Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Do You Vary Your Introductions?

All of us who preach or teach each week face at least one absolute and concrete truth: next Sunday a new message must be prepared. No matter how well last Sunday was received, the minute you finished your message another one needs to be prepared.

I have discovered for me that the two parts of a message that are more difficult for me to prepare are the introduction and conclusion. Someone once told me that introductions were "the front porch" to the house. Well, for a good long season my "front porches" were bigger, better built, and more developed than the sermon itself. 

Having sat through a number of sermons, I know that 9 out of 10 guys don't know how to end or conclude a message. I have seen the extremes - from no conclusion at all to a whole 'nother sermon.

I have come across several introductory devices that I now use on a fairly rotating basis in order to prevent staleness from settling in. Maybe one or more of these can help you.

INTRODUCTORY DEVICES

  • Begin by asking a "penetrating question"
  • Begin by giving pertinent facts
  • Begin by describing a descriptive scene
  • Begin by using an "astonishing/breaking news lead"
  • Begin by using a quotation
  • Begin by using a biblical illustration
  • Begin by telling a story
  • Begin by reading a related scripture to your text/theme
The idea of the introduction is to attract your people's attention to your theme and give them a reason to listen. Keep it simple and keep it short.

Your introduction should contain three specific items:
  • your introductory device
  • your transitional sentence tying the intro device to audience
  • your propositional sentence
What are you thoughts?

1 comment:

EnglishRose said...

It must be difficult to think of a different subject each Sunday and to keep the congregation interested in what you're saying.
At the end of the day the main thing is that getting God's message across. I think you're doing a grand job Gregg.

Yvonne.