Sermons that Stick

Most pastors say they typically ask their listeners to respond in some way as they preach. Make sure to ask for active participation

during your sermons. We presented Protestant preachers with four typical responses to their sermons: providing sermon outlines; asking congregants to repeat a phrase or word; asking them to answer a question aloud; and asking them to raise their hands in response to a question. Four out of five pastors said they regularly use at least one of these methods.

Involve the congregation in repeating phrases from the text or provide a sermon outline for participants to fill in the blanks. The

simplest (or liturgical) exercises help the congregation take part in the message. It takes listeners one step closer to applying the

Word of God.

Despite the relatively high percentage of pastors who say they use at least one of these methods, the vast majority of sermons

we studied in the second survey didn't use response methods. Only 9 percent of those preachers asked their listeners to respond

to a question aloud. Even fewer asked listeners to repeat a word or phrase (7 percent) or answer a question by raising their hands

(6 percent).

As pastors, we often need help in the battle of perception versus reality with our preaching. If these latter statistics hold true, preachers are not engaging their listeners as well as they think. One way to get an accurate assessment of your preaching would be to design a growth plan that includes self-evaluation and outsider assessment of your preaching. I also would suggest you pair up with a friend in the ministry and swap audio or video files of your messages. A close friend can tell you where you've missed the mark and build you up at the same time.

There is another reason this matters: Preaching that doesn't elicit listener response in some way—even in a tiny way—makes for

passive listeners. Passive listeners at church will make for passive Christians in the world. That's the opposite of our goal for engagement—and the opposite of what biblical preaching is.

Passive listeners who aren't even making small responses to your sermon might not make the more important responses later. Teach

your people to respond to the text, not watch it pass by them.

Response is the natural result when the Word is presented. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, "All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work" (HCSB). The Word of God you preach is intended to do something in our lives. So do not hesitate in asking your listeners to do something with what they've heard.

James tells believers that we are to "be doers of the word and not hearers only" (James 1:22, HCSB). To engage people with His Word is what God intended. Though God desires for us to be informed with truth, He intends for us to be formed with it, as well. Our hearers should become "doers of the Word."