1. Why? The importance of purpose in Process Preaching.
2. How? Writing Faith and Purpose statements for sermons.
3. What? Some examples of both faith & purpose statements.
When we preach or proclaim the Gospel, we do so with a purpose in mind. We are looking for a specific reaction from our listeners. Our purpose might be to convert someone to faith in Jesus Christ or to strengthen a believers faith. It may be to inspire or comfort our hearers or to simply change an attitude or an opinion. If we are preaching without any particular purpose, our words sound hollow and meaningless.
Having a clear purpose for a sermon is also critical to the other processes in the Process Preaching system. For example, if a clear purpose is written for a sermon it becomes much easier to write the sermon.(Process #2) This is because you have a clear focus and know what it is that you are trying to communicate in your sermon and therefore what should be included in it.
In the case of delivery, (Process # 3) having a clear purpose makes it possible to speak freely and to be free from a manuscript. This is because the brain and the spoken word work well together as long as things follow in a logical and orderly manner. If you try to speak freely from material that you do not understand or that is not properly focused, your brain will find it difficult to keep you on track.
A sermon needs to have both a broad based or general purpose statement and a more specific purpose statement. In the Process System the general purpose is called the "Faith Statement" and the specific purpose the "Purpose Statement." These are two separate statements that need to be written for each sermon. Without these statements formulated and written out, you will have great difficulty writing your sermon or delivering your sermon in an extemporaneous style. Do not try to cut this process out of the system in order to save time. Having well written purpose statements will, in fact, save you immense amounts of time and effort in process #2 & #3.
I will now explain how each of these purpose statements is written.
Before a Faith Statement or a Purpose Statement can be written for a sermon all preliminary sermon preparation must be completed. This often includes,
The exegetical work on the particular
Biblical text the sermon is based upon.
Meeting with a text study group to
discuss the particular applications of the text for a given
situation.
Meeting with a partner in ministry to
talk about what the text has to say to us today. (I
find this to be the best way to focus my sermon for a given
Sunday. I speak with a colleague in person or on the phone and
our conversation often produces a focus for our sermons. It is
best at this point to speak with just one other person so that
both parties are completely focused on the task at hand.)
WRITING
A SERMONS FAITH STATEMENTIn Process Preaching the term "faith statement" is used to describe the broadest and most fundamental goal for a sermon. Writing a faith statement for a sermon begins the process of focusing the sermon and makes it considerably easier to write a purpose statement later on.
Here is how you write a Faith Statement:
If the text for a given Sunday is on the subject of God's love. A faith statement might read:
You can see by this statement that a Faith Statement is a very general and broad based statement. Later when you write a purpose statement it will be much more specific. The purpose statement will relate closely to the Faith Statement and will be designed down from this fundamental goal for the sermon. Working in this way from the general to the specific is a logical and systematic way of developing a sermon. A faith statement should be written for each sermon.
When writing faith statements it is important to begin with the words,
This is followed by what it is that you would like the people "to be like." It could be that you desire the people to be people who pray, who trust in God or to be a people who do acts of kindness. There is a list of Faith Statements at the end of this section. It may be helpful to look at these examples in order to get an idea of what faith statements are like.
Faith statements are relatively easy to write because they are so broad based. A minimum amount of time should be spent on this process. Purpose statements take more time and in the end are the key to having a focused sermon.
WRITING
A SERMONS PURPOSE STATEMENTIn Process Preaching the purpose statement describes in one or two sentences the exact purpose of the sermon. Writing a purpose statement is not an easy matter and much has been written on the subject. If you follow the guidelines below you should be writing clear and focused purpose statements with just a little practice.
In writing a sermon's purpose statement there are three basic "principles" that must be kept in mind. A purpose statement must,
1. BE WORDED WITH THE CONGREGATION IN MIND.
2. BE WORDED IN TERMS THAT ARE EXACT,
SPECIFIC AND PRECISE
3. BE WORDED AS AN ATTAINABLE, REASONABLE
AND PRACTICAL GOAL FOR THE SERMON.
PRINCIPLE
#1 - WORDED WITH THE CONGREGATION IN MINDOf these three basic principles for writing Purpose Statements, the most important is the first. The reason for this is that the purpose of every sermon is to have an effect upon a specific congregation. For this reason the purpose of the sermon must focus on that congregation. In beginning speech classes it is called "the audience principle." What this means is that whenever you prepare a sermon, you must keep the congregation to whom you are speaking at the center of your thinking and preparation. They are the ones you desire your sermon to have an effect upon. Thus the wording of the purpose statement must focus on the congregation. It must say what it is that you want the congregation to be able to do, think, believe value or affect after they have heard the sermon.
