The most frequent responses, and sometimes the most detailed, to the question that is the title of this article concern embodiment, a term replacing “delivery” in preaching circles. This change in nomenclature is happening because the word “embodiment” better captures the fact that the sermon comes alive through the preacher’s whole person in the pulpit. The word “delivery,” on the other hand, can suggest a relationship between minister and message that is no more than that between parcel post carriers and the packages they leave at your door.
Several listeners begin their responses to the title question of this article with words reminiscent of these. “If I can help any preachers, number one, I would say, ‘Work on your delivery. Make it interesting.” When asked about specific recommendations for improving the embodiment, the most frequent mentioned is, “Don’t read.” Enlarging the spin of this comment, another adds, “Just open up and talk to us, but don’t read.”
A closely related signal of good communication is eye contact. One says directly, “If you’re not looking out at us but looking off in the distance, there’s no feeling that I have to look back at you.” Few listeners remark on the degree to which their perception of the sermon is affected by the presence or absence of notes, but a couple say, “Good speakers can use notes without it appearing that they are using notes.”
The use of the voice is important. At the simplest level, “Number one, speak clearly so that everybody can understand everything you’re saying because if they don’t hear what you’re saying, they don’t get anything out of it.” In addition to being able to hear, a large number of these listeners respond positively to expression in the voice. “I like the variation, the modulation in the voice, and the engagement, like you’re telling a story.” An auditor in a different congregation goes on,
I’m saying learn to make variance in your voice so that it’s not monotone. Learn to use it for emphasis. That can be soft. That can be loud. Use the fluctuations and projections so that you have people’s attention. I think there are usually some places in sermons that should be emphasized more than others, and those are the ones where the voice plays a bigger part.
Gestures often draw recommendations from these advisors to preaching. “To be bolder with gestures or more dramatic — that makes sense.”