Before I make some suggestions about effective preaching, let me ask a few questions. To what extent do the shape and nature of your text and the goal of your preaching determine how you arrange and present the material? How do you come at the subject and invite your listeners to participate with you in hearing from the text and the Lord? How do you guide your hearers to make Biblical responses to the message? Keeping in mind what we already have said in the previous two articles, here are some additional ideas specifically for preaching, although they can be used in teaching contexts as well.
Let the nature of the passage shape your approach to it. – Is the passage narrative, teaching, history, poetry, prayer, or some other literary form? I believe we limit our preaching when we always structure sermons didactically, even when the passage is not primarily a teaching passage. Every passage teaches us something, and sometimes teaching is necessary to facilitate understanding, but not every sermon has to be structured like a Bible-study lesson. There are other ways to help hearers experience the passage and even let the passage help them express themselves to God when we do not force a traditional teaching approach onto every text.
Re-frame how you think about sermon flow. – One suggestion I encountered in seminary was to conceptualize the portions of the sermon more as movements than as outline points. A variation of this idea is to have the movements of the sermon be portions of one, overall sentence that expresses the sermon thesis. It can be helpful to do this in preparation time even if it is not how you end up stating your points. The idea is to have better continuity of thought and overall cohesion of the main message rather than distinct portions of an argument or presentation that hearers have to keep up with. Additional ideas include inductive preaching and something called “running the text,” where you simply preach through the passage in more of a running flow rather than an outlined structure.
Re-tool how you outline the sermon. – If you are use an outline, I think it is helpful to avoid alphanumeric designations, since these can lend themselves to your own sense of sequential thinking rather than simple, organic sermon flow. I use bold type for main points then differing bullet styles and indentations for each level of thought. Still considering how you outline your sermon, think about how you lay it out on the page. Some time ago, I realized I was looking at my notes way too much. Some preach without notes, but another strategy for freeing yourself from your notes is twofold. First, make your notes more cryptic so they are thought prompters rather than whole thoughts. Second, use large enough font and line spacing that you can simply glance down at the notes and read them easily. The more eye contact you have with your audience the better.
Guide hearers toward sermon responses throughout the sermon. – Don’t wait until the invitation to begin asking people to respond or to suggest how they might respond. You can work prompts and suggested decisions and responses into the sermon. Although not the only way to do this, I tend to use transitions after the introduction and the major sections of the sermon to prepare hearers to respond. I might say something like, “At the close of this message, we will pray together about [content idea you just presented], and you will / may want to [content appropriate response suggestion].” Tailor your own wording to your content, and you can be more or less directive (as appropriate to your audience), but the idea is to prime hearers for response throughout the sermon. A variant is to use questions rather than suggestion or direction statements. Then, in your conclusion, instead of re-capping your content, you can ask content-appropriate reflection questions that set up your hearers for the responses you will guide them through in the invitation prayer time – responses you have already prepared them to make during the preaching. 1
Provide hearers with some sort of listening guide. – Because of what I believe about preaching and its goals, I make this suggestion cautiously. The typical listening guide uses a fill-in-the-blank format that focuses hearers on information. Don’t do that. Use questions that push hearers toward identifying principles and evaluating life and making decisions based on those truths. For example, you might use three or four questions such as the following and in this order. 1) What major principle am I hearing in this sermon? 2) If this is what the Bible teaches, what does this principle affirm in my life, home, or church? 3) What does this principle correct or call for in my life, home, or church? 4) What practical step can I take to live according to this truth more fully? You can adjust this, but we need to help hearers move past information to life change, and listening guides of some nature can help people connect with your message and remember what God has spoken to them about. I do not think they are always appropriate, but it is a tool worth considering.
Evaluate your preaching. – If you do not already record or video your preaching, find a way to do so from time-to-time. Then, on occasion, listen or watch yourself. Pay attention to your content, delivery, etc. as if you are in the congregation. I think you will notice things to affirm and things to correct. An added layer is to have a trusted friend or colleague listen or watch and give you feedback.
As I reflect on what I am suggesting, I am reminded that we need to maintain the healthy tension between human preparation, using what we know about communication, and the supernatural work of God in the preparation and the preaching event. This calls for excellence and intentional effort, as well as humble dependence on the Lord. May He bless and use our preaching of His Word to further His Kingdom for His glory!
1. Although I have not shared this concept directly from other sources (and have modified it with my own suggestion), I learned it from a conversation and some reading on the preaching strategy of Dr. Richard A. Jackson, Pastor Emeritus of North Phoenix Baptist Church.
Photo Credit: Cover photo used by permission of Andy Barlow of Barlow Creative of Rockport, TX