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.
At a pre-conference at the New Room Conference last year, Church of the City pastor Jon Tyson shared a preaching tip with all of the preachers in the room. He said that one of the ways he helps minorities in his congregation feel seen, appreciated, and understood is by lifting up minority voices in his sermon. One simple way to do this, he said, is by using quotes from people who represent those who are the minority in our congregation. As a white preacher at a predominately white church, he said that he often tries to use at least one quote from a person of color in each of his sermons (having listened to several of his sermons, he uses many quotes in a typical sermon). Sometimes the person he quotes is well-known by those he’s trying to represent, but sometimes, he’ll subtly say something like “As Asian American scholar and theologian Janette H. Ok says…”
This also helps you get out of any rut you find yourself in by listening to the same theologians with the same backgrounds and perspectives (I know that I struggle with this). One way I’ve found to do this is to intentionally purchase and read theologians and scholars who come from different backgrounds than me, whether that be from a different racial, ethnic, national, or socioeconomic background. One of my favorite commentaries to do this is The New Testament in Color.
I tried this out recently in our predominantly white, American congregation. I would venture to say that almost nobody noticed that I tried out anything different. However, after the sermon, one of our parishioners with citizenship in another nation came up to me and thanked me for sharing a quote from someone who wasn’t white. Because she was able to “hear” from someone who shared similar experiences to her, she was able to connect with the sermon in a deeper way.