and values. Great stories reveal ourselves to us because the information we receive causes us to think about our own lives and evaluate where we are.
As preachers, we need to put in the time to craft a sermon that is thought-provoking and compels people toward life change. True life change occurs when the heart and mind are touched by Jesus and transformed. Paul tells us to “…be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Rom. 12:2) Our sermons should contain information that will change the minds of people, train the minds of people, and empower the minds of people. This is when a lasting life change occurs.
Use Intentional Structures
There are many ways to approach sermon structure. In Bible college, I learned the inductive and deductive sermon styles. I learned how to weave a narrative in such a way that would draw the congregation to the edge of their seats, and then leave them to find out next week what happens next. I would like to say that I have used all these structures over the years and successfully preached compelling sermons. But…
As we have all learned from the story above, that has not been the case. I have also used the “tell a story and find an application” model, the “read the Bible for 20 min with scattered commentary” model, and even the “pick a random scripture and then ramble till time runs out or everyone is asleep” model (Thankfully, time usually ran out before everyone was asleep).
Sermons need to have a structure with some sort of progressional movement. Our brains work in systems and patterns, they do not work in random, which means our sermons need to have a structure in order for those who hear us to remember what we are saying. As Andy Stanley says, if we want them to carry it beyond Sundays we need to make it “memorable and portable”.
This means having a clear structure such as points that build off of the main idea or reinforce a single action plan. Quotes, narratives, and our one-liners should point back to the single idea we are trying to convey. If we preach without form we are asking our faith communities to take a shapeless blob of information and mold it into something that is actionable. In essence, we are asking them to do our jobs.
Be Relatable
Charles Spurgeon once said,
“Preach not calmly and quietly as though you were asleep, but preach with fire and pathos and passion.”
I think this is where a lot of preachers get themselves in trouble. Either, they do not preach with ‘fire and pathos and passion’ or they do but it is a disconnect from who they really are.
When I went to Bible college, I was greatly intimidated by the craft of preaching. Being in a Pentecostal movement, I was exposed to a lot of great preachers who could preach the house down, wave their hankies, sweat profusely, and cry on command. It took me a long time to realize many of them were not putting on a show, but that was genuinely how they preached. There was only one problem…that wasn’t me.
I am a pretty reserved person and it takes a lot to get an emotional response from me. So, as a young Bible college student, I felt as though I would never be a good pastor until I could learn to preach like all those passionate preachers I had seen.
Then, one of my mentors set me free. He told me, if preach from my heart, be true to the Bible, and true to who I am, I would be a fine preacher. Those words gave me permission to be me, even when I was on stage preaching.
In our current social climate, people are looking for leaders to be genuine and honest about who they are. The days of preaching from the ivory tower are over and most people want to know their pastor is being real with them. So, if we step behind the pulpit and present a completely different personality to them, someone they don’t recognize, at best they will be confused, and at worse, they won’t trust you. They will accuse you of being fake. Instead, you want to be relatable.
Remember, you need to be engaging and be able to draw people in, but don’t feel as though you need to be someone else. At the same time, you may just need to be a more engaging version of yourself when you are behind the pulpit.
For myself, I am naturally a behind-the-scenes kind of person who walks into a room and casually makes my way around the perimeter of a room before striking up a conversation with an individual or two. So, for me to get behind the pulpit and become this overly animated, hyper, crying at the drop of a hat preacher is a violation of trust with the people who follow me. At the same time, I can’t be a stoic, reserved, soft-talking preacher either…no one would stick with me through to the end of a sermon.
Instead, I find the personable traits of my personality and simply enhance them. I speak louder, I smile bigger, I tease the congregation a little more obviously, and I animate my expressions so the whole room can see. This isn’t being fake or untrue to who I am, it is just enhancing who I already am in such a way that engages people.
This is what makes us relatable. When we are real with who we are behind the pulpit, then people are real with us and themselves sitting in their seats. When we are genuine, we give them permission to be genuine. This vulnerability makes our sermons personable and engages them on a level that connects deeply.
Prepare, Prepare, Prepare
One of the biggest issues that keep preachers from delivering sermons that are engaging is their lack of preparation. Preaching is hard, and preparation to preach is even harder. It is also the most vital element to preaching engaging sermons.
When we are preparing our sermons the week we are delivering them, we fail to develop each layer of the sermon, assuming there are layers. A good sermon marinates over time. The Lord gives us direction and we allow the Holy Spirit to show us how to explore it, go deeper into it, see it from multiple angles, and relate it to those who will hear it.
This is why I strongly advise pastors to develop a preaching calendar a year in advance. The most common kickback I get with that is that it doesn’t allow the Holy Spirit to guide us week to week. The Holy Spirit is timeless and can see this coming Sunday today the same way he would have seen it a year ago. He can speak to you today about what you will preach a year from now just as easily as he can the week before.
A preaching calendar is not set in stone and unchangeable, but it serves as a guide for preparation and provides room for the Holy Spirit to give you greater insight than he can when we are four days out and just getting started.
He can bring stories, quotes, illustrations, life experiences, and a collection of other sermon elements that you can keep your eye out for long before the sermon is going to be preached.
This process of marination helps us as preachers get the sermons we deliver deep into our souls so we can present them with passion, conviction, motivation.
Conclusion
When we approach the pulpit we are delivering an eternal message with eternal consequences. It is vital to the advancement of the Kingdom that we make it engaging, memorable, and portable for our people. When we are successful at doing that, our people will be successful at knowing their scriptures in a deeper way that will guide their steps.
Bonus Section
Here are a few quick tips for you to make your sermons more engaging.
- Fill your sermons with Biblical substance
- Arrest their attention with a grabbing introduction
- Provide personal application with Biblical explanation
- Develop audience awareness
- Look people in the eye
- Vary your pace and tone
- Speak simply
- Invite engagement
- Show, don’t tell
- Argue with yourself
- Finish sermons strong
References
- http://equip.sbts.edu/article/the-long-and-short-of-sermons-4-keys-to-keeping-your-hearers-engaged/
- http://equip.sbts.edu/article/the-long-and-short-of-sermons-4-keys-to-keeping-your-hearers-engaged/
- https://churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/302654-9-sermon-delivery-tips-every-pastor-must-know-brandon-hilgemann.html
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