We name sermons to give them identity and significance.  The key is to link a title to the text without falling into various titling faux pas:

1. Will this title capture the attention of people?  Titles that deal with the real questions and hurts of people can attract an audience, giving us an opportunity to teach the truth.
2. Is the title clear?  I ask myself, “Will this title stand on its own – without additional explanation?
3. Is the title good news?  Even when I have difficult or painful news to share, I want my title to focus on the good news aspects of my subject.
4. Does the title relate to everyday life?

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For additional leadership resources, please visit the following links:

http://preachit.org/

http://pastoralhelps.com/

http://preachitaudio.com/

A crucial issue for today’s church is communication. At the heart of the Christian faith is the message of the Good News of Jesus Christ. Yet today this message is one of a multitude of messages people are bombarded with daily. Furthermore, the “audience” has changed drastically. Today, the church faces the increasingly difficult task of communicating sacred meaning to a secular audience.

Here’s a check list of things to consider when it comes to evaluating what you’re communicating today as the church amid the rising tide of secularism:

1. Keep it simple. Simplify everything from the bulletin to the sermons. You will communicate better with secular people.
2. Translate please. Secular people don’t understand the theological jargon we use. You can simplify Biblical terms without sacrificing their integrity.
3. Timing is everything. Time is the new currency. Communication must be concise. If people lose focus because of time, they lose the message.
4. Take nothing for granted. The average churchgoer often takes for granted the things new people may not understand. The answer? Define what terms mean.
5. Define non- negotiables. Some language and practices simply can’t be changed. Define the non-negotiables and then clarify their meaning.
6. Educate, educate, educate! Secular people require instruction. If you don’t educate, you will not fully communicate.
7. Cut the “preacher talk”. If an everyday word can be used, use it!
8. Use secular terms. They can be a vehicle to convey a sacred meaning as long as they don’t threaten the Biblical or theological integrity of what you are trying to communicate.
9. Use a variety of communication forms. Lyle Shaller says, “Today we are dealing with the Sight, Sound and Sensation generation.” Diversify your forms of communicating the same sacred message.
10. Embody the Good News first. Christian communication has always been personalized before it is verbalized. If you want to share the message, live it first.

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For additional leadership resources, please visit the following link:

http://preachit.org/

http://pastoralhelps.com/

http://preachitaudio.com/

By James Smith

If you desire for people to follow you, you have to connect with them.  The catalyst of your relationship with them at any level may very well have to be a result of your constant effort to associate with them. An unbeliever’s only basis for coming into the knowledge of truth may well be his relationship with his teacher/preacher. 

Connect with them on a personal level.  Find out what it is that interests them and try to find a common interest.  Get to know them personally.  Visit their home.  Invite them to yours.  Go places with them.  Let them know you care for them on more than a Pastoral level.  If they consider you to be their friend, they will support you much more than if you are only an authority to them.

Connect with them on a professional level.  If he is a doctor, read a few books on the latest surgery procedures.  If he coaches football, learn a bit about the game.  If she is a teacher, talk education with her. 

Connect with them in your preaching.  Personalize your preaching.  Major newspapers write their articles on the 6th grade educational level.  Hence they are able to reach a broader audience than if they wrote them on the college level where most people may not understand certain wording.  Bring Bible stories and situations into present day circumstances.  Touch home once in a while.

Connect them to others in the church.  Without good relationships in the church, new converts do not stay.  If a person has only a few people they are connected with in the church, their chances of staying are much higher than someone who does not find relationships within the church.  Create ministries to get them connected.

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For additional leadership resources, please visit the following links:

http://preachit.org/

http://pastoralhelps.com/

http://preachitaudio.com/

How do we preach to those who have heard it all? Here are seven ingredients:

• Round out Bible characters. For many sermon veterans, familiar Bible characters are flat, one dimensional, either good or bad. But real people have inner tensions, complications, and mixed motives. When a preacher portrays that, listeners identify readily.
• Get specific about application. An example is more powerful than an explanation. There’s a world of difference between telling someone that prayer changes things and sharing a fresh example of a situation transformed by prayer.
• Let it grip your soul. A critical quality in preaching effectively to those who’ve heard it all is sincerity. If our sermon is honest and heartfelt, a truth as common as “Jesus loves you” can thunder in the hearts and minds of our listeners.
• Address the tough question. We would like to think that hearing a lot of sermons would answer most of a person’s questions. But people who have heard it all love to hear a preacher tackle the tough ones.
• Probe their spiritual condition. It’s nice to be profound; it’s more important to be penetrating. When we probe the depths of the human heart, we challenge people.
• Harness the power of story. Jesus came telling stories. Listeners will rate even the most elementary idea as great preaching if we can help them feel it one more time in their hearts.
• Utilize surprise. When we tell stories from an unexpected point of view, adopt the contrarian perspective, or use a surprise ending. We can have a great impact even on people familiar with the conventional.

