Clarity in oral communication comes naturally to some gifted communicators. The rest of us need to work at it. The following is based on this post by Andy Naselli, which is itself based on Millar & Campbell’s book (details at the bottom):-
In chapter 14 of The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching, Michael Quicke, while acknowledging the difficulty of classifying preachers and preaching types, suggests that a fourfold structure may be helpful. What follows draws on that chapter, but includes my own thoughts as well.
1. Teacher preachers aim to impart scriptural instruction. They stay close to the biblical text, and seek to explain it and apply it. They will often preach consecutively through a book of the Bible, taking one section (such as a paragraph) at a time.…
There is great pressure on today’s preacher to be ‘positive’. “Don’t criticise me, judge me, accuse me,” hearers seem to be pleading. “Uplift me, inspire me, encourage me.”
To what extent should preachers give in to this pressure, and to what extend should they resist it? This question is addressed by Craig Brian Larson in chapter 68 of The Art and Craft of Biblical Preaching.
As Larson says,
One of our most important decisions when crafting a sermon is whether to frame it positively (what to do, what’s right, our hope in God, the promises) or negatively (what not to do, what’s wrong, the sinful human condition).…
Peter Mead has put together a collection of 50 ways in which preaching might helpfully be tweaked. Here’s a summary, in a mixture of his words and mine:-
How can preachers secure the attention of their hearers?
What follows is based on the sage thoughts of that master-preacher, C.H. Spurgeon.
To be able to command attention is no trivial matter. Sin cannot be taken out of people, as Eve was taken out of Adam, while they are fast asleep. And yet some preachers seem not to care very much about it: some of them stare up at the ceiling, as if they sought the attention of the angels, while others have their heads buried in their notes, as if they were talking only to themselves.…
As a teacher, I’m well acquainted with the expression ‘Death By Powerpoint’. In fact, I use the expression myself, in order to remind myself and my students that it is easy to bore people to death using Powerpoint.
In some Christian circles (although not my own immediate circle) the use of Powerpoint in preaching is severely frowned upon. Among the reasons I have seen given are:-
My response to most of these objections would be, ‘It ain’t necessarily so’. …
“You nearly found your preaching voice today.”
Those were the kindly, but slightly troubling, words of an elderly Christian gentleman after he heard me preach recently.
What he meant was that in my preaching I tend to be too tied to my notes, and to speak more to the head than to the heart. In other words, in his view I tend to lecture, rather than to preach.
A number of somewhat random thoughts occur to me as I try to reflect on this:-
It is good for written and spoken outlines to be striking and memorable. One technique that some writers and preachers use is alliteration – using key words that begin with the same letter.
Used sensibly, alliteration is a handy device. John Stott was not greatly given to its use, but I think it was he who noted from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 that the apostle writes about (a) revelation, v15; (b) return, v14; (c) resurrection, v16; (d) rapture, v17; (e) reunion, v17; and (f) reassurance, v18. …
Clarity of speech is not not just about enuciating your words carefully, although some preachers would benefit from a visit to a voice coach, or even a Speech and Language Therapist. Nor is it the same as clarity of writing, although many speakers seem to think that their task is to write an essay and then read it out in public.
Don Sunukjian has written a helpful article on ‘Skills of Oral Clarity’, in which he spells out some rules that will help the preacher to keep the attention and interest of his hearers.…
Jay Adams puts it well, I think:-
