Technique 11.2.2023

     You may not think of yourself as a “Technician.” You may hardly ever think about the process, procedures, and best practices you employ every week as you exegete, study, write, edit, and otherwise prepare to preach. Even if your “technique” is doing everything differently all the time, you have a process. Barely repeatable chaos. And my guess is that this kind of technique causes you (and your loved ones) quite a bit of stress. 

    This is not the best time of year for added stress. The holidays are coming on us like a stampeding turkey. At our Church, we are already announcing Christmas activities! The weather becomes a formidable consideration any time one must be out of the office, and we are within weeks of the beginning of a brand-new year.

    “Technique! Who has time to think about that?” Well, maybe it’s time.  The word technique implies skill, proficiency, expertise, and repetition. Let’s think about each of those concepts for a moment. 

Skill

    A skill is a learned behavior or activity. A skill is something we can improve. To get better at something requires repetition. Skilled labor, as opposed to unskilled, has traditionally been defined by differentiation and specialization. In a construction project, the general contractor organizes the work of the skilled trades which execute various aspects of the process. Adversarial conceptions of how labor unions function politically have caused us to forget that for much of their history, a more critical function of a trade union was guaranteeing the training and certification of skilled laborers. 

    In a sense, we preachers form a guild. As our Bible Colleges either close or experience increased pressure in the marketplace, the burden of certifying the skills and training of those who preach is returning to the guild itself. To that end we need to not only work to enhance our own skills, but we each need to help those around us to improve.

Proficiency

    Get good at it. Improve. Don’t be satisfied with mediocrity. We are in a profession that allows us to grow and improve over decades. We don’t peak in our early thirties. Our task is not dependent on good looks, nor does it require constant physical conditioning.

    Ministry is one of the few professions in which experience has a profound impact on performance. Despite all the cultural, social, and technological changes—preachers are going to preach every Sunday. We can evaluate what we write, how we speak, and the fruit of our study and become more proficient at the task to which God has called us. 

Expertise

    The goal is simple. The best sermon I can preach this Sunday in this place. With respect to the text before us, I have done everything in my power to be an expert in what the Biblical author says. I live in this community and my sermon on this text is not a vague, generic overview of Biblical truth is a message lovingly crafted for this community of faith, in this time and in this place. 

Repetition

    I have been the preacher in Grayville since May of 2016. That is more than five hundred sermons. All the prep for all those messages, not to mention Sunday School lessons, Camp Lessons, Seminars, this blog, and a book—is a substantial body of work. Repetition is key to improvement. Bad practice does not help us improve.  Best practice makes perfect. That is why I am incessantly beating the drum of processes and best practices. A preacher has every opportunity to improve but he or she must give repetition room to work by following those processes and practices which make improvement possible. 

Summary

    The number of points you use in your sermon should be determined by the text. Your persona in the pulpit, along with gestures and tone, will largely be a product of personality. Exegetical methods and use of tools will be impacted by where you were educated and your personal learning style. Many of those things thought of as being a matter technique, really are not. They are beyond our capacity to control. The central technique for becoming a better preacher is a passionate, dedication to the craft. This is a byproduct of faith and devotion to Christ. If you don’t have that—there’s not much I can teach you. If you do, the sky’s the limit.