Audience Analysis

Build Confidence in the Word

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

John MacArthur writes about the clarity of the Bible in his chapter in Preach the Word.  Let me quote him here – not new information (I hope), but important information well worthy of our pondering:

The student of Scripture need not fear that its message is unknowable.  Rather, he can rejoice in knowing that God revealed himself and his plan of salvation in a way that men can understand.  Not only does the Scripture repeatedly claim that God revealed what is written within its pages (over 2,000 times in fact), it also describes itself as that which gives light (Ps. 119:105; 2Pet. 1:19a), is profitable (2Tim. 3:16-17), explains salvation (2Tim. 3:15b), addresses common people (cf. Deut. 6:4; Mark 12:37; Eph. 1:1; 1Cor. 1:2), can be understood by children (Deut. 6:6-7; Eph. 6:4; 2Tim. 3:14-15), and should be used to test the validity of religious ideas (Acts 17:11; cf. 2Cor. 10:5; 1Thess. 5:21-22). It is the truth (John 17:17) that sets men free (John 8:31-36).  Thus, to deny the clarity of Scripture is to call into question not only the Bible’s own self-claims, but also God’s ability to communicate clearly.

Let’s make sure these truths are fresh in our hearts.  It’s easy to begin with strong confidence in the Word, only for it to fade over time.  Is it time to refresh and renew our understanding of and commitment to the clarity and power of God’s Word?

Let’s also make sure we don’t undermine our listeners’ confidence in the Bible.  There are certainly parts that are harder to understand, the Bible itself acknowledges that (2Pet. 3:16).  But the main message of the Bible is clear for any who will read it . . . so let’s encourage them to do just that!

Easter is Coming – The Power of Identification

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

I know Easter is still a couple of months away, but as a preacher it is never too early to think about Easter.  In fact, there is a sense in which commemoration of Easter is never more than six days away – the Lord’s Day is a weekly gathering because of His resurrection.  So here’s a thought regarding Easter (whether you’re planning for April or preparing for tomorrow’s message).

In preaching any narrative section, we need to consider whom listeners will gravitate toward, with whom they will identify.  We should consider how to encourage that or redirect that through our preaching.  In the case of the passion narratives, this tendency to identify can be powerfully used in our preaching.  Luther pointed to this when he wrote:

“Although Christians will identify themselves with Judas, Caiaphas, and Pilate; sinful, condemned actors in the Gospel story – there is another who took the sins of humanity on himself when they were hung around his neck.”

When it comes to the story of the crucifixion we find ourselves identifying with so many characters: Judas, Peter, fleeing disciples, Caiaphas, Pilate, Roman soldiers, Simon from Cyrene, mocking executioners, mocking crowds, mocking thief, repentant thief, followers standing at a distance, followers standing close by, even the Centurion.  Yet the wonder of it all is that we are invited to identify with the perfect One hanging on that cross, for in that act He was most wondrously identifying with us.

Consider how the natural function of narrative – to spark identification – can be utilized to communicate the wondrous truth of Calvary this Easter, or even this Sunday.

The Non-Academic Preacher Compliment

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Last week I spoke to a friend who had asked to borrow my master’s thesis.  He was positive about it, but mentioned that he’d had to look up some terms I’d used.  He was a bit surprised since he doesn’t have that challenge when I preach.  That’s an encouraging compliment in my eyes!

Here’s a quick quote that is somewhat related in Phillip Jensen’s chapter, “Preaching the Word Today” in Preach the Word, the book of essays in honor of Kent Hughes:

With the discriminating eye of the cynic, the modern scholar can deconstruct the author’s writings so as to explain what he “really” meant.  Only the expert – never the ploughboy – can know what was meant.  The priesthood of all believers is no longer replaced by the sacerdotalism of the sacramentalists but by the arrogance of the academy.

We need to be so careful.  I think it is good to get the best academic training possible (a matter of good stewardship), but we need to be very careful not to develop the easily associated arrogance that comes with training, nor to carry that arrogance into the pulpit.  We serve the priesthood of all believers; we are not the priesthood for all other believers.

Let’s make sure we open up the Bible in peoples’ laps, rather than moving it further away from them.  Let’s make sure we communicate well, rather than impress with lofty language that the ploughboy doesn’t understand.  Let’s make sure we prepare for ministry and prepare for a message as fully as we are able, but not let that show in any way that will hinder our listeners.

A Patient Ministry

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

It is generally obvious that life transformation generally happens gradually.  While God might give a breakthrough epiphany moment from time to time, He does His patient work of building the church all the time.  This is true on multiple levels.

