Tips for New Preachers

May 6, 2008

Categories: Homiletics, Pastoral Ministry, Preaching, Seminary, Worship

Written By: Stiegemeyer

accusing preacher Tips for New Preachers Preaching is one of the most challenging, enjoyable and dangerous things any pastor will do. The responsibility is tremendous and the world allies with our sinful flesh to make preachers deliver poor sermons and to distract inattentive hearers.

The newly minted pastors leaving the seminary for their first calls have had excellent homiletical training from the finest professors. They’ve immersed themselves in the study of sacred writ. They have engaged energetically with doctrinal writings and historical texts. Now they are ready to preach. Yes and no. Preaching is as much an art as it is a science. One can compose a technically fine sermon but one that lacks beauty or warmth.

There are many types of preachers. And I know a number of very excellent Lutheran preachers who have dramatically different styles. What works for one fellow in his particular setting might not fly for another elsewhere. There is no one size fits all. However, as one who is still terrified, excited and challenged every time he stands in a pulpit, these are my “tips” for preaching. It’s certainly possible that some preachers will take exception with this or that point. They are in no particular order. FWIW

Whether you use an outline or a manuscript, when you write the sermon, write for the ear, not for the eye. Your words will primarily be heard, not read. That should make a big difference in how you write.
Use everyday language. Your sermon is not an English lesson. Your objective is not to expand people’s vocabulary. Use good grammar, but be flexible. Speak in the manner your parishoners are accustomed to. When you write, imagine you are having a one-to-one conversation with a typical member of the congregation.
Reviewing sermons from the fathers of the church for insights is commendable, but don’t adopt the flowery Victorian style of many translations.
Be natural. Avoid all pulpit-tone. Unless you hail from the British Isles, do not anglocize your speech. It’s pretentious.
Preach with authority but without being pompous or bullying.
Keep all non-biblical quotations to a minimum, and brief.
Humor can be helpful or it can be harmful. It’s like salt on your potato. A dab will do. Don’t use jokes or puns to draw attention to yourself.
Do use illustrations. Don’t over-use them. And make certain the illustration really does help proclaim the gospel and isn’t just a cute story you can’t resist using.
Preaching is not about you. If it ever becomes about you, repent.
Preach Jesus Christ crucified. If you haven’t declared the cross and its benefits, you haven’t preached.
Be specific and direct in preaching the law to convict. Never use the law as a means to puff up the self-righteous. It kills. Kill them with it.
The gospel raises us to life again. Pierce and crush them with the hammer. Resurrect them, specifically and directly, with the gospel.
Preach the law with compassion and sympathy. Don’t water it down, but don’t be spiteful. You don’t have the right.
Have someone critique your gestures and body language.
Make sure people understand you. If you ramble or use too much highfalutin vocabulary and thus aren’t being understood, you may as well be speaking in Klingon.
Don’t be wordy or long-winded. Verbosity is an atrocity.
The gospel works. Don’t get in its way.

Rev. Todd Peperkorn Says:
May 6th, 2008 at 10:30 am

I think I would add a couple more to this:

* Preach so that your people long for the Sacrament of the Altar.
* Read, read, read, read, read. You can’t read too many great sermons. The best way to learn how to preach is to lean to recognize good preaching when you read it and hear it.

I’m going to muse on this more. It’s a good topic.

Rev. Todd Peperkorn’s last blog post..Exaudi 2008 – He Will Testify of Me

Zielinski Says:
May 7th, 2008 at 11:22 am

That has to be the creepiest picture I’ve ever seen.

Anastasia Theodoridi Says:
May 7th, 2008 at 12:18 pm

The Law doesn’t kill. Sin kills.

I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” But *sin,* taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. And the commandment, *which was to bring life*, I found to bring death. For *sin*, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. Has then what is good become death to me? *Certainly not!* But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. (Romans 7:7-13)

Anastasia Theodoridi’s last blog post..God’s Law Never Killed Anyone

Stiegemeyer Says:
May 8th, 2008 at 12:49 am

“He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!”
2 Cor. 3:6-9

Anastasia Theodoridi Says:
May 8th, 2008 at 8:13 am

I guess I just don’t get it. If it’s the letter that kills, surely you aren’t suggesting pastors preach the letter of the Law?

But even the letter isn’t what kills us; it’s *walking according to that letter*, which is to deny walking by the Spirit, favoring written words above real Life. Right?

Anastasia Theodoridi’s last blog post..Holy Handkerchief! (What Would You DO With One?)

Stiegemeyer Says:
May 13th, 2008 at 8:03 pm

Ana,
You say, “surely you aren’t suggesting pastors preach the letter of the Law?”

Of course, that is exactly what I am saying. It’s God’s Law. Do you think we should not speak God’s Law? Let’s take an example. “Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods.” I say preach it. Or this one: “Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery.” Again, I say preach it. And when the Law of God is preached properly it will kill the Old Adam, the sinful flesh, as well it should (Rom 6).

Earlier you said that it is not God’s law that kills, but sin. Sin kills. But as the Apostle wrote, “the power of sin is . . . the Law (1 Cor 15).”