Audience Analysis

People and Passage

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

I think it was Phillips Brooks who said something along these lines: He never went to his study and looked in the Bible without seeing his people’s faces running across his study.When he went out to meet his people, his study would beckon and he would see the Bible.

I suppose this could seem frustrating, but it doesn’t have to be.  If we engage the situation relationally then it can be a more exciting, rather than frustrating experience.  We read and study God’s Word to hear Him, we then continue the conversation as we engage with people, our lives intersecting with theirs, our prayer conversation ongoing.

The exciting potential is to bring God’s Word to the people, and to bring the people to God’s Word.  And remember, this isn’t about being a life mechanic, a drill sergeant or a success guru.  It’s about introducing people, and reintroducing people, to the Word of God who woos us to His Father.

As preachers we live in a tension between people and passages. This need not be a tension, but rather a glorious conversation.

Speech: More Than Pragmatic

/ Peter Mead / 4 Comments

I wonder if some of us are missing something deeply significant?  Preaching involves spoken communication, but what is that spoken communication?  Is it a tool we use to transfer the information that we need to get across?  Or is it profoundly more than that?

I’ve heard preachers who preach as if their speaking is about the information transfer, but little more.  So that sense of personal detachment, or coldness, or distance . . . is that just a matter of poor delivery, or is there something more going on?

What I want to scratch the surface of is the nature of speech itself.  Here are some quick thoughts on why speech itself is more than a pragmatic tool:

1. The Bible doesn’t treat human speech as just a tool.  There is a massive emphasis on hearing God’s Word.  Our response to what we hear defines us.  Our integrity of action to what we confess is critical.  The tongue is a powerful organ in the body.

2. The Bible is a story of “did God say?”  The serpent offered humanity an autonomous alternative to trusting dependence on God.  We can be our own gods.  Why would we want that?  Because of a distrust in God’s spoken word, which is a distrust of His gracious character.  Ever since then the hiss of the lie has been an ever-present.  And the question has always been, who will trust the word of God’s promise?

3. The Bible presents us with a God who speaks.  Why don’t we see more from heaven?  We can’t fathom that perhaps our eyes are not the senior sense.  We fell by distrust of speech, we are invited to trust based on God’s Word (and He even made His Word visible to us in a Person!)  But this isn’t some pragmatic condescension of God for our sake, He is eternally a speaking God.  What constitutes the reality of the Trinity?  We would do well to let go a little of a metaphysical conversation of substance, and ponder more the biblical revelation of a God in eternal communion.

4. The Bible seems to see speech as central to what it is to be a person.  Now we’re probing a bit more.  For centuries we’ve been caught up in the idea of personhood as being about rationality, will-power and individualism.  We’ve seen it as an issue of separation, of hierarchy, of a will to power.  What if what we are is not best defined by our CV/resume (skills, capacities, education, even references from the most impressive people we know)?  What if what we are is defined by who we have true relationship with?  We inherently sense that reality, but our world denies it.  And what if relationship is, at its core, a matter of speaking and hearing, of a mutual indwelling through communication?

Okay, enough for today, but here’s the thought I’m nudging us toward.  What if preaching is profoundly more about speech than we’ve ever realised?  Our God is a God who speaks.  A God who has spoken.  And at the centre of Christianity is our heart response to what He says?

The Personality of the Preacher 4

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Last few in the list:

8. The Power Preacher – This person likes to be in charge, they naturally lead groups they find themselves in, and they always look for ways to influence others.  Preaching can be a bit of a no-brainer role for them in some settings.  Now there are massive connections between preaching and leading.  But there are also massive connections between our content and a non-worldly servant leadership model of the inverted pyramid.  This preacher will be able to communicate vision and may have people naturally respond to them.

But it is important to have people respond to the Bible, rather than just to the preacher.  Perhaps every personality type would do well to check their motives for preaching, but perhaps this type should do so quicker and more thoroughly than some others.