We need patience with the congregation. That’s not to suggest we preach without an edge of expectancy, encouragement and even exhortation.  It is to suggest that we pray for breakthroughs, but trust God to work out His plans in each life in His timing.

We need patience with ourselves. It’s easy to respond to a small bit of negative feedback, or a feeling of failure last time we preached, and suddenly have a list of personal weaknesses that need to be fixed.  We need to patiently serve faithfully.  Seeking to improve out of good stewardship of our ministry, but trusting God to continue working in our lives at His pace.

We need patience with key people. It could be a “well-intentioned dragon” – a constructive critic in the church.  It could be a person of influence with unclear motives.  It could be an individual that requires far more energy than we feel able to give.  We must pray for wisdom, for strength, for patience to not make rash moves at our speed that miss what God is doing at His.

I am by no means affirming ministry weakened by low expectation, unimproved by lack of personal growth or unnecessarily hindered by a motivation-drain unaddressed.  I am simply reminding myself and us all of something I was told fifteen years ago: “God walks at 3mph.”  Let’s keep our gaze on Him and serve, even live, with prayerful patience.

Points on Picking Passages – Part 2

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Yesterday we saw that God is sovereign and all Scripture is “useful” (which sounds like an understatement when separated from 2Tim.3:16!)  So when there is freedom to choose a passage for a message, consider:

Consider the people. Who are they?  What do they need?  What issues are they facing in life, both individually and corporately? Sometimes a prayerful consideration of the applicational needs of the people will prompt your thinking toward a specific passage or kind of passage.

Consider the program. What teaching have they had recently?  What is coming up after your message?  Sometimes the program might suggest a helpful place to go for your message.  Perhaps a helpful OT background passage for the subsequent series in a NT book.  Perhaps a passage with a similar idea to reinforce teaching they’ve recently heard.  Perhaps something very different to bring balance to the program.

Consider your preference. There is nothing unspiritual about asking yourself, what do I want to study and preach?  If you are personally motivated to be in a specific book or passage,  then it will enliven both your study and delivery.  Often such a choice leads to more work, not less, because when the heart engages with the opportunity, the preacher will give more in the preparation stage.

Consider your personal ability. Some passages are harder to interpret than others.  Some are harder to preach than others.  Is the study time available before you preach enough to really study the passage well (and are you capable of such study)?  Is the time available for the message long enough to really preach a long narrative with all the necessary description and narration?  There’s nothing spiritual about biting off more than you can chew.  Lives are changed by simple and the familiar passages preached well.

Careful of excessive delay in decision. However you choose, it is important to choose.  It is much better to spend hours wrestling with the text in prayerful preparation, than it is to spend hours wrestling with what passage to preach.  The sooner you make a decision, the sooner the text can start working in your life (a prerequisite to effectively preaching it to others).

Any other considerations that you would add to the mix?

Points on Picking Passages – Part 1

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

While you may agree that working through a book is the ideal default when planning a preaching schedule, what if you are only preaching a single message? What if a passage is not assigned and you are free to choose? What freedom to delight in! Or perhaps, what a stress to despair in! Today I’ll lay a foundation with two firm facts, then tomorrow offer several considerations as a passage is chosen.

Two Firm Facts:

1. God is sovereign. We should pray throughout the preparation process, including the selection of a passage. However, we don’t need to wait endless hours for direct revelation of a specific passage when God has not promised to give us such a revelation.  How often have we preached and then heard, “that was exactly what God knew I needed to hear?”  Far more often than an angel visits us with preaching instructions.  God is not at the mercy of our ability to “spot the signs” and discern some slightly hidden hints from heaven.  God is sovereign.

2. All Scripture is “useful.” In theory any passage can be preached with appropriate application to any given group of listeners. Obviously some passages are far harder to preach relevantly than others depending on the passage and the listeners. However, there is not one perfect passage for this occasion that if you miss it you will have failed. Enjoy the freedom that comes from knowing what they need is the Bible – clear and applied – not a needle in the haystack that you somehow have to find.

Tomorrow I’ll offer some considerations to complete this post.

3 Words of Wisdom on Preaching Narratives

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

Personally, I enjoy every opportunity to preach a biblical narrative. This is not only because of the preaching itself, but also because of the study. I always feel stretched when I study a narrative, and blessed when I stick with it.

In his excellent book, Preaching with Variety, Jeffrey Arthurs offers three reasons to be cautious when it comes to preaching narratives (and like me, he is very much in favor of it!)

