Some thoughts on Sermon Introductions

A colleague and I have a regular debate: sermon introductions.

He thinks they’re "window dressing", stealing time and distracting attention from the main game.

I disagree.

For me, a good introduction, can make or break what follows. Done well, it builds rapport with your hearers, gives them a reason to listen, and helps them stay engaged as they do.

Of course, my introductions don't always hit the mark, but as someone who works hard on them, here’s a few things I try to keep in mind.

I don't leave it to last

A common rule for preachers is to make their introduction the last thing they write. John Chapman - no mug when it came to preaching - explains:

“...although this [the introduction] is the first part of a talk to be spoken, it is the last part to be written down. This gives us the maximum time to think about it so that it will achieve its purpose.” [1]

Obviously every preacher is different and so what works for one might not work for another.

But in contradiction to Chappo, the introduction is typically the first thing I write.

Why?

I find writing the introduction first gets the juices flowing and sets a concrete trajectory for where the sermon is headed. It also gives me a starting point which I can return to and build on throughout the talk. This doesn't happen, if I leave it to the end.

I search for 'tension'

As I launch into an introduction the key thing I'm looking for is tension.

This, of course, is standard communication theory. What keeps you reading a novel, or watching a TV series, or awake during a movie, or riveted during a football game, or engaged in a conversation or awake during a blog post? My guess is there's some kind of tension.

Good sermon introductions are the same.

Preaching guru Eugene Lowry speaks of upsetting a listeners 'equilibrium':

The first step in the presented sermon, then, is to upset the equilibrium of the listeners, and is analogous to the opening scene of a play or movie in which some kind of conflict or tension is introduced. [2]

What's fun is there's so many ways to do this. And importantly, they don't need always be an anecdote or story (though those are great) nor necessarily flow from the main theme of the passage.

For instance, an introduction can create tension by...

• raising a curly exegetical question

• appealing to a 'felt' or existential need

• showing an emotional disconnect between human experience and the passage at hand

• introducing a hot-button cultural issue

• making an outrageous claim or statement

• telling an awkward joke

• asking a methodological question (i.e. how do you read this genre of the Bible)

• One of my favourites is the Columbo tension point – that’s where the sermon gives the answer up front and the tension is found in how that answer is true [3]
  

These are only the beginning. The key is whatever the tension is, it creates ambiguity for the listener and so compels them to stick with me.

I think about my 'tone'

We often don't think about this but a speaker's tone has a large bearing on how you listen to what they're saying.

If a speaker is abrupt, you feel defensive.

If they're friendly, you're more open.

If they're earnest, you feel serious.

If they're unprepared, it makes you feel anxious.

If they're relaxed, you will likely be too.

Because of this, I think carefully about the tone of my introduction. It's important for it to serve the sermon that's to follow.

For example, a few years ago, I preached on John 11. This is a heavy passage dealing with the theme of death. My opening illustration was serious, and I knew that the sermon would not give alot of space to allow the congregation to decompress emotionally. With that in mind, I made a point of not launching straight into the 'heavy' illustration but began with some 'lighter' remarks that gave people an opportunity to smile and a moment to breath first.

A different example, is a series I did for university students a few years back on sex. I knew a lot of the content would be awkward and potentially embarrassing. To help the students I intentionally used the introduction to get them laughing, that helped everyone relax and gave them permission to laugh at the awkwardness from the outset.

I avoid too much 'context'

Something I try to avoid in my introductions is providing a lot of context.

You know the kind of thing. The preacher gets up and the first words out of their mouth: "Good morning. You've joined us in week 2 of our series on Paul's letter to the Philippians. Before we get into today's talk let me just remind you what we looked at last week from chapter 1 etc.. "

Now don't hear me wrong, I'm all for context when reading the Bible. As the joke goes: 'what are you left with when you take a text out of context? A con!'

But when dealing with context, we need to remember it too has a context. We don't just share background information for information's sake. No, the goal is to elucidate the meaning of the passage.

Because of this, rather than dumping a bunch of context in the introduction, I find it's often more effective to give a few minimal details at the beginning and then drip-feed context throughout the sermon to explain things as relevant. This puts the context in context, helping the listeners to pay attention and see why it matters.

I try not to 'peak too early'

The last thing on my mind as I prepare an introduction is peaking too early.

To illustrate, here's a graph tracking a congregations interest level throughout a sermon.

It's easy for sermons to be like this (I've preached plenty of them!)

You start with a really great story or funny illustration, but as soon as you get to the actual content, the sermon loses energy and people's interest slowly peters out, never to be regained. In contrast, what I'm aiming at with an introduction is a graph that looks a bit more like this:

In this, the introduction is interesting but not the high-point. It sparks people's interest but the goal is for it to lead them to riches of God's word and the glory of Christ that is to come.

Of course, achieving this is far from straightforward.

One tactic is to leave your most engaging illustration to later in the sermon when you want maximum attention. Another strategy is to deliberately leave your introduction unfinished, returning to resolve it toward the end.

That said, in all this we need to remember that though preaching is a human task, it is ultimately a work of God. It will only be God's Spirit working through our proclamation of his word for the glory of his Son that will capture not simply people's attention but their hearts for him. And so as I work hard toward this kind of trajectory, most vital is I pray God would use my labours to bring it about.

_________

[1] John Chapman, Setting Hearts on Fire: A guide to giving evangelistic talks (Kingsford, N,S.W.: Matthias Media, 1999), 121.

[2] Eugene L. Lowry, The Homiletical Plot: The Sermon as Narrative Art Form (Louisville, KT: WJK Press, 2001), 31.

[3] I owe this example to Phillip Jensen.