personal stories in sermons...

Sharing a personal story in church as part of a sermon is a challenge and a skill, almost like trying to putt a golf ball and sometimes it can be overhit and does not hit the mark, and missed the intedned target. I have heard personal stories shared in church that are not relevant to anybody but the speaker and that is a problem - how can a preacher share a story effectivly?

I believe that when one shares oneself a story should be short, to the point and accesible for all, this is easier said than done, but to achieve this I think a story could be shared with a friend before it is shared in a wider arena and therefore as a kind of litmus tests to see if the story ellucidates the point being made in the sermon well. I once heard Rick Warren say: 'you need a point for the head and a point for the heart.' In other words the story has a purpose, to illuminate a bible teaching, if it does not do that, perhaps it is for the ego? A challeneg to all preachers including myself!

Dialog in preaching?

Dialog in preaching requites utter humility and a real vulnerability – a lectern is safeplace and almost there is a sense of – when I have the mic, Im in charge! At least I have seen that played out many times in churches. Dialog recognises God speaking to a whole community and not just one person and I have seen / am seeing this done in two ways:

1. In cafe style setting or even in pews, the preacher can give a chance for people to break in to small groups for a few minutes to ponder a sermon point or scripture and really engage with what is being share. I love this as it is almost like a seed is planted and then the watering begins right away in the pew! It is like Mark 4 and the story of seed falling on good ground on fast forward!

2. I am part of a small congregation of around 25, at the moment we sit in the church spread out, there is talk of all moving into the sanctuary and from there sitting in a circle and creating an intimate community and foster a sense of sharing together. In this style, the preacher will have no lectern to hide behind, will need to be more conversational and again promote dialog.

Stop being a lone ranger...

A minister often preaches week by week, preparing alone, immersed in scripture and various books, while this dialectic with others that have studied the texts is good, I don’t think it can be a substitution for chatting through face to face about the sermon text and what it might mean for today. I have seen some great ideas for this:

- There is a facebook group called liturgy where people talk about the text coming up for Sunday and share ideas, stories, jokes and take home messages. A great on line way to not be a lone ranger!

- Meeting with other ministers within an Archdeaconry in the Anglican Church to possibly brainstorm together the upcoming Sunday readings for preaching, to share ideas, but also to pool resources e.g videos, photos, people with skills in a given subject.

- My old church had a ‘service planning group’ who brainstormed sermons 3 months at a time, planned a roster and creative ways of sharing the message – then the pastor was still involved but from a team approach, discerning with others what God might be saying to their church, rather than alone, this approaches leaves the ego at the door and involves more people and so thereby more gifting and personality types, which then illuminate the bible in several ways rather than one way.