Preaching

The Pieces of Style

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

One last post prompted by Bryan Chappell’s book, Christ-Centered Preaching, from the appendix on style (pp340-343).  Chappell advocates a preaching style that is:

Natural – natural expression avoids pretense and artificiality.  A personal, humble, natural style communicates care, transparency and acceptance (of self and others).

Plain – we should be as clear as possible.  People may be overwhelmed by complex communication, but they appreciate clarity.  Great preachers preach so people can understand.

Genuine – don’t hide yourself, but chose to be appropriately transparent in doubts, struggles and fears.  We should have clear empathy and reality in our presentation.

Creative – be loving enough to anticipate the ebb and flow of concentration in your listeners and creatively seek to help them engage.

Courageous – have the courage to let the Bible speak for itself, not pumping in your own authority, but neither apologizing for the tough stuff it serves up.  In an appropriate manner, have the courage to preach the Word.

The Connection Counts

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Preaching to the same people all the time is quite different to preaching to different people. I have the privilege of regular preaching in our home church, but also regular preaching to different churches and groups of people in my role with OM. I had an interesting experience recently that highlighted the importance of a preacher’s relational connection with the congregation.

Last year we spent a month on one of the OM ships while it was in the UK. This year I visited another of the ships for a quick four-day visit. I gave the same presentation on the subject of guidance that I did last year. It was almost identical. In fact, it was probably better since I took onboard a fair critique I received last year and adjusted that element this time. However, the response was very different. Last year I had numerous conversations after the presentation, and there was an openness toward the presentation and thankfulness for the session. This year there were some positive responses, but a noticeably higher level of negative reaction and outright rejection of the teaching. What was the cause?

Perhaps the people were different. No two groups of listeners are the same, and it is possible that the different situation onboard meant the listeners responded differently. Equally, it is possible that although content was the same, my manner of delivery was different. While there may be elements of both of these, I think the main issue was something else.

Timing. Last year I was onboard three weeks before I addressed this potentially controversial subject. People had heard me speak, connections had occurred, relationships were forming. This year it was scheduled as the first session. No history, no connection, no relationships . . . and a much more negative response.

If you preach to the same people every week, recognize the importance your connections and relationships have in regard to your preaching. If you are preaching to people who don’t know you, be aware of the risks that come when connection can only come from the delivery itself. Empathy and connection count whether people know you or not, and we are wise to think through the implications of this in our preaching.

Illustrate With Pastoral Care – Part 2

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The rest of the list begun in part 1.  Most of this is not new to any of us, but it’s always good to take stock and make sure bad habits have not crept in unawares!

Poke fun at no one but self – just because people may laugh at the joke, this does not justify ridiculing ethnic groups, dialects, political parties, gender, age, or specific individuals.

Share the spotlight – don’t be the hero of your illustration, and don’t be the focus too often either.

Demonstrate taste and respect sensibilities – generally avoid the four “b’s” – birthing, blood, bedrooms and bathrooms!  And don’t use profanity.

Finish what you begin – don’t leave people hanging with a story.  Unresolved story elements can become dominant in listener’s thoughts.

Illustrate With Pastoral Care

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I’m enjoying another read-through of Bryan Chappell’s Christ-Centered Preaching.  He gives a helpful list of guidelines for using illustrations pastorally (p203-4).  Half today, and half in part two:

Get the facts straight – handling facts well instills confidence in the listener, but referring to the “95 theses of Martin Luther King” doesn’t.

Beware of untrue or incredible illustrations – don’t present it as true if it is not.  Also don’t present as true even if it is, but people will doubt it.  Credibility is too important.

Maintain balance – not too long and not too many on top of each other.

Be real – too much E.M.Bounds and George Mueller can present an unreal view of what it means to live a spiritual life today.

Don’t carelessly expose, disclose or embarrass – watch out for tacit approval of entertainment that may be “unapproved” by parents in the congregation.  And be very careful not to disclose confidences or embarrass people present (family as well as people in the church!)

