Would you like to move your preaching ministry to a higher level of effectiveness? Try preaching without notes.1 Many preachers are convinced that finding freedom from their sermon notes will enable them to connect more effectively with their listeners.2 The question is not Why should I try preaching without notes? but How?
A simple five-step process that was field-tested in a local church and will help you preach effectively without notes, follows:
Step 1: begin your sermon preparation early
Wise long-term preparation should include the development of a preaching calendar.3 This advance preparation will help you avoid wasted time. At the beginning of each week with your starting point clear and your preaching passage already selected, you’ll want to make sure that you schedule regular time for sermon preparation. Without a plan, the tyranny of the urgent will take over. We’ve all heard horror stories about preachers who prepare their sermons the night before their preaching appointment. Or even later. Such lack of planning does not honor God or contribute to the physical, emotional, and spiritual health of the preacher. You’ll want to begin your sermon preparation early so that doesn’t happen to you. Carefully and prayerfully study your preaching passage and gather notes at the beginning of the week. Do not begin writing your sermon manuscript until you have identified your single dominant preaching idea, decided on a sermon form, and crafted your sermon outline.
Step 2: write the first draft of your sermon manuscript
No later than three days prior to your preaching appointment, write the first draft of your sermon manuscript. Perhaps you thought that preaching without notes would eliminate the need for a sermon manuscript. Not so.4 Preaching without notes does not substitute for the discipline of writing, and it does not qualify as a shortcut. Rather, preaching without notes is a step beyond the written sermon and centers around the importance of writing the first draft of your sermon manuscript early in the week. Make sure that you write an oral document.5 Your sermon should be classified, not as an essay or an article, but as a creative and engaging conversation with your listeners. Vocalize the sermon while you write. According to William Shepherd, “it is when we actually hear words spoken that we notice the subtle differences between written and oral language.”6 So write aloud. Don’t be concerned about writing a “perfect sermon” on the first draft. This is the beginning, not the end. Pray while you write the first draft of your sermon manuscript. The Holy Spirit wants to be with you just as much in the preparation as in the preaching. This early “birthing” of your sermon allows time for the next step, which is crucial in preparing to preach effectively without notes.
Step 3: internalize your sermon
During the last two days of preparation, walkthrough your sermon like a tour guide becoming acquainted with this new attraction. Use your sermon manuscript like a map. Your goal is not rote memorization but internalization.7 Walking through your sermon will test its structure8 and highlight the need for additions or deletions to your sermon manuscript. Early in the internalization process, walking through your sermon will require your full and undivided attention.9 Take notes. After each walk-through, make revisions to your sermon manuscript. Later in the internalization process, you can walk through your sermon while engaged in other activities, such as taking a shower, driving to an appointment, or waiting in line. Walking through your sermon right before you go to bed very effectively lodges the sermon in your memory.10
This process of internalizing your sermon will also enable you to address issues of oral interpretation and nonverbal communication. The words themselves are just a small part of the communication process. How will you say those words, and what gestures and facial expressions will you use? Allow at least 25 percent of your total sermon preparation time to internalize your sermon.11 This is a time of revision and rehearsal. By the end of this internalization process, you will be well acquainted with all of the moves and submoves of your tour. Like a skilled tour guide, you are now prepared to lead your listeners over well-traveled territory.
Step 4: do a last-minute walkthrough
Immediately prior to your preaching appointment, do a last-minute walkthrough of your sermon. Prayerfully review only the main moves of your sermon. This last-minute walk-through should take 60 seconds or less. There is no need to panic. Do not concern yourself with all of the details of your sermon. Most of those details will be recalled as you lead your listeners on the now familiar sermon tour. Don’t be anxious about details that might be omitted. Joseph M. Webb emphasizes that “even though everything is well prepared, the preacher stands in front of people literally thinking out loud. The ideas have been worked through, both consciously and unconsciously; but even after the ideas have been outlined and memorized, they are refined and rethought right up to and even through the course of the sermon delivery.”12 This inductive speech mode increases a sense of anticipation and discovery both for the listeners and for the preacher. So don’t be anxious. That which you lose by leaving your sermon manuscript behind is minor compared to that gained in effective communication. Conclude your last-minute preparation by reviewing the first few sentences of your sermon. Know exactly where you are going to begin when you stand up to preach. With a clear and compelling introduction, your listeners will fall in step alongside of you as you lead the tour.
