Comments on: Preachers: Read Your Audience

By: Soul Preaching Ministries » Communicate to the Real People in Front of You

Soul Preaching Ministries » Communicate to the Real People in Front of You — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:55:45 +0000

By: Eric Whitman

Eric Whitman — Mon, 18 Jun 2007 05:51:30 +0000

#2 is so crucial. We have to continually vary the opening to our sermons in order to beging continually engaging. If a speaker doesn’t stop #2 right away, we’ve lost the congregation and the message for them that week. In effect then, we’ve spent a good number of hours bringing people to a place of easy daydreaming.

By: francisco

francisco — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 06:13:13 +0000

What if you meet an audience like Jonathan Edwards had the time he first preached “Sinners in the hands of an angry God”? They did not let him finish the sermon…it was a glorious moment!

By: Mike Reynolds

Mike Reynolds — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 14:57:20 +0000

The point about the distracted audience reminded me of one of those strange moments in preaching. Last summer I was about two minutes into my message when an elderly gentleman burst into the back of the sanctuary, calling to his son, who is a fireman, for help. Apparently, a tractor had overturned down our rural country road on another elderly man. A few of our men immediately rushed out to help. Everyone was clearly upset, and I stopped and we prayed, and then I continued to preach. Several minutes later one of the men who had left returned, and I stopped again to ask for a report. He said everything was ok, and relieved, I finished the message much less distracted than earlier. After the service the rest of the men had returned, and we found out that the victim of the accident had actually been seriously hurt, and although he ended up spending a lot of time in the hospital, he recovered. We had been unintentionally given a false report in the service, but if we had received the true report, the distraction would have definitely continued! Thankfully the times are rare, but sometimes you do have to stop and address the situation.

By: Colin Adams

Colin Adams — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 14:38:51 +0000

Dave,
We have sometimes reverted to an earlier preach format in my own church and have usually found it successful. There are probably advantages/disadvantages whichever way you go. I hasten to add that more often than not I begin my sermons later in the service feeling things are simmering nicely. My usual problem is trying not destroy what has already been built!

By: Dave Shedden

Dave Shedden — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 14:30:29 +0000

Given point 2 above I hope to try out having sermons near the beginning of the church meetings I will lead in future. I’ve never understood why most churches and liturgies have the sermon in the second half of services. I guess it’s a hang over from a liturgy devoid of the real conclusion – the Lord’s Supper. In my experience, typical church services provide no opportunity to respond to the preached word in a formal way.

By: Communicate to the Real People in Front of You | SoulPreaching.Com

Communicate to the Real People in Front of You | SoulPreaching.Com — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 12:24:33 +0000

[...] The Unashamed Workman blog has a post up on Reading Your Audience when preaching. The author suggests that preachers must change their presentation based on the congregation that is actually there. He then notes five types of audiences and how we should change our presentation to address each one. Bookmark to: This entry is filed under Preaching, blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Related Posts [...]