‘Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth’ KJV (2 Timothy 2:15)

Pastors today are asking, what are the qualities of a ‘Real Preacher’? I believe the question should be revised as ‘what are the qualities of an effective preacher?’ So let me share with you today, the 10 qualities that transform an ordinary speaker into a effective preacher.

Quality # 1: Walk your talk

Robin Sharma, motivational speaker and the author of ‘The Greatness Guide’ says ‘Your video must be in alignment with your audio…’ As Pastors who preach God’s word it is important that we do what we preach. There is an English saying, ‘Your actions are so loud that I can’t hear what you say’

People will forget what you preach, but they will never forget what you do. If your congregation finds out you are living a double life, they will never listen to you again. A preacher without good character is like a drum. It makes a big noise but within it’s empty. Character is what you do when no one is watching you. Therefore please don’t preach something that you don’t practice yourself. How can you become an effective preacher if no one listens?

Rev. Dishan Wickramarathne Assistant Superintendant of Assemblies of God of Ceylon, said this in a Pastors’ meeting. ‘Don’t distribute pages from the Bible, rather let the message to speak to your heart in advance. Then you will be able to preach it to your believers’. This is true for some of us.

Quality # 2: Be well prepared

Rev. Senaka De Silva told us on my first day at the homiletics class ‘Spend one hour in study for every minute you spend in the pulpit’

The typical believer who attends a Sunday service could be a physically and mentally exhausted person. He or she had been working for 5 days a week (may be even 6) in the secular world, before coming into God’s presence to renew their spirit through worship and a solid message.

You must prepare your self intellectually (have your sermon notes ready on time) and spiritually (what about your relationship with God and others?) before you can preach to such a crowd without disappointment. As Pastors all of us have a load of responsibilities which include visiting believers, counseling and handling daily church matters etc. However the key is to set our priorities right. The effective management professional is a person who knows to put his priorities in the right order. So is the effective Preacher. Remember you cannot fool your congregation. The moment you start preaching they can guess whether you are prepared or not. (Click here to read more on preparation)  

Quality # 3: Develop your own preaching style

Most of the amateur and young Pastors have a tendency to imitate other reputed preachers. Not only do you fail as a preacher but you simply insult the Creator when you imitate someone instead of being yourself. Allow the Holy Spirit to use your own unique personality.

People may not respond to your style in the beginning, but you improve with experience and people start respecting and listening to you for who you are and what you say. I am not saying that you should not learn from reputed preachers, but don’t make the mistake of imitating their style. I always enjoy learning by listening to my senior pastor’s preaching, but I get really annoyed when people say ‘Yohan is just like the senior Pastor when he preaches!’

‘There can’t be two you’ (Warren Buffett, Chairman of Berkshire, Hathaway)

Quality # 4: Preach to meet needs

In Sri Lanka there are more than five different mobile phone service providers. However only two companies are reaching the peak. The secret is they meet people’s felt telecommunication needs. Others advertise big, but do not deliver.

This principle is true for preachers also. To preach is not to advertise big and offer little or even nothing. Maybe there is a teenager in your congregation who is fleeing from home and he needs to be confronted. There could be someone who needs healing. This is called ‘the felt need’. A felt need is a critical need. If you intend to be aware of peoples’ needs it is important that you are spiritually prepared, so that the Holy Spirit can guide you.

Quality # 5: Preach the truth

I have heard even the most theologically qualified and experienced pastors preaching poor quality sermons. Some preach faulty doctrines. Please remember that the effective preacher interprets Scripture correctly. The preacher should use sound hermeneutical principles to interpret God’s Word.

Dr. John O. Wood the Superintendent of U.S. Assemblies of God says, ‘the condition of the Pastor’s Library says a lot about the condition of the church’. Use at least one solid commentary when preparing your sermon. Remember, God has called you to nurture souls with his Word, to feed and guide people.

Never twist God’s Word to support what you want to say (isogesis). Always let the scripture to speak for itself, and expound what the original author intended to say (exegesis). In other words bring ‘then and there’ to ‘now and here’.

Quality # 6: Preach to exalt Christ only!

Dr. John Stott, once said this. ‘People who seek to flatter a preacher and the preacher who expects people to praise him are equally guilty before God.’