For example, it would not do to have a purpose statement such as,
"THE PURPOSE OF MY SERMON IS TO TELL THE CONGREGATION ABOUT JESUS AND HIS LOVE."
If this was a preacher's purpose, the sermon would be successful even if no one listened. The preacher simply intends "to tell". He needs no listeners to do that. Also, his listeners need do nothing. They do not need to become informed at all. So, a sermon purpose statement that uses the words "to tell," describes what the preacher does, not the congregation. The emphasis should be just the opposite. It should center on what it is that the preacher wants the congregation to do.
A purpose statement which is correctly worded from the congregation's point of view would be worded as follows.
"AFTER THIS SERMON THE CONGREGATION WILL KNOW THE LOVE THAT JESUS HAS FOR THEM."
It may seem like a subtle difference, but it changes things completely. The purpose is now worded from the congregations point of view. This forces the preacher to think much more clearly about both the message and the audience to whom it is being delivered.
In order to make sure that you always write your purpose statement from the congregations point of view, use the following words to begin each purpose statement.
"AFTER THIS SERMON THE CONGREGATION WILL....
I can not emphasize enough the importance of using these exact words to begin your purpose statement for every sermon. The minute you stray from using these words you risk not focusing the sermon on your particular congregation.
PRINCIPLE
# 2 - WORDED IN TERMS THAT ARE EXACT, SPECIFIC AND PRECISEAlthough it is a good start to word the sermon with the congregation in mind, it is just a start. The second key to writing a well focused and useful purpose statement is to write it in terms that are very specific. The more specific a purpose statement is worded, the more helpful it will be to you as you write and deliver the sermon.
It is very difficult for preachers to be specific. The reason for this is that religious thought is often hard to make specific. It is therefore of utmost importance that this step be a well considered one in the process of writing purpose statements. In a very real sense, being specific is the key that opens up the whole process of writing a well focused sermon.
Here again the formula sentence above will help you out. If you begin each purpose statement with this sentance it will lead you into writing something very specific. This will become more clear when you study and learn the technique outlined below for writing purpose statements.
PRINCIPLE
# 3 - WORDED AS AN ATTAINABLE, REASONABLE AND PRACTICAL GOAL FOR
THE SERMONIf the purpose statement has been written with the congregation in mind, it is still lacking if the preacher asks the congregation to do something that is unattainable. For this reason, it is very important to know and remember who it is to whom you are preaching.
For example, if you are preaching to children, you know you are limited in what you can ask them to do. For this reason you must adjust your purpose accordingly. In other words, you must decide what is possible for this group. This relates very directly to what has come before. What is the background of the particular group hearing your sermon? Are they biblically literate? Are they intellectually capable of comprehending the thoughts and ideas you want to share with them?
If you word the purpose statement in such a way that the goal for your sermon is obviously attainable and reasonable, the sermon will be easier to write and again the effect of the sermon upon the congregation will be much more positive.
A
TECHNIQUE FOR WRITING PURPOSE STATEMENTSGenerally a sermon falls into one of three basic categories.
1. TO PERSUADE
2. TO INFORM
3. TO INSPIRE
Using these three categories and the accompanying word list for each category you will learn to complete the sentance below.
________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________ (Describe what it is you want the congregation to be able to do, think, believe, value or affect after they have heard this sermon.)
Let me now explain what you should place in each of these three blanks
1. In the first blank you will write some form of the verb will. If the sermon is meant to inform and the words are taken from the inform word list, (see lists below) it usually works best to insert the words, "will or will be able to." In the case of the persuade word list, just the word "will" usually works best. For the inspire word list, the words "will be" are usually used.
2. In the second blank a verb is chosen from the following list or from your own list:
INFORM PERSUADE INSPIRE (will/will be able to) (will) (will be) define accept excited demonstrate agree pleased determine attend welcomed describe contribute happy discuss cooperate amused document defend thrilled explain follow encouraged identify help supported name participate recognized know support transformed recall understand inspired remember believe appreciative find consider empowered recognize offer energized compare volunteer accepting summarize switch hopeful say serve faithful tell give believing
There is a list of verbs for each kind of sermon. If your sermon is meant to inform, you can use words such as recall, identify, name or remember in your purpose statement. If your sermon is meant to inspire, words such as excited, thrilled, energized or hopeful could be used. Using these words will help the preacher be more specific, and will also make it easier to identify the final goal of the sermon. The word lists I have provided are only the tip of the iceberg. Everyone will develop their favorites. It is easy to get in a rut in this regard so every once in awhile it is good to recheck the list and try to use some new words.
