Wednesday, September 19, 2018
One reason so much preaching misses the mark is that preachers tend to approach the task as an academic exercise or a purely intellectual endeavor. While academic training is foundational, preachers better connect with the people in the pews when they realize they are in the pulpit, not the classroom. These five things can make preaching more relevant and appropriate to parish life.Preparing sermons should not just be a cerebral exercise. Effective sermons appeal to the heart as well as the mind.
1. Your listeners did not go to seminary.
New preachers often make two false assumptions: 1) the congregation will share the preacher’s frame of reference and 2) the congregation will want to know everything the preacher learned in seminary. This is why many sermons sound like a research dump. A sermon is not a lecture. It must be designed to connect and relate to average listeners.
2. Reading a manuscript will kill your sermon.
Preparing a manuscript is an effective practice, but reading it is fatal. If you are not making regular eye contact with your listeners, they will check out. Find a way to memorize and internalize your script. Yes, it is a lot of work, but your listeners will thank you.
3. A sermon is an oral event, not a verbose essay.
Many of us read the sermons of Fred Craddock, Barbara Brown Taylor, and other inductive preaching artists. They are wonderful sermons, but they can lull us into writing a verbose essay instead of a sermon. A sermon is meant to be heard not read. Many preachers struggle with preaching because they prepare sermons like a written essay or term paper. It may read well, but it falls flat when preached. Sermons must be written for the ear. Sentences need to be shorter and active.
4. Pure lectionary preaching will not grow your church.
Lectionary preaching is king in many mainline sermons. Makes sense. We are trained to faithfully interpret scripture. The easiest way to do that is to begin with a text. The problem is I don’t know of a growing and thriving church led by a pure lectionary preacher. I am sure there are exceptions, but I don’t know of any. Most listeners are drawn to sermons that address relevant topics. Many of your listeners are not dying to hear what the Bible has to say. You have to work harder than that. Create a desire in listeners to hear what the Bible has to say and then they will want to know more about the Bible.
5. You can’t appeal to logic alone.
Preparing sermons should not just be a cerebral exercise. Effective sermons appeal to the heart as well as the mind. The latest psychological research shows that logic leads to conclusions and emotion leads to action. If you don’t want your listeners leaving your sermons in the sanctuary you must appeal to their hearts.
This article is adapted from a blog post in ministrypass. Used by permission. Charley Reeb also blogs at charleyreeb.com, a website with articles and videos about preaching. He is the author of two books: That’ll Preach! 5 Simple Steps to Your Best Sermon Ever (Abingdon Press, 2017), available at Cokesbury and Amazon; and Say Something: Simple Ways to Make Your Sermons Matter forthcoming from Abingdon Press, available for preorder at Cokesbury and Amazon.
Related Resources:
- “That’ll Preach,” a Leading Ideas Talks podcast episode featuring Charley Reeb and Doug Powe
- The One-Point Sermon by Charley Reeb
- 5 Things I Need from a Sermon by Larry Buxton
- Leadership Pastoral Leadership Preaching Worsp
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It’s stewardship season here in the U.S. The temperature is starting to cool down. The days are getting shorter. Pumpkin spice lattes are being consumed by the gallon. As we stare down the end of yet another fiscal year, many local churches and non-profit organizations are ramping up their annual financial campaign efforts.Fostering a culture of generosity among young people doesn’t have to be hard. Young people want to give to worthy causes.
Now, when we’re all thinking about budgets, spreadsheets, and pledge drives, is a good time to take a step back and talk about how we can do a better job of incorporating our young people into these vital ministry conversations. Here are four ways to foster a culture of generosity among young people.
1. Actually talk with them about financial stewardship.
Too often we overlook the ways that young people can benefit the church financially. The biblical understanding of stewardship is that God has entrusted every single one of us with numerous resources that we are called to dedicate towards furthering the reign of God. Stewardship is inextricably linked with discipleship. When we fail to have these conversations with our young people, we are actually inhibiting their growth as disciples of Jesus Christ.
2. Actually connect your ministry expenses to your church’s mission and vision.
I recently served a church that had embarked on a major capital campaign. Capital expenditures can often be seen as a necessary evil that takes money away from “real ministry.” How does installing a new boiler or renovating a building help the community we are called to serve? If we want to foster a culture of generosity with our young people, we need to be able to answer those questions. I’m so proud of the fact that this church framed their capital campaign in a way that every single line item pointed back to the church’s mission, vision, and values — and, yes, that included the new boiler.
3. Actually enable us to give.
If the only way your church takes donations is through cash or checks, you’re not going to get young people to give. I never have cash on me and whenever I need to write a check, I need to hunt through my house to find my checkbook. The vast majority of young people in the U.S. have been making their purchases exclusively with plastic for years. With the advent of apps like Venmo, even physical credit cards may be going the way of the dinosaur in the next couple of years. If we’re not making purchases with cash, why should we be expected to use cash to make financial contributions?
Luckily, implementing alternative forms of giving has never been easier. It could be as simple as having someone outside of worship with a smartphone connected to a Square device that people can use to make a donation.
