How do we get them to listen?

What preachers may do to inspire better attention among their hearers

Stephen Grunlan, DMin, is senior pastor of Grace Fellowship, Overland Park, Kansas, United States.

In an introductory psychology class at a major university, the teacher randomly rang a bell during the lecture. At the sound, the students were to write down what they were thinking about at the moment they heard the bell. Twenty percent of the students were having erotic thoughts, 20 percent were thinking about family or work problems, and 12 percent were thinking about the lecture. The rest were thinking about a hodge podge of different things. As pastors, dare we believe our parishioners are much different?

All of which leads to a simple question: How can we help our people listen?

For years I have taught part-time at local universities and colleges, both Christian and secular. Currently, I teach a sociology course each term at a local community college. As part of my contract, I am required to attend a certain number of hours of in-service training.

At one recent in-service training seminar, a communications professor shared several strategies on "How to Get Students to Listen." As I listened to his lecture, which he sprinkled with research findings and examples to illuminate his points, I realized everything he said applied to us ministers and the task of helping our parishioners listen as we speak. Here are his main points.

Give listeners a reason to listen

We need to give our listeners a reason to listen. The more immediate the reason, the greater their attention. Unfortunately, as pas tors we often assume that people will want to listen because we are preaching God's Word. The reality is that most people come to church with little or no motivation to listen. How do we give our people reasons to listen? By sharing with them the benefits that will come from what we are going to tell them.

For example, if we preach on Ephesians 5:21-33, we might say, "Do you know this passage contains four action principles that can change your marriage?" This gives our listeners an immediate reason to listen.

Tell them what to listen for

In the example above, not only are listeners given a reason to listen, but also something to listen for: the four action principles. People will listen more carefully if we let them know what they should be listening for. Research shows that when people are told what to listen for, listening increases 40 percent. That is why I have sermon notes in the bulletin for my congregation. The outline includes fill-in-the-blank statements and numbered lists for recording principles, views, insights, and so on. The outline helps my listeners to know for what to keep their ears open.

Illustrate each point with a story

Jesus used a lot of stories. People remembered His stories and then the point of the story. When I first came as pastor to one of my previous churches, I illustrated one of my sermons with a story about a battleship and a lighthouse. For the ten years I was at that church people would remind me about the story. When people came into the church office to order a sermon tape, often they would not ask for the tape by title or topic, but by a story in the message.

When I illustrate a sermon with a story, I can see an increase in attention. One of the reasons stories are so effective is that they are visual as well as verbal. Our listeners begin to see a picture in their minds, which is why we need descriptive words and action phrases in our stories to help our listeners paint the picture in their minds.

Use words that have meaning for your listeners

In my in-service training session, the communications professor warned us about the use of technical jargon as we communicated with students. As pastors, we are steeped in theological language, those three-syllable words. However, most of our listeners, even the educated ones, use mostly one and two-syllable words of everyday speech. To communicate with them we need to speak their language. The fact is that if most of us held a gun to the heads of our parishioners and asked them to define propitiation or we would pull the trigger, we would become mass murderers! It is not the word that is important, but the meaning of the word that must be conveyed.

We also need to use local expressions and colloquialisms familiar to our listeners. I am a sports fan and have used a number of sports illustrations in my sermons. A few years ago, a female parishioner rightly pointed out that at least half my congregation were women and most of them did not relate to the sports stories. Now I use fewer sports illustrations, and when I do use one it usually refers to a widely known event such as the Olympic Games or the Super Bowl.

Use immediacy behaviors

"Hey, you just violated your last point. What is an immediacy behavior?" Immediacy may be defined as a feeling of closeness between individuals. It is a sense of approachability, availability, and warmth. Immediacy behaviors are actions that communicate closeness, warmth, and intimacy. Immediacy behaviors can be broken down into two categories, verbal and nonverbal.

Verbal immediacy behaviors include informal speech, humor, using people's names, and using personal illustrations. In using personal illustrations, we allow people to identify with us, to see the real us. Another verbal intimacy behavior is to use the first person plural rather than the third person plural in preaching. For example, rather than saying, "You need to take time to be with God each day" we might say, "We need to take time to be with God each day." When we use you, we are talking at people, when we use we, we are talking with people (by the way, notice the use of we and us in this article).

Nonverbal immediacy behaviors include good eye contact. I have been in congregations where the pastor looked over the heads of the people. We have all been in audiences where the speaker's eyes were glued to his or her notes. Good eye contact helps us connect with our listeners. While it may not be necessary to memorize our sermons, we should be so familiar with them that we need only glance at our notes occasionally. Most of the time we should be establishing eye contact.

Also, a stiff, formal posture holds people off while a relaxed posture invites them to come closer. Another behavior that invites closeness is coming out from behind the pulpit. The pulpit is a barrier between us and our listeners. In fact, I do not even use a pulpit. I have a small lectern, just large enough to hold my Bible and notes. I also use a cordless, lapel microphone. That way, I am free to move out from behind the lectern and move around the platform. At the end of a sermon, when I want to get even more personal with my listeners, I will sometimes come down from the platform and even walk partway up an aisle.

Tone of voice is also influential. Pastors tend to raise their voices when they want to emphasize a point. However, raising our voices tends to push people away. A more effective approach is to lower our voices. That has the effect of drawing people in. When I taught at the University of Wisconsin, I lectured in large "pit" classes with hundreds of students. When the students were talking, I tried to talk over them. However, the louder I spoke, the louder they got. Then I tried lowering my voice. Something incredible took place: they quieted down and started to listen. We should use those immediacy behaviors that will make our listeners feel closer to us.

Teach them to take notes

Our speaker at the in-service training session pointed out the obvious: many students do not know how to take notes. That is true not only for students but for parishioners. We need to help them learn how to take notes. By the way, people who take notes pay better attention and retain more of what they hear. In our congregation at least 70 percent of the people take notes during the sermon. As I have already shared, in our bulletin we provide a sermon outline with a space for notes. We have points numbered and fill-in-the-blank spaces. I help my listeners with their note taking. Anything we can do to increase note taking will help our people listen better. When people write something down, they see it as well as hear it. We retain more of what we see and hear than what we just hear.

People listen better in a more compact setting

Research clearly shows that people listen better, retain more, and are more easily persuaded when they are in a more compact setting. When we began offering two services, I knew we would not fill the sanctuary in either service, so I roped off the side sections of the pews. That moved people into the center section in a more compact arrangement. If we have a sanctuary that is larger than our congregation, we need to rope off the sides and back, moving people forward and to the center. Having pastored for years, I under stand that people have their favorite pew; the Joneses have sat in the left rear of the sanctuary for generations. So we may begin by roping off currently unused areas. Then, gradually, add a roped-off row or section until the desired configuration is reached. We had a pew that was against the back wall of the sanctuary and a few people had squatter's rights on it and wouldn't budge. We removed the pew and explained we wanted to have a wider aisle in the rear. If you have chairs in your worship area, the solution is simple: set up fewer chairs. The ushers can always add chairs.

Conclusion

The Word of God has the power to change lives. As pastors, we need to help our people listen effectively to that Word when it is preached. We want the Word of God to transform their lives. Through these techniques, we can help fulfill the words of the Lord, who said, "He who has an ear, let him hear...."


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Stephen Grunlan, DMin, is senior pastor of Grace Fellowship, Overland Park, Kansas, United States.

January 2001

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