Having been in the pulpit for the majority of Sundays for the last 40 years, it is now quite a new experience to regularly be ‘in the pew’. Since my recent retirement from full-time ministry, I have been asked about how I am coping. I am blessed to have passed on the baton to a faithful successor, so it is easy to be really positive about the experience. Sadly, however, folk from a range of churches sometimes share with me some of their frustrations at being hearers of the Word. So, on their behalf, here is my digest of their requests. I hope that preachers (myself included) will listen to their pleas – they are genuine and heartfelt. They seem to boil down to six main requests. Here are the first three; I will add the second set in the next issue.
Preach to me
This is the most common concern. The desire is not only to hear good content, full of Scripture and well applied, but preached. In other words, not just read or delivered like a lecture, or a story being told, or history narrated. Preaching is entirely different. The two main ‘preaching verbs’ in Greek are kerusso – to proclaim as a herald, and euangelizo – to tell out good news. Both are dynamic words which involve proclamation, not simply the conveying of information. One lady lamented to me recently that preachers are so wedded to their electronic tablet as their companion in the pulpit that they seem to be addressing it rather than the people in front of them! She said with a wry smile, ‘they seem to be constantly stroking it!’ I have an old friend who tells me that I preach with my face – I think I know what she means! What she is getting at is important. As preachers, our face, expressions, gestures, and exertions should give evidence of what we are doing – preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ!
Look at me
This is a continuation of the first point. Preachers can be so tied to their notes (or their tablets), unsure of their content, or maybe wary of the response of their hearers, that they hardly look up and have eye contact with those in front of them. Murray Capill’s book on preaching has a very apt title: The Heart is the Target. If the message is truly from God, then it is from his heart – first to the heart of the preacher. Then, in the act of preaching, it is directed through the mind of the hearer to the heart and the will. It is very hard to convey something ‘heart-to-heart’ without it being ‘eye-to-eye’.
Engage with me
Some hearers lose interest from the very start of the sermon. Bland opening lines like, ‘As we saw last week…’ do not grab the attention. A study of the sermons of Jesus, or the apostle Paul, reveal their intention to engage with their audience from the off. Hearers are immediately drawn in, knowing the message is for them. Preachers must start well in order to engage well. Some preachers think that the key to engaging is volume. I recall the illustration of the fictional preacher with notes highlighted in the margin: ‘Content weak – shout here!’ People are not comfortable with being shouted at, whether the content is weak or strong! Pleading, appealing, convincing, pressing home the message, is never to be done in a tone of bullying volume, but always in a tone of winsome and engaging persuasion. To be continued…
