If you’re new to preaching and you get asked to do a talk, it can be a bit daunting to know where to start. I made some classic mistakes when I first started speaking; in one of my first talks I crammed in 37 different Bible passages leaving the congregation more than a little bit overwhelmed! In the years since, I’ve learnt a few things and become passionate about us all becoming the best communicators we can be. Here are some of my practical ideas to give you confidence as you prepare your talk.
Good foundations
When we’re new to preaching, many of us lack the confidence that God will speak to us and that God wants to speak through us. If that’s where you’re at, remember that God’s word is powerful and that he is longing to speak to his people. Think of a talk you’ve heard that has impacted you. It may have changed the way you view God, the way you view yourself, set you free in some way, or prompted you to change something. Hold on to that memory - not to hold yourself up to the standard of the person who preached that particular sermon - but as a reminder that God changes people through hearing his word preached.
Deciding what to preach on
The first thing to think about is, of course, what you will be speaking on. You may be given a particular passage or topic to cover, or you may be given completely free reign. No matter which, the way you start is the same: by immersing yourself in the Bible and asking God to speak to you. No doubt there are already things that God has been saying to you, ideas that are brewing in your heart and mind, even if they feel small at the moment. Trust that as you read your Bible, God will be speaking. (NB. If you’ve been given a full sermon outline many of these principles still apply as helpful ways for you to connect with the material and make it your own.)
Developing your idea
Whatever the initial thought, when it comes to working on it, it’s a bit like looking for the end of a roll of sticky tape: you keep running your finger over it, and picking away until you feel an edge and are able to unravel more. You need to spend time going through the (sometimes frustratingly long) process of waiting, mulling, pondering and praying. Take time picking away at the thought or inspiration, coming back to it again and again from lots of different angles.
Without worrying about structure, try the following to aid your picking, and write down anything that comes to mind:
Read and re-read Bible verses and passages. What seems particularly important, interesting or relevant? Try and stay open to what God wants to say and let go of your assumptions and agendas. We must always keep in mind that our job is to serve God’s word, not make God’s word serve us.
Read what happens either side of the passage.
Read the passage or verse in a number of different translations.
Look at other passages in the Bible that are relevant (i.e on the same theme or where God or people acted in a similar manner). You might find it helpful to use a concordance or an online Bible tool such as Biblegateway.com.
Read commentaries, Bible dictionaries, study Bibles, Bible handbooks, and anything else you can get your hands on. One book I love is Unlocking the Bible by David Pawson (published by Collins) as each chapter introduces a book of the Bible, draws out what the original context was and how it speaks to us today.
Ask two key questions about the passage or passages you want to speak on: ‘what did it mean?’ and ‘what does it mean?’ The technical terms for these two questions are exegesis and hermeneutics. Exegesis is digging into what the passage was saying at the time it was recorded, looking at the clues that lie in and around the written text. It’s about explanation: what did it mean then, what was happening in the original context, what led up to that story, event or verse? Hermeneutics is the wider research to help us apply the passage to people today. It’s about interpretation: what does the passage have to say to us now? Depending on the talk you’re giving, you’ll use these answers to varying degrees. Some talks merely nod at the former and focus on the latter, but both will inform your material and direction. If you’re using a Bible story to speak on a theme, you should consider first explaining and teaching the actual story, setting it in context before giving it a wider application, even if this is done very briefly.
The way to start is by immersing yourself in the Bible and asking God to speak to you
Talk about it with one or two people. Sharing your thoughts out loud and bouncing them off others can be a great way to help clarify where you’re going, and can bring out things you’d never think of on your own.
Find illustrations. Think about times in your life or in the lives of others where you’ve experienced the thing you’re talking about, where you’ve seen God move, where someone has put this truth into action.
Think about your application, which is ‘how?’ and ‘what now?’ (Or ‘now what and so what?’) As you’re talking people will be wondering how they can apply what you’re saying to their life, so your application is a way of giving them ideas and dreams. Illustrations can double up as application as they also give people ideas and examples of how they can live differently in the light of what they’ve heard. Of course you don’t need to give exhaustive lists, but ask God during your preparation what it would look like for the congregation to live in the light of this truth. As with most elements of a talk, think carefully about tailoring your application to the specific age, life-stage and church background of the group you’re speaking to. If your group is quite mixed, as many churches are, try and have a mix of illustrations.