9. The Performer Preacher – Typically people-oriented, very extrovert and fun-loving.  Naturally enthusiastic and potentially highly engaging.  They like to be the center of attention in social situations.  This person will bring energy into the preaching moment.  They will bring enthusiasm and joy.  They will bring more emotion than some personality types could dream of expressing.  Some visitors will feel enthused, some regulars will excuse and enjoy.

However, this personality type needs to know that their personality will aggravate some others.  The energy will grate.  The emotion will be considered a false front.  The hype will be seen as a poor attempt to hide a lack of content.  This personality type can be perfect for some situations.  In every situation there needs to be care for content to come in the package of energetic delivery, otherwise the naysayers will be proven right.

10.  The Inspirer Preacher – Another natural communicator, with a natural ability to engagingly explain and apply biblical truth with intensity.  This person will be seen as a good preacher by others, whether or not the content is as profound as they give the impression that it is.  However, sometimes the intensity may seem to come with the public speaking, rather than from the power of the content.  This personality type needs to channel the same energy into their study as they naturally produce in their delivery.  They probably need to understand that some personality types will struggle to maintain the level of inspired intensity while listening to them!

11. The Visionary Preacher – Intellectually quick, they see a preferred future in most situations, and are able to communicate that sensitively and powerfully.  They may have energy for creative planning, but lack energy for maintaining the important routines in personal life and church life.  People in churches without clear vision and direction can feel starved of leadership.  This type of preacher can be a real blessing to such a church.

However, not every visionary statement can be followed through on by all listening.  This personality needs to be sure to affirm and to support and to encourage the present activities and routines, where appropriate, rather than only seeing the better future and continually presenting that.  People appreciate direction and vision, but they don’t do well being constantly critiqued and evaluated negatively.

I have deliberately avoided 16 types, for obvious reasons.  There could be many more than the 11 I’ve listed.  What would you add?  Perhaps more importantly, what are some of the features of your personality and how do they influence your preaching?

The Personality of the Preacher 3

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Here are some more musings on the multi-faceted complexity of our inner world.  How does your personality mark your preaching?

5. The Writing Preacher – A clear thinking and able wordsmith who can write with considerable natural talent.  They can’t imagine living in a non-literary age, nor living without books.  There are obvious pros and cons here too.  Preaching is also communicating, and being able to think through to a point of clarity is a key skill.  However, writing and speaking are very different communication forms.  Clear writing can lose listeners.  All of us need to learn to write messages in spoken English, rather than written English.  Alternatively, we need to not write our messages at all, but to plan them as spoken events.  That thought would set off some personalities, and not just the lovers of writing!

6. The Professor Preacher – This person loves and retains information.  They read, they memorize, they analyse, they store tons of biblical, theological and historical data.  What an advantage for preaching.  The ability to make links with other texts, to hold it all together in the mind, and to draw it all in from various sources without having to chase things from scratch.

But there is a downside.  Relevance might get lost.  Preaching is not a data dump.  Listeners may struggle to follow apparently tenuous connections, or just get tired of information overload.  The person with this tendency as a preacher will need to learn to cut and edit maliciously.  Most struggle to simplify messages enough.  This personality type will struggle more than most.  Listeners also would probably like to know the preacher beyond the obvious ability to handle and connect information.

7. The People Person Preacher – Great people skills are worth so much, and so complex to have to learn, but nice for those who are naturals!  Ability to connect, to interact, to feel comfortable, to tell stories, to be vulnerable, etc.  While a lot of preachers may be more introverted, the advantages of focused solo study can be balanced by difficulties in communication (or more commonly, in post preaching interaction).  The people person preacher can stand up and say the alphabet in a way that makes people feel warm and connected.  And hence both pro and con.

Tomorrow we’ll finish the series, but perhaps only start our ponderings!

The Personality of the Preacher 2

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Continuing my unstructured thoughts on the influence of personality on preaching:

2. The Mechanical Preacher – This person cares about how things work.  Practical in skills.  Practical in life.  They esteem the uncomplicated things in life, yet achieve the complex from the perspective of others.  The end can justify the means, as long as a practical solution is found.  I imagine this type of person will preach with a good level of applied practicality.  Here is a solution to the challenge, go implement it.  People appreciate being given the steps to obedience, rather than just the expected behaviour.