1. Pastoral Reason. Many may consider narrative sermons as mere entertainment. While they may be wrong, the best convincing tactic is not to force-feed them! There are ways to preach a narrative passage that feels like a traditional sermon (without dissecting the story to death). Think very carefully about the timing of a first 1st-person sermon (Arthurs suggests Christmas and Easter).

2. Exegetical Reason. Particularly in reference to 1st-person sermons, many narratives are written in 3rd-person. We shouldn’t cavalierly jettison the form of the text, but recognize that often a move to 1st-person is a move, rather than a starting point.

3. Epistemological Reason. While narrative is the most used genre in the Bible, it is not the only genre. While our culture may be becoming increasingly a story culture again, humans are not limited to one approach to communication. Narratives and propositions belong together. People need to hear direct communication from the Bible, not just indirect. They need to hear directly stated truths from us too.

Unusually Careful

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Just a brief thought since it is the season for non-regular attenders at church.  When preparing evangelistic sermons it is worth being unusually careful.  Apparently, Martyn Lloyd-Jones would always write out his evangelistic sermons, rather than his edification sermons.  Remember that the real “risk” when preaching the gospel is not the preacher’s, but the church folk who’ve invited their friends.  It is so easy to inadvertently offend in the wrong sense of the term.  So with all the extra visitors in our churches this Sunday, let’s be unusually careful in preparing the messages.

Shifting from Passage to Message – Idea

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

Two days ago we considered the move from passage to message in relation to the purpose statement.  Now let’s look at the other core move at the apex of the process, the move from passage idea to message idea.

Many rightly point out that really there are three steps.  To use some Haddon Robinson terminology, you begin by finding the exegetical idea (back then), then move that to a theological idea (timeless), before finally making the move to homiletical idea (contextualized for these people now).  This is absolutely right.  By simplifying the process I do not discount these steps.

The move to message idea involves several elements:

Recognize and remove historical markers – The passage idea should really be historically specific – Paul told Timothy that in the Ephesian church such and such should occur.  Details like Paul, Timothy, Ephesus, etc. are all historical.  The first step is to recognize these and remove them from the idea.  At this point the resulting half-way idea is really the theological idea in the three step process described above.  This will need testing.  Is the idea representative of the timeless teaching of the passage?  If not, adjustment will need to be made.  As ever, application is a minefield and so you should tread carefully – is this the lasting main point of the passage?

In a sense this first move is a negative one, removing historically specific ties.  Now there are two positive moves:

Take into account audience analysis and adjust the idea – Since the message idea is supposed to be specific to these listeners, how can the idea be contemporized in a manner that will register with them and be memorable to them?  This may be pithy, clever, contemporary, etc.  Often the best you will manage will be biblically accurate and relatively clear – don’t despise biblical and clear!

Consider the message purpose and adjust accordingly – The audience analysis and message purpose are both influences in the positive adjustment of the idea.  The passage idea and purpose may be rebuking in nature, but your message purpose may not be rebuking in light of the need of the listeners (my mind goes to the person who rebuked a meeting of hyper-faithful elderly ladies with Ezekiel 34 – evil shepherds of Israel!)  So the message purpose and tone influence the idea statement.

With these three considerations, you move from passage idea to message idea.  It may be that the result is exactly the same (biblical timeless truth preached in the terms of the text).  It may be that the result is different (but not so different: given the idea, someone who knows the Bible should be able to recognize which text it is representing!)

A formula for the engineers?  (Stage 4 minus historical markers)+Audience Analysis Adjustment+Stage 5 adjustment = Stage 6!

Shifting From Passage to Message – Purpose

/ Peter Mead / Leave a comment

The first half of the preparation process is focused on the passage only.  What is in it?  What is its structure?  Why did the author write it?  What was his main idea?  Then the second half switches focus from passage to message.  I suggest that at that mid-point (between stages 4 and 5), is the best time to turn your thoughts and prayers to the listeners.  This might involve a formal “audience analysis” or it might be just a few minutes considering your congregation, some key individuals and any current events that may influence how you preach to them.

So to put it simply, to get the message purpose (stage 5), you take the passage purpose (stage 3) and add in the “audience analysis.”  For the formulaically inclined: Stage 3+AA = Stage 5.

Your message purpose begins with the passage purpose, but then you take into account who will be hearing the message.  Do they have the same need as the original recipients?  Often the situation is different, so the purpose will need adjusting before you can preach this passage to these people.  Ask yourself whether the tone of the passage is appropriate for these listeners at this time.  Ask yourself whether the passage assumes knowledge in the original recipients that is now lacking for your listeners.  Do not ask yourself if the passage is relevant, but ask how the passage is relevant for your listeners on this occasion.