I remember how difficult it was trying to tell an older preacher that his preaching was terrible, woops, I mean sub-optimal. When he asked why I thought this was so, I replied that not only couldn't most of our congregation understand what he was actually trying to say, I actually had no idea what he had just said. When I asked him if he could actually tell me in one sentence what he had just preached, he couldn't. Then he launched into a tirade about why he didn't want to preach like every other preacher...

What he didn't want to do was preach a sermon which had a pre-set structure. What he actually needed to do was preach to a structure, learn the craft, then improvise from there. I explained to him some of the principles of communication which were peculiar to preaching. You see, preaching is not like giving a lecture, a talk, or a presentation. All of those things happen in churches, but they are not necessarily preaching. Preaching is a different form of communication because it demands a response. It is an appeal. It is also a form of earnest pleading for people to change. It is too important an opportunity to just ramble, waffle, or just make-it-up-as-you-go-along! It demands that it has a structure so that it can be followed and understand by its audience.

PRINCIPLE #1 - SIMPLICITY

When you know what you have to say, then simplify it into one sentence. Chances are that if you can't then you probably don't know what you have to say. Simplicity also demands that you aim to limit what you say. Don't try to say too much about a lot, rather say a little about a little. Keep it simple.

 

PRINCIPLE #2 - THEME

Now this is where the fork in the road between average preachers and good preachers divides. If a preacher starts off talking about the love of God and then introduces the story of Noah before talking about the seven churches of Revelation and their relationship to the Harlot of Babylon who is in cahoots with the World Bank which has caused global unemployment and made the world a terribly unloving place, then that preacher is not paying attention to their theme. The theme of a message should be the thread that weaves its way through the whole message.

 

PRINCIPLE #3 - PROPOSITION

After people have heard what you have to say, what do you want them to do? Whatever you propose that they should do is called your proposition. Every sermon conclusion should integrate the proposition into it. When you get to the conclusion of your message and you say- "Therefore..." it should be obvious by then what you expect your hearers to do because you have preached simply, stuck to your theme, and known exactly what you wanted your listeners to do.

These three principles will give a message necessary structure.

Andrew Corbett, December 2002