Proclaimer Blog
Why quotes don’t work
I've been doing some thinking about quotes in sermons and I want to share my conclusions with you. In fact, to be more precise, I want to tell you why quotes rarely work. It's because there are fundamental differences between the written word and the spoken word. Writers rarely write as they speak. Speakers use short sentences. They avoid complex constructions and flowery synonyms. Writers love both and add in subordinate clauses like there was an offer on at Tesco. You probably don't realise this. Get this – that is because when you read out a quote you are in reading mode not speaking mode! But your congregation are in listening-to-speaking mode whether you are preaching or whether you are reading a quote out.
So, here's an excerpt from one of my sermons, word for word:
Imagine this kind of fear! It's fear that comes from being attacked. Attacked by one who was once a friend. Attacked by someone who walked closely with us. And don't think that's just for David. It happens. It happens in churches. It happens in marriages. It happens in families. It happens in Christian relationships.
No sentence has more than 8 or 9 words. That would (or could) look quite different if I was writing it in a book.
Imagine the kind of fear that comes from being attacked, even from one who was once a friend or someone who walked closely with us! It's not something that is unique to David because it happens today in churches, marriages, families and in Christian relationships.
Two sentences and if I'd tried hard it could be one. Same content. Different kind of writing. Some quotes work because people write in very pithy ways or because the story is so gripping the construction matters less (what I call testimony quotes). But these are rare. And this is why quotes often don't work. And we simply don't realise it.