In recent research Ed Stetzer examined 450 sermons, with the help of a team, and asked some interesting questions. In particular, he posed: “Do you start [your sermons] with the text or the [listeners] context?” 37% of preachers said they start with context to connect with their audience first, but at closer analysis it was actually over 50%.
Which is Better: Text or Context?
There are pros and cons to starting with either text or context. When we start with text, we reinforce the centrality of God’s word over the preacher’s opinion. We can call people to open their Bibles and follow along. When we start with context, we connect with the listener right away, at a felt need level, and can lead them to the relevancy of the Bible.
Does PowerPoint Reduce Dependence on the Bible?
I typically introduce my sermons with a brief connection to the listener’s context, pray, and then start the sermon. While I think this is good, Stetzer’s comments regarding PowerPoint enriched some of our recent thinking about sermon delivery. Stetzer has almost stopped using PP. Why? People begin to depend on it, not their Bibles.
People at Austin City Life don’t bring or follow along in their Bibles enough. I’m not sure why, so I started an online survey to find out. I think they depend on PowerPoint. I’m glad that some people don’t bring their Bibles because they aren’t even Christians. The fact that they are reading the Bible on a screen is better than not reading Scripture at all. But, there are other ways around that.
I may start using PP less and less. At the start of 2010 we are making a very clear point about the necessity of bringing Bibles to our gatherings, not to be religious but to be reasonable, to reason through Scripture yourself, and not just ping single texts off of a screen. Reading your Bible during a sermon can help you in several ways:
- Focus on the sermon.
- Understand the Bible.
- Read the passage in its larger context.
- Test the pastor’s message against the authoritative message of Scripture.
- Allow you to cross reference what he says with other portions of Scripture.
But a lot of people don’t bring or read their Bibles during sermons. Marshal McLuhan is famous for saying: “the medium is the message”, and I believe one of the unintended messages traveling through our PP medium is you don’t need to read your Bible. Isolated texts on a screen is good enough. That is an awful message, one contradicted by the message of Scripture itself (Ps 19, 119; 2 Tim 3:16).