Illustrations Serve the Sermon, Not Vice Versa

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“Any trained public speaker can select a theme and gather a bundle of stories that will touch an audience emotionally, but this is not preaching.” (Chappell, 200.)  We need to remember always that an illustration is there to serve the sermon, to aid in clarifying explanation, support, or application, but not to substitute for sound explanation.

If you suspect that a message might be too illustration-heavy (a rare problem for some preachers), then it is worth going through the message and questioning the purpose of each one.  Is it there to clarify explanation, to support a point, or to apply the teaching in real life imagery?  Or is it there because you really want to tell it, or because you know they’ll enjoy that one?  Be ruthless in filtering illustrations so they are genuinely serving the sermon.

If people perceive you to be a preacher who just tells stories, then your credibility will be damaged.  Be sure the illustrations are the servants, not the focal point of your preaching.

The Form of Structure

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Bryan Chappell makes the comment in his book, Christ-Centered Preaching (p162), that while the structure of a sermon is not the most important question, it is one of the most common questions he is asked when teaching preaching.  Having given specific examples as the starting point for preachers, he then recognizes the great variety of options available to preachers.  The only constraint he gives are four criteria that allow different sermon shapes or structures to represent Scripture well and strike effectively at the human heart.  Every outline should be:

Faithful to the text – accurately representing the movement and meaning of the passage.

Obvious from the text – not imposed on the passage, but evident from it for the sake of those following you with the Bible on their laps.

Related to a Fallen Condition Focus – Chappell’s distinctive element of the FCF, which thereby allows connection between human need and divine grace in the gospel.

Moving toward a climax – which encompasses both the need for order and progression.

Don’t Treat Everything As Essential – Part 2

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So, three more issues that are non-essential in defining expository preaching. Let’s not allow our passion for preaching become a passion to prove our preferences are the only legitimate approach to expository preaching!

Preaching Attire – Some people make a big issue out of ties and jackets (“we are dressing for an appointment at the palace” kind of arguments).  Others are passionate the opposite way (“we are dressing to connect with the culture” kind of arguments).  It’s not an issue worth dying for, so I try to dress according to expectations in the church.  As someone who preaches in many places, I recognize that for most people, their own church is the only place they tend to go and so it is natural that their view of such issues is generally narrower.

Preaching Props – If you look around this site you will see that I am a fan of no-notes well-prepared preaching.  Others advocate for notes, brief or full.  Others are in support of manuscripts.  I have moved from notes to no-notes, but it is not a central issue.  Can a preacher be expository with a manuscript, or with notes, of course!  Which is most effective?  That’s a good question to think through carefully (rather than defaulting to what is comfortable).  But “effective” is not the same as “core issue!”

Visual Aids – Some people have passionately tried to convince me that we should all use powerpoint in our preaching.  I see as many problems as benefits with powerpoint preaching, but this is not a core issue.  Can a preacher be expository using powerpoint, or giving notes to the congregation, or using video clips during the sermon, or holding a shepherd’s crook?  Of course, but none are required.

What other issues do some become so passionate about that they become “core issues” when really they are not?

Don’t Treat Everything as Essential

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

There is always a danger, when we are passionate about something, that our passion will run away with us.  For instance, a passion for expository preaching can easily be misdirected to areas that are not critical issues.  The nature of the Bible, the importance of effective communication, the spiritual and divine work in genuine preaching, the need for appropriate relevance, the nature of the gospel – these are key issues for me.  Here are a few issues that are not critical in my opinion, although we all might be tempted to make them core issues!  Three issues today, three more tomorrow, and what would you add?

Bible Version – I have my preference and I think I have some solid justification for my preference.  But this is not an issue I’ll fight over.  I tend to preach from the pew Bible in the church – that way most people are looking at the same thing.  If the church expresses a preference, then I honor that.  If they want The Message, or the King James Version, I suppose I will use that.  (In my preparation I will use my preferred versions and original languages, then shift to the version for preaching in the final phase of preparation.)

