Preacher's Block

This preaching tip was shared 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.

Towards the end of last year, I gave a preaching tip about giving your people the truths of God in language they could understand (what I called “The Elmore County Version”). This week’s preaching tip is about how to do that through the stories and examples we use.

I live in a rural-ish part of Alabama just outside the capital. So I know that even though very few of my parishioners are farmers, I can tell a story about driving past a farm and they get it. I also talk about being stuck in traffic. I talk about football teams. I talk about how to live out the way of Jesus when scrolling through Facebook. But I’m careful not to assume that everyone in my congregation likes football (they don’t), or has Facebook, or has a daily commute into the capital city. So when you’re giving the “local” version, don’t be so specific that it creates an unintentional “insider/outsider” divide. Don’t talk about intentional grounding as if everybody knows that penalty in football. Instead, talk about the pilgrimages people take every Saturday to the football stadium (or Sunday if you’re unfortunate enough to live in an area where the NFL is more important than college football). You don’t have to have ever seen a down of football to know what that means, but it’s still relatable to the culture. Use generic but relatable examples. That way, you’re helping people understand the truths in ways that everyone in your congregation can understand.