Thoughts from Chris Ward Young

Today I am delighted to welcome Chris Ward Young to the Preachers’ Blog.  Formerly Communications Director at LIFE church New Zealand, he now works for Orca Tri.-N Run.He describes himself as ‘passionate about making life count‘.  You can read more of his profile here. Chris has some interesting thought on what the sermon does for…or against the church.

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So much of what we see and hear in this day and age is marketing related – we are literally bombarded with message after message about products, services, sales, special offers and so-on.

Increasingly church marketing has been dragged out of the mire of poorly executed (though well intentioned) attempts at promotions, flyers, and newsletters. The rise of the mega-church in Western Culture has seen the advent of specialist roles on church staff for designers, marketers and communications managers – I should know, I held such a role until recently. In and of itself, I don’t see this as a bad thing; if the Church is meant to represent Almighty God, surely whatever we do should be done with excellence and at a high standard? I’ll leave the excellence vs striving debate for another time…

So if so much is being done to market church, what about once people have walked through the doors?

An average non-traditional Western church – small or large – will follow a similar pattern: start with some upbeat praise songs, slow things down a bit, potentially followed by notices, baby dedications, etc. A music team that is un-practiced, un-prepared, or sloppy is a sure-fire way to get people disengaged and unimpressed. A service leader who mumbles, fumbles and waffles through what they have to do is also not helpful.

Then it’s the turn of the preacher.

Let’s face it, some church leaders simply shouldn’t be up front preaching. Sure they have been called by God to lead, but not necessarily to teach. They can prepare all week, pray for hours and even have great material, but something in their delivery just switches people off. Alternatively some people are born orators. They can have people hanging on every word they say.

Most preachers, I believe, sit somewhere between these two.

A “good” church service will flow, with the preacher coming off the back of a pre-planned set of songs, working into a new or ongoing theme. A sermon is part of a greater whole, but it is a key part nonetheless. Whatever the content of the sermon, it will affect people in many different ways – so the question is: as a rule are your sermons bringing people in, or turning them away?

I believe that a sermon that has been prayed over, well prepared, and worked through with your key team is the beginning of a win. What causes a sermon to rise on proverbial eagle’s wings is simple: the presence of the Holy Spirit.

A Spirit-enabled sermon, regardless of who delivers it or how it is delivered, has power beyond any human endeavour. God’s power and presence can take one point out of your sermon, even a badly delivered one, and turn a life around.

I think that God will honour time spent preparing sermons; but when you come to Sunday morning (or whatever time of week you preach) what will truly bring His presence into your sermon is a heart that is hungry for Jesus to be glorified, and desperate for His power to work through you.

So whether your church is a groups of 20 or a gathering of 20,000 – seek God’s presence in your preparation and in your delivery, and and your sermons will have greater impact as a help rather than a hindrance.