Pastors have a lot to say in a Sermon.
God has put these important messages on their hearts. But the impact of a sermon is only as good as the people who hear it.
If no one comes to listen, no one will be influenced by it.
That’s why every Pastor has to develop a platform. People who are interested in what they’re saying. It’s not just the people in your pews each Sunday though; although it once was. In our internet-aware culture, we have so many more opportunities for developing a platform.
The true test of a good platform is whether someone takes your sermon and wants to share its content. Jesus was excellent at that. Imagine what He could’ve done with social media or a website!
If you can get someone to share your sermon content; you’re developing a solid platform of people who are engaged with you. Imagine the influence you could have!
Here are 4 ways you can develop a shareable sermon:
- Let your Audience help direct your content. Every good communicator starts with identifying a particular audience and determines what they need. The best formula? Become a solution to their problems or give them a clear path to their goals.
- Let learning styles stretch your communication methods. People learn visually, aurally, verbally, physically, logically, socially, or solitarily. Never teach towards one style. Get people to write something occasionally, have them listen to a song, get them to engage with a video clip, spend independent time alone (perhaps in prayer), or hold something in their hands. Use this to break the sermon time up into smaller increments. It’ll hold their attention longer and will aid in their learning.
- Keep it short and organized. A communicator needs to stop talking before the audience stops listening. Most audiences will be engaged longer when they see someone in-person (in a worship center). This changes drastically when it comes to video or an online source. Remember that people tend to multitask when watching online. In general though, we know that attention span is dropping. Learn to self-edit. Always leave them wanting more. Don’t say anything that’s not necessary to your audience. Give them 1 point to remember and they’ll remember it exponentially more than 6 points. Organize your points to be remembered! What’s remembered will be shared more.
- Edit to the sharing-engine standard. Enter social media. People LOVE to share great content (think youtube, Facebook, etc). There’s a huge problem though. Most people won’t watch an online video that’s as long as a typical sermon no matter how great the content. Imagine that you delivered the perfect sermon and people talked about it a lot. Still, very few who missed it will go and watch the entire sermon. Editing down the sermon to a 3-5 minute video will get so many more people to see your content. People love sharing these short videos on Facebook and Twitter. Hate to lose the long-form? Provide a link so people can see the whole thing (but most won’t).
