Connecting With Your Hearers

I've had the chance to preach to a lot of different groups from all sorts of backgrounds, ages, and places.  Next to having the anointing of the Holy Spirit the most important thing you can do to be effective in preaching is to find a way to connect with your hearers.  Here are a few of the things I've learned about how do do that.

Use humour

People love to laugh and they tend to bond with people they laugh with. Laughter releases chemicals in the brain that make people feel drawn to you and comfortable with you (or something sciency like that).  Humour doesn't need to be spontaneous to be effective.  It can be a well rehearsed story or a great quote.  And when all else fails throw yourself under the bus - make fun of yourself. Almost everyone appreciates and enjoys self-deprecating humour.  Plus it shows humility and vulnerability.  Speaking of which...

Be vulnerable

People being open to each other is a reciprocal process  If you will go first by telling people your stories and struggles and questions they will open up, listen to you, and feel connected to you.  Being vulnerable makes people feel that they know you personally and it's not a trick - you just told them the kind of stuff normal people would only tell a friend (normal people don’t connect - don't be normal.)  It takes courage to be truly vulnerable on stage and about 10% of people will like you less because of what you reveal but the other 90% will believe you more and be way more interested in what you have to say.

Tell their stories

Discover the story of the people you are talking too.  Their collective story - when did the church start, what are the highlights of their denominational history, what are the key movements that influenced them, what are their inside jokes, who are their heroes - and then use those stories to illustrate and give credibility to what you are saying.  And as much as possible learn their individual stories - what are their backgrounds, struggles, weaknesses, strengths, values, and shaping experiences? Talk about how the Jesus story intersects with their story.  If you are their pastor this should be relatively easy (if it isn't you are a crappy pastor) but if you are a guest speaker it will take some specific advance effort. If you want to preach to people instead of at people you have to talk with people.

In short - if you can tell the worst part of your story and deepest part of theirs and laugh while you are doing it people will want to hear what you have to say.  Then tell them about Jesus.  That's the whole point anyway.