Let's take another look at our original sample purpose statement.
"AFTER THIS SERMON THE CONGREGATION WILL KNOW THE LOVE THAT JESUS HAS FOR THEM"
Notice that the word "know" is under the list of verbs for a sermon meant to "inform". For this reason the word "will" is inserted in the first blank and this is followed by what it is the preacher desires for the people to know after they have heard the sermon. Other verbs could have been used for this purpose statement and each of them would send the sermon in a slightly different direction. It all depends on the particular idea in the text you wish to focus upon.
For example, when the word "remember" is used, the purpose statement reads, "AFTER THIS SERMON THE CONGREGATION WILL REMEMBER THE LOVE THAT JESUS HAS FOR THEM" Using the word remember calls to mind a very different focus for the sermon. This focus would change even more dramatically if a word such as "recognize" or "discuss" or "define" were used.
A sermon purpose statement can have more then one sentence. The preacher simply selects another verb and adds more details. I have seen one sentence purpose statements that are excellent, and I have seen others that have three or four sentences and are still very specific.
This may seem like a very simple and basic exercise but there is nothing that helps to focus a sermon more. If we are diligent in filling out the blanks of the sermon purpose statement form, we will be rewarded with a much easier time of both writing and delivering the sermon. If this step is omitted, the writing and delivery processes will be doubly difficult and the focus of the sermon will simply not be clear.
Here is a formula sheet that can be used to prepare faith statements and purpose statements. Please feel free to make copies of this form for your personal use.
SERMON PURPOSE FORMULA SHEET
Date__________Sunday_________________Text_______________Title______________
FAITH STATEMENT: (The broadest and most fundamental goal of the sermon)
That the members of ____________________________Church (be a people who) ______________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________. (What you want the people to be like.) Example: That the members of Calvary Lutheran Church be a people who pray.
PURPOSE STATEMENT: (The specific purpose of this particular sermon.)
After this sermon the congregation 1.__________________________( will or will be able to - inform; will - persuade; will be - inspire) 2.________________________________ (selected verb) 3.______________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________ (Describe what it is you want the congregation to be able to do, think, believe, value or affect after they have heard this sermon.)
Example: After this sermon, the people (1.) will (2.) accept (3.) the importance of regular daily prayer and (1.) will (2.)seek (3.) to find times to pray each day.
Here are some examples of faith statements and purpose statements I have written and used during the past year.
Trinity Sunday:
Faith Statement: That the people of Calvary be Trinitarian Christians.
Purpose Statement: After this sermon the congregation will understand why it is that we believe and teach the doctrine of the trinity.
3rd Sunday after Pentecost:
Faith Statement: That the people of Calvary be a people who witness to their faith.
Purpose Statement: After this sermon the congregation will realize that every Christian can and should witness to the Gospel.
9th Sunday after Pentecost:
Faith Statement: That the people of Calvary have a positive attitude about the gift of life.
Purpose Statement: After this sermon the congregation will know where to look and how to find the good in this life in the midst of all of the bad.
Pentecost Sunday:
Faith Statement: That the people of Calvary be a people who know about the power of the Holy Spirit.
Purpose Statement: After this sermon the congregation will realize that the Holy Spirit is a mighty spirit of power that empowers them to do mighty acts.
2nd Sunday of Lent:
Faith Statement: That the people of Calvary be a people who take seriously their call to be a new creation.
Purpose Statement: After this sermon the congregation will not stand on the sidelines with a half-hearted faith, but will participate fully in the ministry of the Gospel because they have been born anew from above.
3rd Sunday in Lent:
Faith Statement: That the people of Calvary be a people who know that God is accessible.
Purpose Statement: After this sermon the congregation will feel that they have obtained access to God through Jesus Christ and they will understand what that access means for their lives.
This concludes Process #1 of the process preaching system. Please go to Process #2 - Writing the Sermon
|| Meet the Author || Process #2 (Writing) || Process #3 (Delivery) || Back to the Calvary Lutheran Church home page ||
