It’s fair to say that watching television and listening to radio discloses that the vast majority of the media reporters and pundits in the United States clearly do not understand Christianity. They especially do not understand those individuals who have seriously devoted themselves to following the Lord Jesus Christ and the principles of His Kingdom here on this earth.
I wonder, though, if we pastors have created some of that confusion by insisting on using insider language when we describe the principles of spiritual formation that we communicate to our congregations through our sermons. This insider language, or jargon, permeates virtually everything I hear and everything I read about Christianity.
I also wonder if we pastors have created some confusion for those God has placed under our care in our congregations when we sprinkle jargon throughout our sermons. Of course we mean well—we would never want to cause any confusion or leave our congregants wondering what in the world we meant by what we said.
Nevertheless, using jargon can prove deadly to effective communication. Because of my concern about this subject, I’ve made it the focus of Podcast 222. I invite you to click the link on this page to take you to my Sermon-Coach.com website and then listen to this Podcast.
Once you hear what I have to say, I sincerely believe you will resonate with my suggestions and determine to make the words of your sermons even clearer than they are up to now. I think you will find that scrubbing jargon out of your sermons will prove very helpful to everyone who listens to them.
I continue to receive many positive comments about my latest book entitled The Sermon Sucking Black Hole—Why You Can’t Remember on Monday What Your Minister Preached on Sunday. This book is now available at Amazon.com by clicking here.
This book gives some solid tips to the people sitting in the congregation to help them remember what you’ve said from the pulpit when they come to worship services in your church.
Please click here to visit David Mains’ Sermon-Coach.com website.
You will also find a variety of resources for pastors and congregations at the Mainstay Ministries website. Please click here.
(357)
