Contrasting Services

May 20, 2010 by admin

Let me contrast two church services I attended recently.

One was incredibly meaningful. The first part of the service clearly seemed headed in a certain direction. But, I wasn’t sure exactly where until the pastor gave his sermon. Then all the elements of the service came together in a remarkable way. When the sermon was over, there was still about 15 minutes of service time remaining. And, each of the closing parts fit what was going on like a glove. I was deeply touched and thought about the morning repeatedly until I felt I had processed everything in a most satisfying way, including making some life changes.

The other service was quite frustrating. To begin with, the sermon lacked direction. It’s not that the speaker hadn’t worked on his message. My wife commented that it was his text that killed him. In other words, he tried to say too much about too many things. After a while, I fear most of his listeners had given up on him. Because of this flow, the service itself lacked any kind of direction. It went on a number of different paths, and toward the end I was just hoping it would get over. In reflection, I can think of only one part that had lasting meaning, but only as a dangling idea. And, until now I hadn’t thought about anything from that morning a second time.

The point is that good service-planning requires a clear understanding about the subject of the minister’s sermon and the response that sermon calls for. I don’t care if it’s a contemporary service or one that’s traditional, free-floating or liturgical—not connecting the parts of a service so worshipers can follow what’s happening is ridiculous.

The impact of a good Sunday sermon is greatly amplified by the surrounding service-elements that complement what is being said. And, pity the poor individual in charge of planning a Sunday service who has no idea of what the sermon is about!

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Whether you need to create a Topical Sermon, an Advent Sermon, a Christmas Sermon, an Easter Sermon, a Sermon Series, or any other Sunday Sermon, David Mains and Mainstay Ministries can help. For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into Sermon Outlines, and then into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

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Two-Way

May 19, 2010 by admin

It’s not a good conversation when one party does all the talking. And, it’s not a good church service when the interaction is only one direction. Let me express that in a different way. What God says to His people in a service is important, but so is what the people say to God.

The Lord can speak in numerous ways. For example, the Holy Spirit can communicate through a testimony, a solo, a drama, a Scripture reading, a missions report, a poem, whatever. It’s most common, however, that in a church service God speaks through preaching that’s centered on His written Word. I have often emphasized the importance of making that message effective, relevant, clear and applicable.

What might the people want to say to God in a church service? That’s easy. They might want to praise Him, or confess their sins to Him. There’s no question but that there will be those in attendance who have burdens they want to request divine help with. In some churches the people like to recite to God their “I believes.” There are also congregations that are good at expressing their personal and corporate thanks to the Lord, and so on.

We laugh when we see a comedy routine where two people talk, but neither is paying attention to the words of the other party. That’s because good conversations have a focus. There are connections between the comments that follow one another.

In good church services, the people participating can follow the ways the various parts fit together. They understand how what God says to the people relates to what the people say to God. And, if the connections are not obvious, people lose interest or even ridicule what transpired.

This is important. Good services begin with the planners involved all having a clear understanding of what God will be saying to the people through the preaching. Everything else feeds off of that.

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Putting the Pieces Together

May 18, 2010 by admin

Let’s say the Lord has burdened a pastor to preach about the great love God has for the lost.

The pastor has chosen an appropriate text. The sermon subject is obviously: “God’s love for the lost.” The desired response is that people will identify with God’s heartbeat for such people. In the course of the sermon, the pastor will suggest that during the coming week congregation members should see if they can identify one or two such spiritually lost individuals for whom they will begin to pray.

This is the essence of the pastor’s sermon. It’s what he or she feels God wants to say to the people.

If you were involved in planning a service around this Sunday sermon, what would be appropriate words for the people to say to God?

It would certainly be fitting to praise God that He is love, and more specifically that in this love He reaches out to the lost.
A sincere prayer of thanks to God from a recent convert would be most fitting.
After the sermon, a prayer of confession for not seeing people through the compassionate eyes of Jesus might be appreciated.
Some people might want to request God’s help with the challenge of choosing the right people to begin praying for.

Anyway, thoughts such as these are what help you put together a service that makes sense to those in attendance. Be sure to notice how vitally important it is to know the direction of a sermon when attempting to put a church service together.

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Something New for a Change

May 17, 2010 by admin

There’s nothing sacred about preaching a well-crafted three-point Sunday sermon. As far as I can tell, that wasn’t the style of our Lord or any other preacher in Scripture.

The truth is, the three-point Sunday sermon represents a form that served ministers well for many years, but it’s no longer the way most of today’s leaders communicate. Can you think of anywhere this approach is used outside of the church?

Ministers accustomed to preaching three-point sermons sometimes have trouble figuring out how to use the answers to these four key questions:

* What’s my “subject?”
* What’s my “desired response?”
* What’s my “how to?”
* What’s my “how long?”

To be fair, I should report that there have been some pastors I have worked with who have incorporated these questions and answers into their three-point approach with little or no difficulty. I have been amazed at how easily they have done this and how their preaching has improved as a result.

On the other hand, I have worked with a number of ministers who saw the four questions as all but incompatible with their normal three-point approach. In such cases, I have encouraged them to try something new for a change. Try a new way of turning sermon ideas into effective, relevant, faith-motivating Sunday sermons.

Begin the sermon by talking about your subject. What’s relevant about it? How does it relate to your chosen text? This section of your sermon could be quite brief or rather long.

Next describe the response you’re calling for. You need to make this very clear. What exactly are you asking your congregation to do? Why is it important? When should they begin to do what you’re asking? Anticipate the questions your congregation might ask you if you were talking to them one on one.

Then transition to your “how to.” It’s not infrequent for this point to require more time than originally thought. How shall they begin the assignment? Is their a particular time or place that might work better? Again, anticipate the kinds of questions they might ask and offer them suggested answers.

Finally, include the “how long.” In other words, you’re telling people, “This is approximately how much time I think it will take the average person to get from where he or she is to what I’m talking about.”

The new sermon sequence doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that. And the conclusion can be more emotional than what I’ve laid out.

Don’t say it will never work until you’ve tried it and gotten feedback from your people!

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For more information on how to create better Bible Sermons and how to turn Sermon Ideas into effective, meaningful Sunday Sermons, please click here to visit David Mains’ website.

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