Sermon Introduction series at 9Marks Blog
Informative series at the 9Marks blog where the different contributors are sharing about how and why they do sermon introductions.
I have only one real desire for an introduction: that it will impress upon the congregation why we desperately need to hear the message of the particular passage of Scripture we are looking at together.
Of course, we ought to believe that just because it is in the bible. So, I’ll assume the more mature believer will listen anyway. So, I’ll particularly think about one central question that the passage addresses that will be of interest to the immature Christian and the Non Christian. I’ll then think about how to impress upon people the necessity of answering that question, perhaps raise up front the answers that other worldviews will give to that question and then launch into the text and its answer.
I aim to make it engaging, contemporary, transparently relevant, an opportunity to show that I understand that some people disagree with the bible’s answer, and trans-cultural(embracing high culture / low culture / multiple ethnicities). Above all, the question I raise must be answered by the text and be close to the central point of the text.
Mike, I think you definitely have the “textbook” answer. And I’m sure that you’re right. But I’ll admit that I am a bit ambivalent about introductions. Maybe that’s just because I’m not very good at them.I write an introduction to my sermon every week. But 50% of the time I cut it out and just start by reading the text and giving a few words by way of context. I want an introduction that is meaningful and is high impact.
I feel a little nervous about scrapping the intro altogether. 1) It presumes an interest in the bible that I don’t want to assume the visitor will have. 2) It has the danger of communicating to the Non-Christian that what is coming up is only of interest or relevance to the person who trusts the bible.
I have a default way of doing an intro when I can’t think of anything better to do. I guess I use it about one sermon in four.
I just look at a couple of quotations from different people giving different answers to the main issue we are looking at. So, I haven’t got any great ideas for an introduction for Jephthah for this week. (Judges 10-12).
So I’ll probably find a couple of quotes about ambition, before asking people to examine what they are ambitious for. How much would they sacrifice to see those ambitions come to fruition?
It’s not rocket science. I don’t think it’s insulting. It gets people asking questions about their lives.
It may not be high impact, but isn’t that better than no impact?
However, in most of those churches there isn’t a 40 minute sermon, and there isn’t an appetite for it. I do feel that it is kind to help people to see the relevance of what they are going to hear ahead of time, rather than wading into 5-10 minutes of exegesis before they begin to see the relevance of it for their lives.
4 ways in which an introduction can help people all people, however interested they are to listen:
- An introduction gets people thinking about a topic that will be addressed in the sermon.
- It helps people to think application from the very beginning.
- In that way it helps to give shape to a sermon.
- It disarms the sermon-biber who loves to hear sermons without putting it into practice. I know even from my own quiet times that I must force myself before reading the text to think ‘relevance’ rather than merely ‘comprehension’ before I start to read. An intro is a kind way to help the whole congregation to think that way.
My sermon on Sunday had a brief (3-4 minute) intro. It certainly wasn’t clever. But I think the sermon would have been poorer without it, as it was designed to get people thinking about how they set the whole direction of their life, and therefore people would come to the text with that question.
Now you guys have me thinking about introductions more than I normally do, which probably explains why I’m not that good at them. Often my introductions are questions that point to the application or the main theme. So, a couple Sundays ago, we were in Proverbs 5 and I asked questions related to the trajectory of marriage in the Cayman Islands. The questions traded on the recent passage of a constitutional referendum defining marriage as between one man and one woman. It was a victory, but the real work of marriage has to do with us heterosexual Christians really loving and serving our spouses as though revealing Christ and the gospel might somehow be connected to marriage. For those with an hour, the sermon is here.
About the only time I’ve scrapped an introduction has been in response to something happening in the service… say the Lord using a song before the sermon in a particularly poignant or powerful way. Then I might try to extemporaneously bridge what just took place in the singing with the beginning of the sermon. Tried that here. When that happens, it’s usually a gospel appeal of some sort.
But all this talk of introductions reminds me of two reasons for introductions that I don’t think anyone has said yet. First, I, the preacher, need the introduction. It helps me settle down into what I’m doing. It brings me from the participation I’ve just been experiencing with the prayer or the singing to the participation I’m about the share with the word. Not everyone would need that “lead time,” I’m sure. But it focuses me in helpful ways. Second, usually the introduction helps me to remember that I’m speaking to a people and that the sermon (though not a dialogue) has an audience I need to communicate with. The sermon introduction reminds me of that.
So, I like them. I don’t think I’m particularly good at them. Could use even more help with conclusions, labeling the main points in short pithy statements, and illustrating. Pretty much the whole shooting match. But these exchanges have been helpful on the front end. Fa’ rizzle.
Greg Gilbert continues the discussion
I think a good intro acts like the cast of a spear: It directs the congregation’s mind in the direction you want it to go and sets the agenda for the sermon. In other words, it puts the congregation’s minds on the ideas you want their minds on. If you do it well, you can actually get your congregation thinking about, for example, whether a commitment to truth necessarily undercuts love, rather than whatever it was they were thinking about before they started listening to you.I don’t think it’s useful, though, to use an introduction just to grab attention. People try that all the time by telling a joke or something that has little or nothing to do with what they are about to preach. Yes, that grabs attention, but only for as long as the joke is going on. After the laugh, when you say, alright, let’s talk about love and truth, you lose them again immediately.Ideally, I’d say, an intro will get your congregation thinking about a certain set of questions, and promise a thoughtful answer to those questions coming up in the rest of the sermon.