Most pastors spend most of their time thinking through the content of their sermons. This makes sense because it matters a lot. It won’t matter how you say it if you have nothing worth saying.
It also makes sense because this is how seminaries train pastors to preach, focusing on content, research, and looking through commentaries and word studies. But what happens is that most sermons then sound like and feel like seminary lectures.
Teaching and doctrine are important, but teaching is different from preaching. Preaching is about movement, change, transformation, and applying the truth of the content to our lives. Jesus said as much at the end of the sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:24 – 27).
But how can you do that as a preacher week in and week out?
Here are some (not exhaustive) simple things you can do:
Work hard. This might seem obvious, but I think it needs to be said. Work hard at your craft.
Too many preachers are lazy and think, “well the bible says God’s word won’t return void” so I can mail it in. An older pastor told me over 20 years ago, “Someone pays the price for a sermon. Either the pastor in preparation or the church that has to listen to it.”
As John Maxwell says, “As a speaker, you bear the responsibility for keeping your audience excited and engaged.”
Greet people. Most pastors fail to realize when the sermon and connection begin. We often think it is in our intro, but it is way before that moment. Connecting with your church happens during the worship, the moments leading up to the sermon, and before the service as you walk around and greet people. This is a crucial moment for connecting with your audience.
Be yourself. Philip Brooks said, “Preaching is truth communicated through personality.” So, be you. Your church, your ministry hired you. They asked you to preach. They didn’t ask someone else; they asked you. If they wanted someone else, they’d listen to them.
So be the best version of yourself.
This took years for me to get to. I sit on a stool at a table. I usually teach through books of the bible, verse-by-verse, but I care deeply about the application. I tell our team, if you don’t want to sit down on a stool like I do, don’t. Be you.
Someone once pulled me aside after a service and said, “Josh, your sermons are like relatable TED talks.” Now, they meant it as a criticism; honestly, it stung a bit. But as I thought about it, I realized, it was a great compliment because she figured out what kind of preacher I am.
Do you know who you are as a preacher? Have you figured out how to leverage your personality and unique voice? Are you a professor, motivational preacher, an evangelist?
If you’re building a teaching team, this matters a lot. I’m an Enneagram 8, so my talks are about action and movement. So, for our church to have a healthy variety, I need to ensure other personalities are present.
Stories. Stories can help you to prove a point and create emotion and connection. Stories help your audience relate to you.
Stories are also crucial to building tension.
Tension. Tension is what holds people’s attention. Yancey Arrington says, “Tension is like glue: it keeps us stuck to the story.”
Too many speakers want to stand up and say, “Here’s the problem, here’s the answer, and now I’m going to spend 30 minutes talking about the answer.”
Instead, saying things like “we’ll come back to that” or giving a question or situation and letting it hang there. Doing that keeps people with you.
Questions. Ask questions. You can do this at the start of your message, throughout it. Asking questions is a great way for people to reconsider your words. You can make it rhetorical by saying, “Have you ever wondered” or “Maybe you’ve wondered…”
Share your questions. What do you struggle with when it comes to faith and doubt? This can show your vulnerability and humanity.
Visuals. Any time you can use a visual or a prop, do it. If a passage uses an object or visual, use it. If you’re talking about a lunch box from when you were a kid, get it. If you’re talking about a movie, show the poster. Put up a picture if you are talking about a place in Scripture.
Steve Jobs was a genius at this, and this can go a long way to keeping your people engaged and helping them remember the message long after you’re done.
Interaction. Interaction can be hard depending on the size of your group, but if you can do it, do it. Interaction pulls everyone in if you can have people turn to their neighbor and say something, that brings everyone together.
Pause. A perfectly timed pause, a change of pace in your tone or energy, brings people in.
If you pause, people pay attention.
A pause can emphasize what you just said.
A pause can help people to catch up with you.
Humor. If you are funny, humor can be a huge asset to you. If you aren’t, it can bomb your presentation. I’m not funny like a comedian, and my humor can be drier when speaking. So sometimes, your audience needs to learn your humor to get it.
Your heart. Open up and give people your heart. Do people believe that you believe what you are saying? Do they feel your passion for the text and the topic? Do they feel like you care about them? One of the most overlooked aspects of preaching is how a pastor can shepherd his whole church through preaching.
Will these things guarantee a great sermon and connection? Only sometimes. Sometimes you do everything right, and things fall flat, and when it soars, the only reason is the Spirit of God. But I do believe that God moves through the gifts he’s given us and our best efforts and prayers.