Don’t be a crowd pleaser. The pulpit is not a place for you to boast about your academic and professional qualifications (a lot of Pastors do). I have heard some Pastors using inappropriate illustrations (actually filth!) and slang language from the pulpit. Some of us use the pulpit to fire spiritual bullets at board members who don’t say ‘yes’ to everything we say and do.

Remember, you are God’s representative and you should only say what God wants his people to hear. Don’t try to be God himself.

Quality # 7: Update yourself Continually

One day I was interpreting for an English Preacher, and was shocked when he said he doesn’t read newspapers, watch news or listen to the radio or read any books accept the Bible. He categorized them as unspiritual. How on earth can you address the modern issues that bother your believers if you do not know what’s happening in the world?

For example, personally I don’t enjoy cricket. But most of the people in our congregation do. Therefore I keep myself updated with basic information about current matches. When preaching it does not hurt to use contemporary events as illustrations. People respond to your message best when you relate to their interests and familiar areas of life.

Quality # 8: Communicate Clearly

Once Dr. Ranjit De Silva said every preacher should ask the following question from themselves. ‘Can a 10 year old understand my sermon?”

Remember, though you are not aware, your message is filtered before it reaches the believer. Some of the most common filters are culture, social level, education, age and personal attitude. Maybe you cannot deal with everything in a single sermon, but certainly you can consider most of these filters during preparation.

Let me tell you a story. Maintaining eye contact with the congregation is one of the simplest but most important things to do when presenting your sermon. One day a lady pastor was preaching to a group of tribal people. Before long the women in the crowd were feeling uncomfortable while the men were glancing at her with sparkling eyes. When she preached she maintained eye contact with everyone in the group regardless of their gender. In that tribal culture, if a woman looks straight into a man’s eyes it was interpreted as a direct invitation for sexual intercourse. She was preaching God’s word, but something else was running through the minds of her audience.

Another factor to remember is to use appropriate illustrations. The common thinking is illustrations help us to keep the crowd awake. It’s true, but they can serve a better purpose if you are smart. Jesus used parables to communicate heavenly truths in ordinary peoples’ language. I use illustrations to achieve the same goal.

Quality # 9: Make the appropriate applications

Every sermon is made of 3 major parts. The introduction, body (message) and conclusion (application). Whether you agree with me or not the conclusion is the most practical part of the sermon and the area most of us mess up with.

Once Dr. Arnold Lastinger shared with us a true incident in his homiletics class to give an idea on the importance of proper conclusion.

‘Couple of years ago I enrolled in a flying school to learn how to fly small aircraft. One day I was watching a pilot taking his aircraft up and flying a number of rounds and preparing to land. Everything was perfect except the way he landed. The results were devastating. The aircraft crashed and blasted into a ball of fire. Needless to say the pilot didn’t survive. A great tragedy took place.

A good conclusion or application is a part of good communication too. Think about it this way. You preach a good sermon about ‘gossiping’. If your conclusion is good people will know how to deal with the problem of gossiping. If the conclusion is poor and does not call for action your congregation becomes clueless. They will feel judged and condemned. Conclusion is the most useful part of a sermon it gives hope and restores the believer’s soul.

Quality # 10: Keep practicing

Now it’s time to mix all the above ingredients in the bowl called practice.

I still remember the words of Rev. Senaka De Silva. On the first day of our homiletics class, he said ‘None of you can become great preachers overnight, you have to master it.’ It takes time for anyone to master any subject.

One day a woman spotted Pablo Picasso in the market and pulled out a piece of paper. ‘Mr. Picasso’, she said excitedly, ‘I am a big fan. Please, could you do a little drawing for me?’ Picasso happily compiled and quickly etched out a piece of art for her on the paper provided. He smiled as he handed it back to her, and said, ‘That will be a million dollars.’ ‘But Mr. Picasso,’ the flustered woman replied, it only took you 30 seconds to do this little masterpiece.’ ‘My good woman’, Picasso laughed, ‘it took me 30 years to do that masterpiece in 30 seconds.’

I still remember how an old friend bullied me saying ‘When you preach people fall asleep’. I was not discouraged by his words. I took it for a challenge instead. Today I can say I have improved a lot, and I still keep practicing…

Bibliography

- Dr. Lednicky H. Maurice, The Scriptures Applied, Morris Publishing, USA, 1999

- Sharma Robin, The Greatness Guide, Harper Collins Publishers, USA, 2006

- Dr. Wood O. George, Core Values, Gospel Publishing House, Missouri, 2007