How To Dress A Sermon Series

Great preaching is HARD WORK which the congregation will never see, but they will know it if you are ill-prepared. It will feel like you are a dressed up but you forgot your underwear!

Proper Outerwear

This is the part of the sermon the congregation sees! Don’t let them see your underwear, the preparation you’ve done! Now is the time to dress up and your prep work will be unmistakable! Don’t preach over their heads; know your congregation well. “Dress” like them! In one congregation I pastored, there were 28 educators! Many of them had more degrees than me so I had to dress up my sermon to keep my audience. One congregation was full of “blue collar workers” who weren’t stupid but wanted to find practical encouragement and hope from their pastor on Sunday. Another congregation was filled with city leaders and professional people who appreciated being able to follow along by taking notes with the spoken word. “Dress” your sermon for success by asking yourself, “To this group of people, is this sermon is memorable, understandable, and doable?” If it isn’t as clear as mud (memorable, understandable, and doable), head back to the dressing room (study) for a different outfit!

Always preach your best! You wouldn’t intentionally wear stained clothes to a formal affair. Make sure your sermon is clear, without spot, wrinkle, or blemish, so that the congregation will be able to do what you preach!

Appropriate preaching is like appropriate dress for the occasion! Make sure your vocal dynamics fit the message. Know when to hit hard and when it would be better to soften the blow.

Some sermons, like funeral messages, need to be well-thought out, speaking for the comfort of family and friends. Don’t preach the deceased into Heaven or hell, no matter how they may have lived! You don’t know their eternal destiny. The family and friends of the deceased need the comfort of God, not some false security. Pave the way for the Lord to bring the funeral crowd to Himself! How you preach a funeral may change someone’s life for eternity!

Make the sermon fit the occasion!

Accessorize Tastefully

Many an outfit has been ruined by the wrong colored tie or socks, a necklace too gaudy. Many a sermon has been ruined by a joke ill-placed or not fitting the occasion, or not giving an appropriate invitation. Learn how to accessorize the sermon with just the right illustrations.

Preachers are artists painting a picture. This is a paint by number, not a picture without direction. When the sermon is complete, the congregation should say, “I see what you mean!” If they think, “I don’t get it!”, the preacher has not done his job well! Buy books of stories and illustrations. Be careful about using your wife, kids, or people in the congregation to illustrate your sermon. They may be offended and may put you out of their misery (by unemployment or firing squad)!

Personal illustrations (your own story) can be good when told with sincerity and honesty. Watch that your personal story does not make you sound “holier than thou”! Make sure your story is believable! It’s unbelievable how many, how easy preachers lie for the purpose of a “good” story!