However, there will be a limitation here.  People are not machines.  It is so easy to preach as if they are.  When you face this, do this, think this, remember that and then you will do well.  Actually life isn’t lived out in logical and practical steps.  There is a profound complexity to the motivational life of any person.  There is a responsive interconnectedness between individuals in relationship with God and others.  Practical preachers are a blessing to the church, but especially if they don’t treat people as simple machines.

3. The Nurturing Preacher – This person is kind and caring.  Sensitive to others and willing to give themselves away for those they love.  I imagine that this type of personality gets people quicker than others, although that quickness may come from lots of time caring, listening and praying.  Such tender sensitivity is a blessing to those loved.  We can all learn from the ways warm and caring people communicate warmth and care (but not to perform, we need to develop that inner reality).

Those who read others well need to be sure to read the text carefully, and to preach it honestly.  There is a danger that a high concern for others can bias the reading of the text, so that messages of help can be sought, rather than the message of the text.  And then when the text is understood, we all need to have the courage to preach that appropriately to our people.  Sometimes a fear of hurting feelings can undermine caring biblical ministry.  Care for people, and care enough to invest God’s Word in the life of the church.  Perhaps there should be another category of The Conflict Avoiding Preacher . . . but then I’d be repeating this paragraph!

4. The Creative Preacher – Developed aesthetic sensitivity, an eye for beauty, an energy for the new and the striking.  I suppose this personality feature will also offer benefits and dangers.  New and creative ways of communicating the Word can offer memorable and effective presentations.  It can also offer error.  Others do too, but there is something risky about the new in terms of the ministry.  Be careful to use the energy for creativity (a godly characteristic) in a way that represents Him and His Word well.

The Personality of the Preacher

/ Peter Mead / 5 Comments

The fourth world.  That’s what Haddon Robinson called it.  He took John Stott’s two worlds of preaching – the world of the Bible and the world of the contemporary listener’s culture, and he added two more.  First the specific culture of the local congregation (which may differ sharply from the contemporary culture in general).  Then the fourth world – the inner world of the preacher.  We have to understand all four worlds to preach effectively.

I’d like to probe that fourth world in respect to personality types.  Now I know these are controversial.  There are those in favour, and those against.  There are advocates for this taxonomy and those pushing for another.  Some oppose them altogether.  Some people refuse to be labelled (perhaps a personality thing), others love it (ditto).  I’ll let you chase the type tests and theoretical discussions elsewhere.  I’m going to try to avoid an exhaustive taxonomy of personality types, and instead probe various possible features with a focus on preaching.

Before we dive into this non-exhaustive interaction with some aspects of personality types, let’s be clear on the premise.  If you are a preacher, you preach.  As much as I understand the spirit behind the prayer, “Lord, let me be invisible today, let us all only see you!”, the reality is that people will see you.  And you will show in your preaching in more ways than just your physical presence.  Your personality will be a grid through which the message passes multiple times in preparation and delivery.

So let’s jump in:

1. The Dutiful Preacher – Some personalities are strong on issues of duty.  They are serious and diligent, responsible and dependable.  They tend to promote tradition, work hard and work steadily.  I imagine that this type of person will be sure to follow a preparation process carefully (and as a teacher of preaching, I feel encouraged that someone might!)  The hours needed for good preaching preparation will probably be found by this personality when others somehow won’t be able to find the same!

I feel like I spend a lot of time affirming preparation on this site, but the picture is not all rosy here.  There may be a tendency to look for duty and to prioritise the presentation of duty.  Perhaps the motivation will be assumed in others.  Energy may be poured into what should be done, without focus on why, or understanding of why some seem to be, well, irresponsible.  When the gospel sweeps through the hearts of a community, it will change that community for the good.  But there is always a danger, for many personalities, to assume that community good is the goal, and to short-cut directly there.  Changing hearts cannot be by-passed.

