Simon Moore has delivered our first online preaching workshop, which is available on the Preach website. Here, Simon encourages us to be ever-learning in our preaching.
I well remember it, a dry throat, throbbing head, perspiration without having exercised and a blur of pages and words: I was about to preach in my local church for the first time. A short ten-minute reflection was delivered at pace within five, and I sat down afterwards: aged, crumpled and exhausted.
That was over 35 years ago, and I’ve had the privilege of preaching in numerous churches and places ever since. There are some sermons that stay with you and others that, God willing, stay with others. Throughout, an inner voice whispers, ‘Surely God has a more gifted and able person than myself?’
That mild imposter syndrome must never leave us. We should be in awe that God speaks through our hesitant efforts and stumbles. The day we feel that we are in complete control of the preaching journey is the day we need to start again with humility and servant-heartedness. Our ‘L’ plates must always remain with us as preachers, because we can improve throughout our speaking lives to communicate more fluently, relevantly and powerfully.
I’m passionate about preaching because I’ve consistently seen its power to bring transformation into the lives of those who are willing to listen, and prepared to say yes, to the invitation it brings to be more Christlike. This started with my own faith journey through a Billy Graham rally in 1985. But it continues, with the weekly opportunity not to get in the way of the beauty and power of the gospel message, as I regularly preach and speak in various church and community contexts.
The preaching journey
I’ve also spent over ten years encouraging preachers to find their voice, to be fully themselves and to help their delivery engage the hearts and minds of those listening. Much of our effort quite rightly is getting the message correct, but less is focused on how we get this across. It is a tragedy when our manner of delivery dilutes the power of Scripture and the words we have struggled and crafted, for hours.
The preaching journey should move us into a place where we are confident of what we are going to say. We should have rehearsed how we are going to say it, whilst remaining open to the sermon being alive, as God may inspire us with something instantaneous to say in the heat of speaking. Because of our preparation and practice, we can give attention to the space to discern if this is God-given inspiration or something that simply detracts from our central premise.
