Proclaimer Blog
Delivering a sermon
Whilst teaching international students last week I sat through an interesting presentation on sermon delivery with some obvious but helpful wisdom. The presenter outlined four principles for sermon delivery (my summary in brackets):
- not too slow and not too fast (i.e. good pace)
- not too high and not too low (i.e. good tone)
- not too soft and not too loud (i.e. good volume)
- not all the same (i.e. variation of above)
Helpful. And what if we struggle in these areas? Ask for help! Get a good friend to point things out to you. Create a culture in church where the preacher gets some feedback (this is not the same as inviting the whole congregation to do this!). And, in fact, you will quickly work things out. Go round and visit people in your church and ask them what they remember from last week's sermon, any questions they want to ask etc, and you will soon find out what people have been taking in and whether your delivery works. It's not rocket science, but it is foundational.