Comments on: What’s Wrong With The Sermon? V: “More stories please!”

By: pistos

pistos — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 07:16:22 +0000

I have appreciated your thoughts on preaching very much.

The Biblical story and stories are some of the best stories in the world. When they are told well they are very compelling. We have human beings in a relationship with the real God of the Universe. It is hard to beat that subject matter.

Bible teachers need to trust and believe in the quality of the Bible stories, and then tell those stories with passion. People love it.

Here are a couple of the rules I follow in my own teaching of the Biblical narratives:

1) God is the hero. Find the human struggle and how God addresses it.

2) Be relationship drive, not principle driven. The Bible is primarily a story of the relationship between God and humanity, not a collection of principles.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 03:46:56 +0000

iMonk: Thank you for this series of posts on Sermons!

By: mrupert22

mrupert22 — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 15:31:38 +0000

I think of Billy Graham’s sermons–arguably some of the best of the 20th century. No stories. Very few, anyway. But he came from a time when people had attention spans. It takes a lot for a preacher to hold my attention. I like the stories.

By: wfseube

wfseube — Sun, 05 Feb 2006 00:40:49 +0000

iM, as much as I’ve disagreed with you on a couple of your postings recently, I agree with you wholeheartedly on virtually every point in this series. You need to write a book on this subject.

I just left a church where the pastor was guilty of virtually every poor practice that you’ve detailed in these essays. Thank the LORD I was taken out of that church by a move.

By: Realist

Realist — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 17:35:37 +0000

Some years ago we had an assistant pastor whose contant theme/harangue of his sermon was about people leaving before the end of Mass. When he walked up the aisle to start the Mass, there would be a hushed groan throughout the church since we all knew there would be a 20 minute rant from this guy. This happened at every Sunday Mass he said. Fortunately, he finally got transferred.

By: Caine

Caine — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 05:47:17 +0000

Or perhaps the emphasis on “personal” stories from the pulpit comes from a generation base that, to prove they were Christians, had to give a “personal” testimony. Often, those too, glorified more the speaker than the saviour.

Just a thought.

By: Histrion (Jay H)

Histrion (Jay H) — Sat, 04 Feb 2006 00:13:40 +0000

Michael, do you think there’s any connection between the increase of “story usage” in modern preaching and the increasing influence of the Internet? I’m thinking, specifically, of all those emails circulating around with inspirational and/or heart-rending tales in them (most of which, I’ll admit, make my teeth rot, they’re so sugary). I’m sure I’ve heard a few of those tales pop up in sermons…