sermons – Faithroots

Can ChatGPT preach like me?

There’s been much discussion recently about preachers using AI tools such as ChatGPT to write their sermons for them. I even read a comment from one person who claimed that he now did this all the time and in fact, his church either didn’t notice a difference or preferred the AI option. Well, I thought… Continue reading Can ChatGPT preach like me?

How to listen to sermons

Here is another little e-book. Partly this arose because there is perhaps a need for training to listen to as well as to preach sermons. Partly it’s because thinking about how we should listen to sermons affects how we think about preaching them too. this short book covers different types of sermon including expository, topical… Continue reading How to listen to sermons

How to benefit from other people’s sermons

The other day, I wrote about the challenges of reviewing a book of sermons. There are more general challenges with hearing/reading sermons from other contexts. I don’t generally encourage people to get their spiritual food from searching the web to find sermons from famous preachers and that’s not to do with theological soundness. I’d be… Continue reading How to benefit from other people’s sermons

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

Is it best to use a knife and fork?

I’ve enjoyed and appreciated the discussion that has followed on from my articles about note taking. Responses have ranged from those who find it helpful to have the pressure to make notes taken off them through to those who have found note taking helpful and don’t intend to stop. A lot of you really don’t… Continue reading Is it best to use a knife and fork?

Against sermon note taking

Alistair Chalmers makes the case for taking notes during sermons here. This is something I’ve changed my mind on. Having a congregation furiously scribbling down notes during your talk is the gold standard measure of effective conservative evangelical preaching. It’s up there with getting a spontaneous outburst of hallelujahs and amens at a Pentecostal service… Continue reading Against sermon note taking

The AI Generated Sermon

Recently someone made a confession: I strongly suspect it is a spoof/satirical comment, intended as satire but it could easily be genuine. After all, I’ve recently been writing about whether ro not we should borrow sermons andis illustrations from others. The person concerned would only be going one step further in making use of AI.… Continue reading The AI Generated Sermon

How do you collect and organise sermon illustrations?

I don’t, is the quick and simply answer! Furthermore, I wouldn’t advise anyone else to either. The question was put to pastors on twitter and I presume arises out of a culture where pastors and preachers are encouraged to go searching for potential little stories and quotes that they can easily select from in order… Continue reading How do you collect and organise sermon illustrations?

What did you come out to see?

This is an expansion of some quick thoughts I shared on Facebook last night in response to some of the criticisms I’ve seen of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s sermon. I write both as someone who has given my fair share of feedback and criticism over the years, and as someone who has received plenty of… Continue reading What did you come out to see?

Why I don’t like using quotes in sermons

I recently saw this little quote on Twitter. I think the general sentiment is true for preachers in that a bigger point is being made. We need to ensure that the voices heard and examples used in church are not limited to narrow group of people within the church. Do we use illustrations about women? … Continue reading Why I don’t like using quotes in sermons