4. Actually honor our gifts when we do give.
Your church is probably not going to receive major gifts from young people. Between the steadily rising cost of living, student loan payments, and a bleak job market, the chance is pretty slim that a person between the ages of 18 and 35 will have a spare $50,000 to give to your church. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t honor equally every gift from every person. You can seek out the young people who do give and ask them to share their stories of why they give and what the ministry of the church means to them. You can print out and laminate cards that say “I Give Electronically” and put them in your pews so that those who contribute that way can participate in the act of offering during worship. This isn’t about appeasing a selfish generation who craves attention and the spotlight, but rather about properly recognizing the commitments our young people are already making in our churches.
Fostering a culture of generosity among young people doesn’t have to be hard. Young people want to give to worthy causes. By including us in the conversations, framing ministry expenses in a missional way, enabling us to give in the ways that make the most sense for us, and honoring the gifts we make, the church can help us — and we can help the church! — live more fully into this part of our call to discipleship.
This article originally appeared as a blog post published by the Young People’s Ministry division of Discipleship Ministries. Used by permission.
- Reimaging Stewardship Season by Laura Heikes
- Optimizing Annual Financial Campaigns Video Tool Kit
- Lead, Learn, Launch: Getting Started with Digital Giving by Alex Benson
- Funding Giving Millennials Reaching Younger People Stewardship
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Leaders do not need answers. Leaders must have the right questions.
Lisa Bodell, an expert on simplifying life and organizational processes, believes these questions help leaders get at the heart of much unnecessary complexity.
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- Is it minimal? (streamlined)
- Is it understandable? (clear)
- Is it repeatable? (model for other things)
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Editor’s note: This is adapted from an article by Dr. Lewis A. Parks which appeared in Leading Ideas on October 14, 2015. This To the Point version has been edited for brevity and is accompanied by a one-page PDF that may be downloaded and shared with others.
I spend my working days as a pastor trying to name reality for my congregation as we wind a precarious way between the heights of aspiration and the depths of self-criticism. We know that we are supposed to be the tree planted by streams of living water that brings forth fruit in due season (Psalms 1:3), but some days feel more like the tree given one last chance (Luke 13:8). We would sing the songs of hope but keep hitting sour notes like the loss of a critical mass of young adults or another expensive repair to our big old building.
We are not going to turn it around overnight. And we are not going to have to close in the morning. So where are we? And what are we going to do here? I have found it helpful to describe a dynamic equilibrium for this congregation and other small to mid-sized congregations I have served, and then to hold that condition before them as a measure of vitality. Dynamic equilibrium suggests that the congregation is a complex organism with staying power, but an organism with certain key indicators of health or decline.
The congregation maintains vital worship of God. There are contexts where maintenance is not a bad word and this is one of them. Season after season the People of God gather in this place to honor God with their praise and prayers, to attend to the word, to be exposed to the water, bread, and cup. The Spirit is already there making Christ present. A little cooperation with the Spirit on the part of those gathered, a little striving for excellence, a little freedom to express local religious creativity, and all things sprinkled with lots of hospitality will sustain the discipleship of the congregation throughout the week.
The congregation is a surrogate family. Terrell is one of the homeless persons who migrated from the weekday ministries to our worship service. He is known by name. He tells his stories of life on the road. He watches and imitates the steps of worship. He finds shelter and affirmation in the sanctuary. But is he really so different from others there? There are only a handful of multi-generational households present in our worship; most are single adults, single adults raising children, single adults caring for aging parents, or just single adults. So they too are looking for a place to be known by name, to share their hearts and their resources, and to be enveloped in the warmth of family-like ties.
The congregation is a blessing to the community where it finds itself. The social location of the church in its community may have changed. The demographics in a three-mile radius may be less than promising. The pastor and a good many members drive in from a distance. The chill winds of a fortress mentality blow around the building. Unless relocation is on the table, the congregation must summon energy for local extroversion. “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jeremiah 29:7). The church that is in touch with the community narrative and incorporates its narrative into that one with well-targeted ministries has a future.
The congregation maintains its building for holy space and mission. I try to remember two things from the wonderful story of Francis of Assisi’s call from God in the dilapidated Church of St. Damian: “Do you not see that my house is in ruins? Go and restore it for me.” (1) It became a powerful metaphor for his life’s work. (2) He went back and repaired that building! A church in dynamic equilibrium attends to its properties. It appreciates the blank canvas for creative local expression it has been given. It addresses obstacles to hospitality, the creeping issues of safety, the upgrades that would improve ministry and mission.
The congregation passes the faith to the coming generations. From God’s promise of descendants to Abram and Sarai, to Paul’s coaching of Timothy, the Bible clearly favors an intergenerational faith. “One generation shall laud your works to another,” says the Psalmist (145:4). If I would place one element slightly above the others it would be this. If you have ever known someone who was the last person in their family line, you know the threat presently experienced in many smaller congregations. Grandparents bring three quarters of our children. And we rarely have enough children present at one time for group activity. Still we must attend to the children we have, calling them by name, teaching the faith with a one-room-school model, encouraging their active participation in the worship.
There are other worthy dramas for congregations besides “grow bigger.” One is sustaining a dynamic equilibrium by applying pressure to key points of vulnerability of this Spirit-animated organism.
Lewis Parks is Professor of Theology, Ministry and Congregational Development at Wesley Theological Seminary. He pastors Calvary United Methodist Church in Lemoyne, Pennsylvania, assists denominational leaders around vitality in small churches and is author of several books, including Small on Purpose: Life in a Significant Church (Abingdon Press, 2017), available at Cokesbury and Amazon.
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