Gather additional quotes, facts or statistics that round out and illustrate your points.
If you’ve done all of that then you’ve pretty much got your talk in front of you! But it’s going to need a bit of work…
Finding your focus
One of the most frustrating things when you’re listening to a speaker is a lack of clarity about what it is they actually want to say. No doubt when you brainstormed all of the above you came up with lots and lots of ideas, and they spun off into lots of other ideas. You might have loads of great content but if you keep heading off on
different tangents, it will be hard for your audience to focus on what you’re really trying to say. Go back through everything you’ve thought about and decide what it is you want to focus on. Try and boil it down to one sentence that summarises your point. I find it helpful to imagine my one thing as the centre of a flower. The petals (my Bible passages and explanations, my illustrations etc) surround the centre but each one comes back to the centre – none of the petals hang off each other. You can still unpack lots of different points within your talk but everything you’re saying is serving the one key focus so that people hear what you want to communicate.
Throughout your preparation, keep asking yourself if your main point is clear. Write it on a post-it, and make sure anything that doesn’t underline that point is removed and tucked somewhere else for a future sermon. When someone asks you what you’re speaking on, you should be able to summarise the whole thing in one or two sentences without having to say ‘it’s kind of about this and covers a little of that’.
Structure
Structure helps you to take all the thoughts you’ve already had and make them into a smooth and logical talk. Different talks and different people lend themselves to different styles: some prefer a very linear structure, others find that too constricting. A good structure helps to lead people through the material you’ve given them, providing a sense of security about where they are within that talk.
Some ideas for structuring your material:
You might like to go back to the flower image I mentioned. Write your one thing in the middle, and write your petals around it, then number them in the order that makes the most sense.
If you prefer to prepare out loud, you can keep talking your content through until a logical order emerges.
If you write out your talks in full you can cut and paste to your heart’s content until everything flows.
Think about:
Your beginning: this is the best opportunity to invite people on the journey you want to take them on. Think about knowing your first sentence off by heart so you have a strong start.
Your end: as you draw to a close don’t introduce any new material but give your audience a clue that you’re coming to an end. Summarise what you’ve said to underline it in people’s minds. Think about what you want to leave them with and have a strong final sentence that brings you into land.
Jumping in points – peoples’ minds tend to wander no matter who they are listening to, so it’s helpful to recap what you’re saying occasionally so people can pick up the thread again.
You should be able to summarise the whole thing in one or two sentences without having to say ‘it’s kind of about this and covers a little of that’
Practise
Once you’ve got your content structured, it’s time to practise!
Try speaking it out and pay attention to your tone of voice. Avoid using a ‘preacher voice’ and make sure you vary your pitch, pace and volume in order to keep your listeners engaged. If you spot that you get a bit bored at the sound of your own voice somewhere, it probably means you need another illustration. These bring life to your points and adds an element of human interest to keep people engaged. Stories also automatically make you change your pitch so they help with variety of tone as well.
Remember that people listen to passionate people. If you sound like what you’re saying is interesting people will believe that it is interesting! If you sound bored, they will probably tune you out.
Time yourself as you speak so you know if you need to add or remove any content.
It also helps to run through your talk with another person to get a fresh perspective. Don’t tell them your one sentence summary beforehand but ask them at the end to reflect back what you said, in a nutshell, to check if your main point came through clearly. It’s also a good idea to get them to give you feedback on your body language and whether you’ve used any jargon.
Running through your talk aloud helps to get your message in you so that your notes become prompts rather than a script you read. It’s not about memorising the whole thing, but internalising it so that it flows more naturally. This means that when you’re standing in front of the group you’re talking to, you’ll have extra confidence in your ability to share your message well.
Don’t forget...
We started by being immersed in the Bible so remember that this is what it’s all about. Your job isn’t to deliver the most original, funniest, life-changing sermon the world has ever heard, but to present God’s word in as fresh and engaging a way as you can. Hold on to the truth that:
‘The word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.’ Hebrews 4:12