Living Letters

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

This week I’ve been pondering ways to preach epistles effectively.  I suppose there is one contrast that has stood out to me as I’ve pondered this.  Do we see the epistles as living letters, or as artefacts of theological interest?

The epistles are such rich ground, where every sentence might yield weeks of theological material were we to plumb the theological depths.  But that brings a danger.  Too easily we can treat the epistles as static ancient repositories of favourite verses and theological propositions.  Then we can mine them for theological lecturing that might satisfy our craving for offering such choice gleanings, and will, I’m sure, generate polite and affirmative feedback, but will also fall short of what could be and should be.

The letters were written to real people in real situations with real applications of a life changing gospel from an engaged God.  Somehow if our preaching of the letters drains the liveliness from them, there is a danger that we are offering less than God’s best to our listeners.

Our Lord cares about His church today.  He wants the church today to be engaged with the kind of applied gospel theology that we see in the epistles.  And with that content that is offered in the epistles.  That is to say, the epistles don’t show any hint that God is into offering seven easy take home suggestions for anything.  The epistles show a model of engaging real life with the real gospel.  Theology well applied.  Our preaching should do the same.

And since our content shouldn’t be clever thoughts from my limited experience (the epistles don’t demonstrate that approach), our content needs to be biblically solid and absolutely relevant.  Preaching the epistles well will offer just that.  Preaching the epistles and preaching them well has to be a key part of a church’s diet.

There are other genres that also have to be included, but I hope that when we come back to the epistles, we do so well.  They aren’t just repositories of truth statements.  They are real-life engaging theology applied to God’s people.  Let’s preach the epistles so our listeners are gripped by them in living colour, and so lives today are profoundly shaped by them: God’s living letters.

Pointers for Preaching Epistles Effectively – Pt.5

/ Peter Mead / 3 Comments

Let’s finish the list, but by no means finish the pursuit of effective epistle proclamation!

21. Select the take home goal – Is your goal for people to remember the outline?  Why?  Better to aim at them taking home the main idea with a heart already responsive to it, rather than a commentary outline of a passage.  Let’s not flatter ourselves – people don’t need hooks to hang thoughts on, they need a thought to hang on to.  Better, they need to leave with a changed heart.  If they are changed by an encounter with God in His Word, then looking at the text should bring a sense of the structure back to mind.  However, remembering the outline on its own has very limited value (unless they’re taking a Bible school exam that week).

22. Pre-preach the message – Don’t rely on written preparation.  Most things make sense on paper.  It is important to preach through a message before preaching a message.  Better to discover that it simply doesn’t flow, or a particular transition is actually a roadblock, when you can still fix it.  Pre-preach in a prayerful way – i.e. why not talk out loud to the Lord about the message before and after actually trying it out?

23. Don’t just preach single passages – I am not saying that the only way to plan your preaching is to preach through a book sequentially, but that should probably be the default approach.  Series should not become tedious, but cumulative.  Let each message build on what has gone before, while standing in its own right.  One way to inject variety is to vary the length of passage.  You can cover more ground sometimes, zero in other times, and why not begin and/or end with an effective expository overview of the whole?

24. Converse with the commentaries and other conversation partners – Notice I didn’t put this in at the start.  I believe we should converse with others during the process, but not become beholden to one other voice.  Doesn’t matter if your favourite preacher preached it that way, or a commentator explained it that way, or your friend sees it that way . . . you are the one who has to preach it.  But all of those do matter.  Your goal is not stunning originality.  You want to be faithful to what the text is actually saying, and faithful to your unique opportunity, audience, ability, etc.  So converse with, but don’t ride on any of these partners.

25. Present the passage with engaging clarity and relevance – Here’s the catch-all as we hit number 25.  I’ve hammered the need to be truly biblical, rather than just biblically linked or biblically launched.  But you also need to preach with a relevance to the listeners, and with a clarity that can be easily followed, and all of that with the engaging energy, enthusiasm, warmth, concern, love and delight that is fitting for someone soaked in a passage from God’s Word.  This engaging preaching certainly includes the content, but also the delivery – your expression, your gesture, your movement, your body language, your eye contact . . . it should all be about a heart brimming over with God’s Word to connect with God’s people.  Your heart has encountered His heart, so you want to engage their hearts for the sake of transformed lives and a pleased Lord.

