Don't Just Sit There!
by Safiyah Fosua, Director of Invitational Preaching, The General Board of Discipleship

When you preach, do you expect something to happen? Do you hope for a few good comments at the door or a few smiling nods from your worst critics? Or, at the end of your 17-22 minutes with the congregation, do you pray that something you said will start a chain reaction of thought and action in the lives of those who were present?

Things happened when Jesus preached. The masses flocked to hear his preaching and to learn how to live the faith that they professed. At times, when Jesus preached, people wanted to throw him over a cliff because his messages were so challenging! The preaching of the apostles was similar. Large crowds of people came to learn how to live, and sometimes people were there who thought "The Way" was too challenging. Luke, in Acts, records that Peter found himself on the hot seat with "religious folks" for preaching to the Gentiles, and that Paul was frequently stoned or beaten for his words. From all of this I make the following observation: it appears that early preaching was never a polite, non-irritating exposition of thoughts. Preaching was, among other things, a catalyst for action.

While we are not intimating that your job is to make folks angry enough to stone you, we are suggesting that preaching should inform, nurture, and challenge the people in your congregation. Think of preaching as multi-functional. Preaching calls people to repentance and to community. Walter Bruggemann suggests that the goal of prophetic ministry, after which much of our preaching is patterned, is to evoke and orient an alternative community that is grounded in Christ. This alternative community, that we call the church, marches to the beat of a different drummer. Preaching orients hearers to new life in the Christian community. Preaching helps the congregation both understand and embrace Christian lifestyle.

So, how do we preach sermons that inform, nurture, and challenge the congregation?

Begin by deciding what you want your sermon to accomplish.

What is your goal? Is your sermon designed to affect knowledge, belief, or behavior? In other words, do you, as a spiritual leader, see a need for members of your congregation to know something, to believe something, or to do something?

What happens after a person hears your sermon?

Anticipate the questions that members of your congregation may have about applying your sermon to everyday life. Many a good sermon gets left at the church doorstep because no suggestions for living spiritual principles were offered. We can't just say, "You have heard the Word, now go do something about it!" The congregation may need a little helpful guidance from the leadership of your church in order to put "feet on their faith."

For example:

• Will a sermon on generosity need a Bible study opportunity for adequate follow-up?
• Did you raise questions about parenting or grief, addiction, or chronic illness that calls for a support group?
• If your sermon is about compassion, at the end of your sermon provide information and opportunities for interested persons to do works of mercy in your local community. You might begin by having conversations with local shelters or free clinics about receiving volunteers.
• If the goal of your sermon is spiritual formation, then allow time and space in worship for private prayers of commitment or self-examination.
• If your sermon is designed to help the congregation know more about the Bible, then suggest ways to apply that new information.

The worshiping community is many things. Sometimes it is a hospital where wounds are healed by touching the hem of God's garment. Other times it is a place of enlightenment, where we hear of God's love and respond in adoration and praise. At still other times, the worshiping community is a place where we come together to learn how to live a new life and how to love our neighbors in tangible ways.

Safiyah Fosua is the director of Invitational Preaching Ministries at the General Board of Discipleship of The United Methodist Church.

Posted 6-3-04.