I recently wrote about the dangers of over applying in a sermon. I said that I’d come back to the question of what we do with all the other helpful applications we want to make. So, here are a few thoughts about what to do when you’ve got more application to include than you’ve got… Continue reading What do I do with all that application?
Category: Preaching and Teaching
The danger with listening critically to sermons
The other day, I wrote some advice on giving feedback to preachers. I want to add one further piece of advice. Ration your feedback, give it sparingly. What I mean by this is that whilst everyone should be getting regular feedback, you don’t want to be giving it every time you listen to other preachers.… Continue reading The danger with listening critically to sermons
You don’t have to look too hard for the application!
This is part two of a mini-series of articles on preaching application. In part one, I talked about the twin dangers of not applying a passage at all and over applying with a scatter gun approach, shooting off lots and lots of things for people to know, believer, repent of, start doing, stop doing etc. … Continue reading You don’t have to look too hard for the application!
Some advice on preaching feedback
One of the best ways you can bless a preacher, no matter how long they have been preaching for is to give them feedback. It blesses them in a few ways. One way is that it helps them to know that someone has been listening. One of the toughest times for preachers was during the… Continue reading Some advice on preaching feedback
Your sermon was too short
I saw a quote the other day “If you have a 4 minute sermon, speak for 4 minutes. Don’t waffle for 40 minutes.” There’s good advise there. One mistake we can make as preachers is to go on for too long. We can go on beyond the attention span of the congregation but we can… Continue reading Your sermon was too short
Preachers – don’t over apply
Preachers tend to fall for one of two dangers. Either we can focus so heavily on the exegesis and exposition of a Bible passage, we make very clear what it means but we forget the application. It’s all very interesting but it doesn’t really land in a way that is practical and relevant to the… Continue reading Preachers – don’t over apply
Preaching around
I mentioned the other day the debate about whether or not you should reuse sermons. The assumption there is that you will get a lot of your preaching experience from going to various different churches, perhaps a different church each month for six months and then visit the same churches again the following six months.… Continue reading Preaching around
If you know, then you know
The other day, I commented on this tweet about those training for ministry and the benefits of reading the Brontes, Austen and other literary classics. It’s probably worth me clarifying to avoid any doubt that my article wasn’t intended as a direct response to the specific argument the original tweet was making. Indeed, as I’ll… Continue reading If you know, then you know
Re-preach your sermon
I’ve picked up on a little debate between preachers recently about whether or not you should reuse sermons when speaking at other churches or prepare a fresh sermon every time. I suspect this has been prompted, at least in part by this brilliant article from Tim Wilson. There are a couple of things I’d differ… Continue reading Re-preach your sermon
How do you develop a healthy teaching and preaching diet for your church?
On one level, this is quite simple, especially if your leaning is towards systematic expository preaching and if you believe that the church family needs to hear the whole counsel of God. My practice in pastoral ministry has been to try and ensure that over time, the church covers as much of Scripture as possible. … Continue reading How do you develop a healthy teaching and preaching diet for your church?
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