Preacher's Block

This preaching tip was written by Preacher’s Block co-founder, Hunter Bethea. If you’re interested in joining the most focused preachers in the world and getting these tips sent to your inbox every week, sign up here.

This preaching tip is inspired by a quote from Eugene Peterson’s memoir, The Pastor (highly recommend!). In it, he talks of a preacher he admired, Alexander Whyte. He said of Whyte: “He was not given to pious clichés. I liked that.” That got me thinking about my use of clichés in my sermons. Here’s what I noticed:

As I was writing my most recent sermon, I found that anytime I couldn’t quite articulate what I was trying to say in a sermon, I would use a cliché. It made me realize that I use clichés as a crutch, to say something when I didn’t know what to say in hopes that my congregation would know what I was trying to get at (kind of like a, “You know what I mean?”). If I didn’t know what I was trying to say, then how could they know what I was trying to say? When I’m tempted to use a cliché, I pause and take the time to articulate what I’m trying to say so that I can say that, instead of relying on the cliché to say it for me.

As you work on your next sermon, notice when you use clichés and ask yourself why you’re using it. Maybe you’ll find that you use them as a crutch too!