Guidelines for Effective Communication I

The elocution movement of the nineteenth century had rigid rules for delivery. It taught that there was but one way to stand, gesture, and sound. A public speaker who did not know the rules failed miserably. Today’s standard is natural delivery – the successful speaker sounds like himself when addressing a subject in which he is deeply interested. Remembering Phillips Brooks definition of preacher – God’s truth presented through personality – and applying it to delivery, the congregation expects the sermon to contain truth expressed through the preacher’s personality in a manner that reflects the gravity of the message.

This means that the first, if not the only, rule of preaching style is for the preacher to be himself. Imitation of the style of other preachers, even great preachers, may be the sincerest form of flattery, but it is also the surest formula for failure. Learning from the past is admirable; leaning on the past is inappropriate.

But what is natural delivery? Natural delivery, sometimes called conversational style, does not mean that the sermon is delivered as if the preacher were in one-on-one conversation. Even in casual conversation, the speaker’s fervor increases in relation to the number of persons addressed and the intensity that the speaker brings to the subject. Since the sermon relates to the eternal, sincerity and intensity should not be a problem.

How is conversational style achieved? Listen! Listen to others. Listen to yourself. When you speak one-on-one, you use gestures but you don’t think about them. They happen naturally. When you speak one-on-one, your voice rises and falls naturally with the topic and the emphasis that the topic justifies. You don’t think, “I should get louder here and softer there.” It just happens. The same should be true of preaching. Proper gestures and use of the voice should “just happen” as naturally as they do in one-on-one conversation.

If conversational style is as easy as talking over a kitchen table or a back yard fence, why is it so difficult to achieve in the pulpit? Could the answer be “intimidation”? After all, the hearers are watching the preacher’s every move and listening to his every word. Doesn’t this call for something different? Even if it doesn’t call for something different, it often produces something different. The hearers’ fixed attention affects the preacher as a snake’s hypnotic stare paralyzes its prey – it robs him of his ability to act naturally. Thus, the greatest challenge to effective pulpit communication is for the preacher maintain a style that is natural to him instead of developing atypical characteristics.

Since even the most experienced preacher can experience some intimidation when he faces a congregation, what hope is there for the rest? How can a preacher in a pressure cooker be natural? Proper sermon preparation reduces intimidation because it eliminates any worry about what the preacher is trying to accomplish and how he plans to accomplish it. Understanding guidelines for natural delivery helps because it eliminates worry about how best to change one’s style and frees the preacher to be himself. Before examining specific guidelines, however, one warning must be given. The message is best communicated when the delivery is transparent. Ostentatious delivery (whether of voice, gesture, or vocabulary) and monotone delivery are opposite ends of the same spectrum. Both draw attention to themselves. When style predominates in the hearer’s perception, the message gets lost. If anything is remembered, it will be the messenger. The preacher’s goal must always be to get out of the way of the message. The true messenger always stands behind the cross.