August 12, 2024

Before you outline the sermon or write the manuscript, you spend time each week exegeting the text, finding points of application, and crafting a beginning, transitions, and an end for the sermon. You probably have some idea of the God-honoring transformation you would like to see (in individuals, in the congregation, in the world) in light of the passage you'll be presenting.

But have you allowed the message you're preparing to change YOU? Have you truly internalized the passage? Does it live in you? 

As preachers, we don't just "give a lecture" about a topic we've studied; we deliver a sermon--a Word from God for the People of God.

It's a Word for us preachers, too.

The resources this week invite us to become more personally invested in the sermons we preach and the Scriptures we present. 

As we prepare Sunday's sermon, let's examine our own hearts, attitudes, beliefs, and habits in light of the Word of God for the People of God.

After all, it's a Word for us, too.

Do you actually believe everything you say on Sunday mornings behind the pulpit? If you don't, why should your audience? Backstory Preaching invites us to think critically and carefully about authenticity in our sermons

"You need to taste it before you serve it." Check out this short (under 4 minutes) reminder from Everything Church Pro that our sermons don't exist apart from us.

Lectio Divina ("divine reading" or "spiritual reading" for those of us who don't speak Latin) is an ancient practice of reading Scripture--and allowing it to "read" us. Click "try it" for a worksheet that will walk you through a simple version of Lectio Divina. Use it to immerse yourself in this week's sermon text.

What's the purpose of your preaching?

The Louisa Woosley Preaching Initiative is a grant-funded program of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. Our goal is to equip ministers and candidates for ministry to preach compelling sermons to today's diverse and often divided world. 

For more information about the initiative and our programs, visit our website.