How To Write A Better Sermon

Over the last number of years I have worked really hard on developing my craft as one who preaches the Gospel. Pulpit ministry is tricky because there is a sense that you look for affirmation in the wrong places. You want people to like what you say, but, if you're preaching the subversive gospel then they probably won't like what you have to say very often. 

I have come to realize that it doesn't matter whether people like my message. I want the message to stick and I want it to be fruitful. That means, when I preach my hope is that life change follows.

Early on in my days of preaching I would often bite off more than I could effectively communicate. I studied so hard and prepared so much that messages would last 45 minutes and really be all over the place. I would over illustrate, over metaphor, and educate. 

A few years ago at Grace Chapel we began writing children's questions for every sermon. If you were preaching you were responsible to write the questions. I have found that thinking through these questions with children (4-12 year olds) in mind has transformed my preaching. 

One of my good friends said that the best thing that he had to do in seminary was give a message to 5 year-olds. I believe it, now, more than ever. 

You see when you are thinking about communicating the Scriptures to a child you know that there have to be a few things that are true of your message:

• It has to have movement. This means that you need to have a narrative arc to your message. If you don't then boredom will set in. There must be a clearly defined beginning, middle, and end. 
• It has to be focused. You can't go on rabbit trails. If you do they lose interest.
• It has to be concrete. Your messages can't be theoretical. Kids don't get the theoretical, they don't have the intellectual hooks for it. 

Here's my secret: The things that are true about speaking to kids are the same things that are true for speaking to adults. 

The beginning of this process for me is writing children's questions. This exercise forces me out of my "great" theological mind and into the necessity of movement, focus, and the concrete. 

Do you want to be a better preacher? Write a few children's questions.