Storytelling in preaching

Culture-visual

Jesus did Prophets did [4:1] "Now, son of man, take a clay tablet, put it in front of you and draw the city of Jerusalem on it. [2] Then lay siege to it: Erect siege works against it, build a ramp up to it, set up camps against it and put battering-rams around it. [3] Then take an iron pan, place it as an iron wall between you and the city and turn your face towards it. It will be under siege, and you shall besiege it. This will be a sign to the house of Israel. Ezekiel 4:1-3

Sermon structure:

•Introduction

•Point One

•Point Two

•Point Three

•Conclusion

Sermon structure:Under each point / heading

State – illustrate - relate

State: What the text says

Illustrate: Shedding light, capturing imagination, better than clear structure?

Relate: Apply to life.

Structure / approach

• Authoritative– Billy Graham– Pupils

• Persuasive – Nicky Gumbel– Jury - More on their side– Can persuade mind but not

will

• First Person– My name is Paul…. Let me

tell you about the first time I met Jesus…

• Co-operative– Preacher & congregation

working together– Thesis & antithesis

• Mark 2:– The many who hindered him– They few who helped him– The one who healed him

• Subversive– Argue the opposite of what

you believe• “All roads lead to God”

– But…• They all teach different things

about God• They all teach different things

about man • They all teach different things

about salvation

Sermon on Mark ch.2 Paralytic lowered through roof.

1.The many who hindered him

2.The few who helped him

3.The One who healed him

1. The many who hindered himState…..the crowd stopped him getting near

Jesus. Sometimes people stop us seeing who Jesus really is.

Illustrate….Ghandi / Chou En LaiRelate….. If we look to people they will let

us down. We must look to Jesus

1. The many who hindered him

2. The few who helped him

State… His four friends. There was an urgency to their mission.

Illustrate… straightening pictures

Relate… No-one can respond to the call but you.

1. The many who hindered him

2. The few who helped him

3. The One who healed him

State… Only Jesus can really change a person’s heart

Illustrate… Charlie Chaplin lookalike contest

Relate… He searched the man’s heart and saw right through. He can see your emptiness….etc etc.

Type of Illustrations

• An example – Corrie Ten Boom - forgiveness

Type of Illustrations

• An example – Corrie ten boom - forgiveness

• Metaphor – God's silence- Alex Harvey

Type of Illustrations

• An example – Corrie ten boom - forgiveness

• Metaphor – God's silence- Alex Harvey

• Negative illustration – God's fatherhood - Billy Elliot

Type of Illustrations • An example

– Corrie ten boom - forgiveness

• Metaphor – God's silence- Alex Harvey

• Negative illustration – God's fatherhood - Billy Elliot

• Comparison – Passion-Steve Jobs

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most

important tool I've ever encountered to help me make

the big choices in life. Because almost everything –

all external expectations, all pride, all fear of

embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away

in the face of death, leaving only what is truly

important. Remembering that you are going to die is

the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you

have something to lose. You are already naked.

There is no reason not to follow your heart.

Sources of illustrations

FamilyBooksFilmsNewsInternet ComedyScripture

Learn from…• Stand up comedians

– Connolly / Macintyre / Izzard etc• Observation• Celebration of life• Paradox of life

– Examples:• Three wheeler• Italian Restaurant• Supermarket• Gyle shopping centre

Sting

I have had my eye on a secondhand Fender in the back of Barratt’s music store in Newcastle since the beginning of the summer term. It is a careworn relic of the sixties, the fingerboard scarred with overuse at the third and fifth frets, the paintwork ruined and the varnish flaked and piebald. Among all the shiny others on the wall there is something orphaned, something life-scarred about this instrument that appeals to me. I have absolutely no desire for a new bass. I want something with a history, where every scratch and dent in the varnish has a tale to tell.

I try to imagine all of the music that has been played on its sculpted surfaces and what the musicians must have looked like and thought about, holding this thing in their hands night after night. gig after gig, road trip after road trip. What were their dreams and their aspirations and how close did they get to realizing them? Why was it sold, and what were the circumstances? No one in the shop remembers, but I am convinced that I can pick up the trail where it was left and if I have as much skill in dreaming as in playing, I will dream up a new and glorious future that the past has only hinted at.

Sting

Dangers….

• Telling too many stories

• Confidentiality

• Confusing or distracting stories–Leaves people thinking when you

have moved on

Sources

• Preaching today.com

• Wingclips

• Sermonspice

• Find illustration from paper.

• Think of one recent experience that illustrates a truth.

• Do you have a hobby or interest that would provide stories and illustrations?