What might you add to the list?

Pointers for Preaching Epistles Effectively – Pt.4

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Still pondering pointers for preaching the letters.  Here are five more:

16. Aim for clarity in your explanation – You will dig up masses of information if you study properly.  Sift and sort so that your sermon isn’t packed and dense, but engaging and on target.  You could offer a subsequent audio file of out-takes (bonus material!) and notice that most people don’t take you up on the offer!

17. Be alert to different levels of application – Not every application has to be an instruction to action.  Sometimes the text’s application is at the level of belief rather than conduct.  Sometimes the take-home should be a heart stirred by truth, by Christ, by the gospel.  Affections, belief and conduct all matter.  If we make application purely about conduct, then we are missing a goldmine of genuine life change.

18. Keep your message structure simple – An easy message outline will remember itself.  If you need extensive notes to keep track of your message, don’t expect first time hearers to get it (you’ve had hours of thought and study and practice and prayer, they’re getting one shot only!)

19. Preach the message of the text, not a message from the text – There are any number of potential homiletical outlines, thoughts and applications in a passage.  Some are closer than others to the actual message of the text.  If you preach clever messages derived from texts you will get lots of affirmation.  If you actually preach the message of the text, and you preach it well, you will be a gem of inestimable value in the church!

20. Begin your relevance in the introduction – The old idea of explain for ages and then apply briefly should become a relic of an idea.  You can demonstrate the relevance of a passage before you even read it.  Get the relevance into the introduction, then continue to show the relevance of the passage and seem relevant as a preacher throughout the message.

Just one more post, not because that is all there is to say, but because I don’t want the series to go long in the hope of being exhaustive – that doesn’t work in preaching, so I probably shouldn’t do it here either!

Pointers for Preaching Epistles Effectively – Pt.3

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Continuing the list of pointers for preaching epistles effectively, since they aren’t the automatically easy genre to preach well!

11. Preach, don’t commentate – Don’t offer your listeners either a running commentary or a labelled outline of the text.  Make your points relevant to today, put them in today language, then show that from the “back then” as you explain the text.  Don’t preach “back then” and then offer token relevance once people are disconnected and distracted.

12. Describe vividly, engage listener with letter – If you can do a good job of painting the original situation, the emotions of the writer, the potential responses of the recipients, etc., that is, if you can make it seem full colour, 3-D and real, then your listeners will engage not only with you, but with the letter.  Suddenly it won’t seem like a repository of theological statements, but a living letter that captures their imagination and stirs their hearts.  The theological truth will hit home when it is felt in the form God inspired!

13. Be sensitive to implicit imagery – Often the writer will subtly or overtly be using imagery to explain himself, pick up on that and use it effectively.  Our first port of call for illustration should not be external to the text (i.e. the books of supposedly wonderful illustrations – they are the last resort option.  Start with the text, then move to the experience of your listeners trying to combine the two.  Go elsewhere only if necessary.)

14. Keep imperatives in their setting – Some of us have a tendency to use an imperative magnet.  We cast our eyes over the text until we spot a command, and bingo!  Now we think we have something to preach.  We don’t.  Not until we get a real sense of how the whole passage is working.  It doesn’t take much skill to turn every epistle into a command collection.  Certainly don’t avoid the instructions, but don’t ignore everything else too.

15. Tune your ear to the tone of the writer – This is so important.  Some tone deaf preachers make every instruction, implication, suggestion, encouragement or exhortation into a shouted command.  I think Paul and company would look on with consternation if they heard how their letters were preached by some.  Be sensitive to the writer’s tone and develop sensitivity in your own tone.

Tomorrow we’ll touch on another, well, five, of course.  Add your own by comment at any time – the list is not intended to be exhaustive!