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9 proven ways to engage your congregation in the message

by: Ken Johnson, consultant

After visiting more than 100 churches as the Phantom Pew Sitter in the last few years, I have compiled a list of suggestions to help church leaders plan and carry out worship service messages in the most effective way.

I have watched and heard a variety of preachers and experienced good and bad. I know the reason so many people don’t return the following week is not based entirely on the welcome they receive from the congregation, but also on what they see and hear from the preacher.

Here are nine ways to engage your congregation:

1. Preach from the heart and preach the Word of God.

The preachers that continue to see members and guests return are the ones who preach what God has put in the Bible for them to preach. They also preach from their heart while centering  everything on the Bible.

In contrast, I hear too many preachers who continually talk about themselves and how wonderful they are. That is a certain turn-off. I also hear preachers who only talk about social issues. That, too, is a sure turn-off. Preach and teach the biblical principle of turning your life over to Christ and living a Christ-like life.

Preachers who use an interactive approach, making their message more of a question-and-answer time than a time of lecturing, also draw the same people and guests week in and week out. You don’t have to actually give the congregation members opportunities to answer out loud, although some of the best do, but give them time to answer in their minds.

2. Have your message well prepared.

Think about ways you can make your presentation clear to the listener. This is part of good preparation and cannot be done if you just throw a message together at the last minute. Sure, there will be those times when you have too many things going on during the week and don’t have time to prepare as much as you would like. Yet, those times have to be few and far between.

Regretfully, I see too many messages preached from notes. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it has to look and sound like you have at least looked at the notes a time or two before Sunday morning. The more eye contact you can make with the people the more they will believe what you are saying.

My preference, and I think the preference of the majority of the people in church today, is that the message be memorized. When the message is memorized you can make regular eye contact, and that contact is just what people are looking for. How many times do you see the news on TV where the newscasters aren’t looking directly at the camera? The people expect the same delivery at church.

3. Get out from behind the pulpit.

I regularly see pastors who stand like robots behind the pulpit without using hand gestures, facial expressions, or vocal inflection. This can be sudden death for your message. We live in the 21st century and people are used to energy, excitement and movement in everything that they see. So you need to provide the same dynamics in your presentations.

I’m a music theater guy and to me it is more meaningful to have the pastor move out from behind the pulpit. I would even prefer that you move into the congregation. Let the people know you’re not "holier than thou" by moving among them.

Don’t move just to move, however. Move with purpose and deliver your message with excitement and enthusiasm. You may benefit from a drama teacher who can help you with your movement and voice inflection.

It takes all of your body, soul and mind to deliver a message that is meaningful to the majority of your congregation,

4. Use technology.

When I say technology I don’t mean just the lyrics of the songs on the screen, or the scripture on the screen, but also video clips, Power Point presentations, smoke machines, (there could be a place for this) lighting effects, (that’s technology) and other techniques that might come to mind. Hire the best video people around and let them be creative.

I would guess that your congregation watches some television or goes to movies or concerts, so they’ll be used to this kind of production. And, this technology will add to the credibility of your presentation.

Have technical moves well planned, however, and make sure that they occur in a timely fashion, or it will be a disaster.

5. Fill the platform, narthex, Sunday school rooms, lawn and anywhere else where it makes sense with backdrops, scenes and other ideas from your overall theme for the week’s sermon or a sermon series.

You’ll be amazed at how much less you will have to include in your message if you use all of these other sets and props. Hand props also work well. A picture is worth a thousand words—I think I heard that someplace. Many times we do this at Christmas and even Easter but the rest of the year seems to be void of dramatics. Why?

6. Be brief.

This is probably the most overlooked advice for a message. Honestly, the majority of the churches that I have visited have a message longevity problem. Guests are turned off by sermons that go on and on.

You don’t have to give people the whole load every service. Over my 40 years in ministry I have found that the best messages were delivered in approximately 20 minutes (give or take a few minutes). Our brains have a hard time absorbing all of the thoughts that you might give us when it is too much longer than 20 minutes.

7. Make sure you finish in a timely manner.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe that the Sunday service needs to end by noon, or in an hour or less, but I do think that you need to continually evaluate your congregation when you preach to see when they have had enough. Then end the service. Don’t cram so much in the service that it goes all afternoon.

8. Don’t listen to your mother, father, or aunts and uncles (you know who else) to evaluate your message.

It’s important that you have some people close to you who listen to and observe your message. However, you need people who will honestly tell you what they think. A relative is not usually the person to use as a barometer.

Instead, have two or three people you really believe in, who know that you really want their ideas and know that you will love them no matter what they say, evaluate and meet with you every week to present their evaluation. This will transform your ministry.

Have these people evaluate:

This can be a scary thing but it is well worth the time if you have the right people.

9. Remember that you don’t have to minister to everyone every time you present a message.

I firmly believe that you minister to some of the people all of the time but not all of the people all of the time. I’m sure that almost every time you finish a message you have some people who tell you that you really ministered to them this time and others who say that this wasn’t their time to be ministered to. Not to worry, since this will happen every time you preach. So, just accept it.

The most important thing you need to do is spend time on your knees in prayer. Allow the Lord to work through you as you minister to your people, but don’t expect him to do all the work.

© 2007, Ken Johnson, President and CEO of The Ken Johnson Group, LLC. To contact Ken, or for permission to reprint this article, send an e-mail to: ken@thekenjohnsongroup.com.