Body language

For the past two days I have looked at word choices and verbal pauses. More could be said, but it would be more of the same. Perhaps working on choosing vivid rather than lifeless descriptors would be worth a post, but you can think that through. I would like to add one more post to the series on another aspect of delivery – the visual element.

What listeners take in through the “eye-gate” is massively significant. Some elements of visual, or non-verbal delivery, can be improved in everyday life. Here are a few possibilities, select only those that are issues in your delivery:

1. Eye contact. Perhaps the most important ingredient in any delivery recipe, eye contact takes work for many of us. In every conversation or presentation (which might be the telling of a story to a group of friends standing around the coffee machine at work), practice making meaningful eye contact with the entire group. How easy to develop a blind spot (never looking to the people on your left). How easy to get in the habit of looking over people or past people. Practice will help your preaching, not to mention your daily conversations!

2. Posture. How do you stand while in a conversation? How do you stand when saying goodbye at the front door (a very English pastime)? How do you hold yourself when approaching the counter in a store? Developing healthy and confident, but not arrogant or contrived posture is worth the effort. It is so easy to undermine a message by sending “don’t trust me” or “this is not important” signals!

3. Distracting movement. Some people pace, others shuffle, some sway, some fidget. If you discover you have a propensity to distracting movement, work it out in normal life. It will only help in life and ministry.

4. Distracting gesture. Apart from some obviously offensive gestures, I am not highly against any gesture. Hand in pocket can be fine. Pointing might be appropriate. Touching the face may not detract from a message. However, any repeated gesture can become highly distracting. If you find you have one, work it out in normal life. Finger to finger push-ups, one arm hanging limp, jingling keys in the pocket, the werewolf, the T-Rex (elbows attached to the side but lots of hand gesturing), what Bert Decker calls the fig leaf, or the fig leaf flasher, the Clinton (gesturing as if holding the pen), even slapping yourself on the head. Anything can be distracting if overused!

5. Smile. A grossly underused tool for connection and building trust. It wouldn’t hurt the world if we all practiced this more in everyday life, and it might show more in our preaching too!

Find out (from friend or from video) what you need to work on, your listeners will appreciate it!

There are central issues in preaching – interpreting the Scriptures, applying with relevance, relationship with God and with listeners. But there are plenty of other factors worthy of our consideration. Not central, but worth considering since our goal is effective communication. One of these is stance.

The visual presentation of a speaker is a complex series of issues – dress, body language, facial expression, proxemics, etc. One element is stance. How we stand communicates. I am not advocating a one-size fits all approach. There is no such solution. Consider the following:

The setting – is the occasion for preaching more formal or informal. A casual approach at a funeral tends to backfire! What kind of church is it? What is he tone of the service? Who are the people in the congregation? Since every preaching context is different, there is no one-size fits all approach.

The message – there needs to be consistency between what is being communicated and how. A super-somber convicting moment presenting the most important thing they will ever hear generally does not work well with hands in pockets, leaning against the side of the pulpit. On the other hand, perhaps in some settings, with some messages, having you sit on a high stool in a relaxed manner would work wonders.

The options – while many rightly resist the notion that anyone can prescribe the right stance for every preacher on every preaching occasion, we naturally fall into the inconsistent position of haing a default stance that we use whatever the situation (thereby functioning as if there is a one-size fits all after all!) Take some time to think through your options. Behind a podium/pulpit, coming out from behind it, removing it, leaning forward with more urgency, leaning back against something, sitting on a stool, moving to different areas of the platform, standing still, etc. The deliberate move from behind a desk to standing in front and leaning on it helped to transform a president who was an ineffective communicator into a likeable and more effective leader.

Sometimes small things do matter. Anything that will remove a communication hindrance or inconsistency from our preaching of the gospel is worthy of some attention. Take a few moments to think through stance, our communication is no less important than the president of a superpower!