The view from the pulpit
Earlier this year, the College of Preachers published the results of a survey into listeners’ experiences of sermons, entitled The View From The Pew. It is a document well worth reading, not least for what it reveals about high hopes and expectations for the sermon. The view from the pew is much more optimistic than you think.
What about the view from the pulpit, though? The wonderfully creative Dave Walker of Cartoon Church blog, has kindly given permission to reproduce this here.
I shan’t be preaching this weekend, as I’m taking a few days off in beautiful Wales. However, for those of you who are – I pray that you only see eyes closed before you for all the best reasons!
preachersa2z
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Richard Littledale's Preacher's A - Z 
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October 22, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Patrick
If preachers think their sermons are ‘failing’, perhaps it’s because they are trying to achieve too much in ten minutes or so on a Sunday morning … or perhaps they haven’t really considered what it is they are trying to achieve in the first place!
I used to work as a broadcaster before I was ordained, and based on that experience I have two fairly separate, but complimentary, ideas in mind when I preach, one to do with image, the other with message. To expand on that …
1. Image: Standing in the pulpit of a Sunday is my biggest chance in the week to connect with my parishioners. In my parish I’ll be lucky to face-to-face with them once every two/three years on home visits. Others I’ll meet more frequently at functions and meetings. But on from the pulpit I get to look 20 to 30 percent of the parish in the eye every week. I may not be getting to know them – but they are getting to know me! It’s my chance to let them find out something about me … hopefully, even if they forget what I said, they go away with the knowledge that I’m approachable, sympathetic, interested in them – and a man of God who has his feet on the ground (except when I’m standing in the pulpit!) – someone who is there when they need them.
2. Message: People in general have short attention spans & I know I’ll be lucky if they remember a word I’ve said by the time they are shaking my hand on the way out the door! I want them to go away with one key point … and more often than not, rather than trying to ‘teach’ them something new, remind or reinforce something they already know, or should know, as Christians – God loves them; they have a responsibility towards others; treat God’s creation with respect. That key point is something that should emerge from the readings for that day … and if at all possible should form the ‘theme’ for the entire service.
There is, of course, a synergy between the two: my ‘image’ as someone sincere in their faith bolsters the message I’m preaching; and the ‘message’ I’m preaching enhances my image as a man of God.
That’s it really. What image of yourself (& by the extension God’s Church) are you trying to project – what message of God’s Word are you trying to convey. I’m probably ‘teaching my grandma to suck eggs’ with this, but thought it would do no harm to say it!
God bless.
October 22, 2010 at 3:42 pm
preachersa2z
Tempted to say “amen to that” Patrick. As I said in last month’s post “hoist with the digital petard” – content AND presentation matter, for the sake of the Kingdom of God.