Length of Sermon – A church may want an hour, or they may want twenty minutes.  While I am not known for immaculate time-keeping, I am never trying to make an issue out of this.  Some people seem to think anything less than thirty-five minutes is not expository preaching at all.  Others are passionate in their view that people can’t concentrate beyond twenty-five minutes.  I think both are wrong, but I won’t make an issue out of it!

Form of Sermon – Only verse-by-verse is true preaching.  Only deductive sermons are expository.  Only narrative preaching connects with people. There are so many narrow views around.  Some seem to think that their sermon shape came down from the mount with the blueprint for the tabernacle.  I do not support the notion that expository preaching, by definition, implies any particular form.  Expository preaching is a philosophy of preaching.  The form of the sermon is my choice as the preacher – what will be most effective for communicating the main idea and aiming toward the sermonic purpose?

Don’t Get Stung By the Be’s

/ Peter Mead / 1 Comment

I made a passing reference the other day to Bryan Chappell’s list of three “be’s.” These are worthy of our consideration since he raises a crucial point. It is easy to fall into the trap of being biblically based, but biblically incomplete in our preaching. By focusing on the narrow slice of text we are preaching, and not taking into account the broader teaching of Scripture, we can end up implying (or even stating), that we need to “be” something in order to be loved by God. (See Christ-Centered Preaching, page 289ff).

Be Like – This is where a character is presented, then the congregation are urged to be like them in respect to the chararcteristics highlighted. Chappell acknowledges that biblical writers intended for certain characters to model certain characteristics for the readers to emulate. However, the writers also are honest in presentation of weakness, failure and sin. We must beware of preaching a “be like” message that lacks in awareness of the grace and enablement of God, lest we leave room for boasting and inadvertently preach a works righteousness.

Be Good – While again there is clear biblical instruction to be good or be holy, a message focusing on behavior is dangerous if key elements are lacking. God does not command us to behave well in our own strength. Moralistic harangues are easy to preach and often hard to take, but impossible to justify. Our message cannot be “try-harder-be-better-this-week” and biblical at the same time. Chappell rightly points out that it is wrong to preach that we are saved by grace and kept by our obedience.

Be Disciplined – Very similar to the behavior focus above, this type of message focuses on spiritual disciplines as the means to pleasing God. Many believers fall into the trap of thinking that their identity is tied to their observance of religious practices. Disciplines preached in isolation from the grace of God present a God so easily vexed, a God of “brownie points” spirituality.

It is good to emulate biblical characters in some respects, to be good in behavior and even disciplined in spirituality, but there are dangers in all of these areas. How easily we paint a false portrait of God, a dark shadow of guilt in the place of grace and a false image of true Christianity. As Chappell carefully states it, “‘Be’ messages are not wrong in themselves; they are wrong messages by themselves.”

Taking Series Seriously – Part 2

/ Peter Mead / 3 Comments

For a series to work well, it is important to recognize the role of the Spirit and have flexibility in scheduling.  Here are two more important issues to consider:

Avoiding the sameness – A long series in the same book can get old.  There are several ways to avoid this.  Vary the message structure (include a first-person sermon, a more narrative sermon, a good old clear deductive sermon, etc.)  Vary the text length (some weeks you may need to cover only a few verses, but other weeks it would be possible to cover a chapter or two).  Perhaps sameness can be avoided by having another speaker involved (make sure all speakers in a series are on the same page regarding the books overall idea, structure, etc.).  And, of course, a long series in the same book can get old, so . . .

Length of series – Think through the length of the series.  The old days of seven years verse-by-verse through one book are the old days.  Today some advocate that a series should not go longer than 8 weeks.  Others say  4 or 5.  I say you have to think through the situation – who is preaching, to whom, what are they used to, what is the preacher capable of doing effectively, what is the subject matter, etc.  No hard and fast rules, but several months will probably get old for some.  Cover ground more quickly, or break the series and then return to it.

It is a good idea to usually preach sermons in series.  It is a good idea to think through your series seriously.