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For additional leadership resources, please visit the following links:

http://preachit.org/

http://pastoralhelps.com/

http://preachitaudio.com/

American society is in the midst of a communications explosion. All sorts of electronic and print media vie for people’s attention. Amid this cultural revolution, there you are, trying to communicate the most important message of all time – the good news of Jesus Christ. How can you possibly compete? Following these 10 principles will ensure greater impact for your preaching.

1. Believe in what you say. Ferdinand Foch said, “The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.” All the crafting in the world can’t save a message that has no passion in it. If you can’t get excited about a subject, don’t preach on it.
2. Believe that people can change. Keep in mind that all great communicators have one thing in common: They expect their message to change lives.
3. Live what you say. Unless you have credibility, even the best content will get you nowhere. If you don’t live it, your listeners won’t either.
4. Know when to say it. Be observant of people’s reactions to your message. When you sense that people are receptive, it is time to ask for a response.
5. Know how to say it. Creativity greatly enhances communication. Use all the tools you can to make the message interesting and memorable: plays on words, acrostics, humor, stories, skits, music – all can help increase your impact. Avoid being too predictable. If people always know what you are about to say or how you will say it, they will tune you out.
6. Know why to say it. Develop an action-oriented thesis instead of a subject- oriented thesis. You’d be surprised by how many preachers expect their people to apply what they’ve learned without ever being asked to.
7. Have fun saying it. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Relax and show that you enjoy communicating your message. Nobody likes an uptight speaker.
8. Show it as you say it. People are visually oriented. Use body language, hand gestures, descriptive language and word pictures that bring life to what you are saying.
9. Say it so people can own it. People will not respond to a message that doesn’t seem to apply to them. Know your audience and make them a part of the message instead of mere observers.
10. Say it so people will do it. For people to act, four requirements must be met. They must have a receptive attitude, see the benefits of acting, understand how to act and be capable of acting. Even the best-planned and delivered message will be useless if the people don’t have a clear picture of how to carry it out.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For additional leadership resources, please visit the following links:

http://preachit.org/

http://pastoralhelps.com/

http://preachitaudio.com/

American society is in the midst of a communications explosion. All sorts of electronic and print media vie for people’s attention. Amid this cultural revolution, there you are, trying to communicate the most important message of all time – the good news of Jesus Christ. How can you possibly compete? Following these 10 principles will ensure greater impact for your preaching.

1. Believe in what you say. Ferdinand Foch said, “The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.” All the crafting in the world can’t save a message that has no passion in it. If you can’t get excited about a subject, don’t preach on it.
2. Believe that people can change. Keep in mind that all great communicators have one thing in common: They expect their message to change lives.
3. Live what you say. Unless you have credibility, even the best content will get you nowhere. If you don’t live it, your listeners won’t either.
4. Know when to say it. Be observant of people’s reactions to your message. When you sense that people are receptive, it is time to ask for a response.
5. Know how to say it. Creativity greatly enhances communication. Use all the tools you can to make the message interesting and memorable: plays on words, acrostics, humor, stories, skits, music – all can help increase your impact. Avoid being too predictable. If people always know what you are about to say or how you will say it, they will tune you out.
6. Know why to say it. Develop an action-oriented thesis instead of a subject- oriented thesis. You’d be surprised by how many preachers expect their people to apply what they’ve learned without ever being asked to.
7. Have fun saying it. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Relax and show that you enjoy communicating your message. Nobody likes an uptight speaker.
8. Show it as you say it. People are visually oriented. Use body language, hand gestures, descriptive language and word pictures that bring life to what you are saying.
9. Say it so people can own it. People will not respond to a message that doesn’t seem to apply to them. Know your audience and make them a part of the message instead of mere observers.
10. Say it so people will do it. For people to act, four requirements must be met. They must have a receptive attitude, see the benefits of acting, understand how to act and be capable of acting. Even the best-planned and delivered message will be useless if the people don’t have a clear picture of how to carry it out.

How do you write a sermon outline?

Hub Topic or Root Idea.

It starts with inspiration or a hub topic. Something you can base everything from. My favorite “Hubs” to start with are either a specific challenge all christians face (Or your church is facing) or option #2, a bible verse you’ve been camping on in your studies.

Explain that or describe that topic and introduce it and where you came up with the inspiration to discuss this topic or verse.

Who? The human interest or factual basis…

Who spoke that in the bible? Who faced similar challenges in the bible? Who in real life today is facing it? Bring some human interest to it by pulling out real life examples and scriptural examples.

Why did this situation happen? What does it mean?

Is there any similar words in Greek/Hebrew to dig deeper into? Are there any common issues at play here?

Close with what we have to learn from God, Jesus the scriptures and what our lord and saviour would have done. What is the big lesson and what did folks in the past do?

This isn’t the only way to write a sermon outline, but it’s a very general overview. Obviously there’s a number of ways to tackle the situtation depending on the topic.

It’s always good to bring real world today situations to the light.. It’s also
good to bring scriptural reference, and  a Christ example to wrap it up.

Daniel J Deyette
Preachit.Org has many sermon outline varieties written by pastors and ministers with years of experience and varying styles.