Develop Your Preaching

Underscoring the difference between oral communication and written communication is important in preaching. Improving our oral communication is an important skill for any preacher. 

In this blog, I want to share how my own preaching developed. Your preaching should develop in your own way given your own personality and preferred style. But avoid arriving at your own comfortable way of preaching. Learn to stretch yourself. People will thank you. 

Why this is a Pivotal Time for Preaching?

Most historians agree that the Protestant Reformation was directly connected to the invention of the printing press. Some even suggest that written communications revolutionized the whole of Western culture. But today, our society is becoming increasingly more visual. Hence the rules of oral communication also work better because oral communication is most effective when it paints a picture for people. 

What I was Taught and What I learned

At my seminary, the assumption in both the preaching classes I had was that a sermon was something we wrote. That was modelled for us by almost all my professors. The most glaring exception was the Dean in my last year. Dean Allen was an entirely oral communicator who never used notes and extensively used story, narrative, and illustrations in his preaching. Several of my professors let us know that his “wasn’t normal” and to try an avoid this. After all, as theologically trained people, we wanted to be theologically and biblically precise. I would add that even if we were wrong, we still needed to be precise, but perhaps I am being unfair. 

So, I went forth with text in hand for all my preaching opportunities. I guess because my personality type was more intuitive, I often felt that my text stood between me and the congregation. It often did not feel natural to the way I spoke or even taught classes. The sermon seemed forced even when I thought the content was good. I often heard “nice or interesting sermon.” Since I grew up in the South where the words nice and interesting are not necessarily complements, I didn’t like this feedback. 

Preaching is after all a form of Communication. 

The first change for me was when I began to read more books on communications in general. In these, the main points were often about communicating better. My training had been on communicating more accurately. One phrase I found in a book in the late 80s on creating presentations stuck with me. It was called I Can See You Naked. (I think today it’s in its 30th edition!) The author used short chapters, illustrations, and practical advice, hence, modeling what he was teaching. One chapter was titled Lectern or No Lectern. The author said no lectern because lecterns reminded people of pulpits and “we all know how boring preaching is.” From this communication book, I resolved to never bore people again! 

There it was the unspoken truth in many churches. Preaching was often boring. It was in this book that I was first confronted with the idea that oral communication was different than a lecture or sermon which were often written and hard to follow. This is a point that Fred Craddock reminded his students about throughout his text Preaching. But it would be several years before I discovered Craddock. I hope you have discovered him. I was the beneficiary of hearing him on tape and then at live workshops on two occasions. 

My question and quest became what was I to do? The idea hit me that most PowerPoint presentations for example could produce notes and these notes make for excellent outlines. So, I moved to experimentations with outlines instead of a written pulpit sermon. I still wrote a sermon (I still do at times) but now I converted them into outlines for preaching. 

You know, typically something like this:

1: A Introduction

1: B The Text repeated

2: A Who wrote this and why 

I meant well, and it worked better. But I remember the day I looked down at my outline while preaching and I had written 3:a Walmart illustration. I paused and looked again and said to myself, “What the hell does that mean?” When I figured it out later, I discovered the two-fold problem. “Walmart” didn’t bring back the illustration and the illustration didn’t really follow the point I had been making that well. It was just an interesting illustration. 

Discovering a Narrative Outline? This led me to more research and one day I discover the term “Narrative Outline.” Maybe you use this yourself. A narrative outline doesn’t have numbers or titles like a formal outline. It has the NEXT SENTENCE you intend to say. So, when I finished my point, I would look down and see, “This reminds me of a run in I had with an angry shopper at Walmart.” The first sentence did two things. At first, it made preaching easier. I often still use a narrative outline for sermons. However, over time I noticed something else. Shouldn’t the point of my last paragraph naturally lead me to the next sentence? 

The reason the Walmart story didn’t come naturally is because often this next sentence was a change rather than building on what had come before. Today, I carry a narrative outline into the pulpit but by the next service, I do not need it. Often when I review my outline on Saturday night, I find that some point doesn’t really fit. I thought when I wrote it, it did. But now with some space I see that it doesn’t fit. So, I take it out. 

I call this the pruning stage when I lecture on preaching. I point out that this pruning almost always strengthens my message. I have heard lots of sermons that could use such pruning. As you can see, preaching from a text often doesn’t help you see that your points aren’t organically hanging together. A narrative outline often makes it obvious. 

Okay confession time, some illustrations are just too good to take out, but at least I am forced to admit why it is there. The danger with this, of course, is that the illustration is so good, people often remember the illustration and forget the point of the sermon. This is NOT good communication and blaming it as the Holy Spirit is a dodge. 

In my next blog, I want to build on one of Fred Craddock’s tremendous insights about the relationship of a sermon to its text. 

Let me close by asking, are you developing as a preacher? I am 77 and I still read books on preaching and communication. I like to think that old dogs can learn.