Step 5: listen while you preach
During the preaching of your sermon, ask the Lord to help you to remember the important message and to forget the unnecessary. Ask Him to help you be attentive to your listeners. Give Him permission to bring new insights to your attention that will be helpful as you lead the sermon tour. Freedom from your sermon notes will enable you to be much more attentive to the verbal and nonverbal responses of your listeners. Remember that all effective communication can be categorized as dialogue. So listen as well as speak. Listen to verbal responses and respond to them. Don’t just look at your listeners in order to “establish good eye contact.” Be attentive to their nonverbal feedback. Like a skilled tour guide, repeat important points if it is evident that you have not been heard. Pick up the pace of the tour or add an additional illustration if you sense that your listeners are losing interest. Your goal is not to repeat all of the words of your sermon manuscript but rather is to help your listeners to receive maximum benefit from the tour.
Be prepared to experience a degree of awkwardness when you preach your first sermon without notes. That’s normal. Don’t panic or give up in despair. Recognize that any skill requires practice before it becomes a natural response. Do you remember when you learned to ride a bicycle without training wheels? It wasn’t easy at first, was it? You felt unstable. Wobbly. Anxious. But with practice, you learned the skill. Before long, you could jump on your bicycle and enjoy your new found freedom!
Preaching without notes requires practice too. So be patient with yourself. Allow yourself some time to develop the skill and listen to the feedback of your listeners.13 I remember my first sermon without notes. After 20 years of preaching with a sermon manuscript, I had lost my training wheels. And I was stressed out! What if I lost my balance? What if I crashed? After first service, my wife gave me some helpful feedback by suggesting, “You’re still acting like you have a sermon manuscript!” And she was right. I was confined behind the pulpit, desperately trying to retrieve all of the words off of my invisible document. Her counsel? “Just get up and preach!” I listened to her feedback, and my preaching experience second service was totally different. I felt free. Liberated. No more training wheels. Now I could focus on connecting with my listeners. That was ten years ago, and I have never looked back!
I encourage you to give this five-step process a try.14 If you have never preached without notes, or if you would like to preach more effectively without notes, this five-step process can help you on your journey. Take a deep breath. It’s time to discard the training wheels. Preach without notes and move your preaching ministry to a higher level of effectiveness.
1 Charles W. Koller, in his classic work Expository Preaching Without Notes, recognizes that certain preachers preach effectively from a manuscript or sermon notes, but “the same preachers would be even more effective if they could stand note free in the pulpit” (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House,1962), 34. This classic volume has been combined with Koller’s book Sermons Preached Without Notes and has recently been reprinted as How To Preach Without Notes (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1997).
2 Joseph M. Webb, in his excellent book Preaching Without Notes, suggests that preaching without notes will also maximize audience participation and reflect an authentic witness who speaks from the heart (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2001), 25–30.
3 For help in developing a preaching calendar, see “From Panic to Purpose: The Process and Benefits of Planning a Preaching Calendar” in the September 2004 issue of Ministry.
4 I disagree with Webb on this crucial step. I consider the writing of an oral manuscript an essential part of preparing to preach without notes.
5 For a helpful presentation on writing an oral manuscript, see William H. Shepherd’s book Without a Net: Preaching in a Paperless Pulpit (Lima, OH: CSS Publishing Company 2004), 100–121.
6 Shepherd, Without a Net, 103.
7 Shepherd notes that “we learn our sermons as actors learn their lines, but unlike most actors, we have the freedom to improve our lines as we rehearse, and even as we deliver the sermon.” Without a Net, 123.
8 A clear and logical outline is of the utmost importance when preparing to preach a sermon without notes.
9 This initial walk-through of your sermon is best performed overtly, out loud. Later in the internalization process, the walk-through can be covert, in your head.
10 That is, assuming that you are not physically or mentally exhausted. Good physical and mental health is essential for optimal memory function.
11 A common error in sermon preparation is leaving inadequate time for internalization. As a result, preachers are all too often preoccupied with words when they preach rather than focusing on connecting with their listeners. I would recommend walking through your sermon four to six times during this internalization process.
12 Preaching Without Notes, 28.
13 Shepherd suggests that a preacher just learning to preach without notes might “pick a small section of the sermon and resolve to preach that section—and only that section—without referring to your manuscript. Pick a story first, since stories are easily remembered. Preach your sermon as before, but when it comes time for the story, look up at your audience and keep your eyes there. Let the story come. Next week, pick another part of the sermon.. . . Gradually build up your confi dence so that you can do two or three thought units each week without referring to your manuscript.” Without a Net, 133.
14 Your experiences as you experiment with this five-step process for preaching effectively without notes will be helpful to other preachers. Send feedback, comments, or suggestions to [email protected].
