Richard Heyduck wrote:
> * I have great difficulty getting people to respond to what I say,
> whether in my preaching, teaching, or board presentations. For the
> most part they just stare at me. My conclusion is that I'm failing
> to communicate. Their explanation is that they're just not very
> responsive people.
Richard,
I grew up watching my father who is also a minister and I've applied a lot
of what I learned from his struggles to dealing with training audiences.
I remember times when he had almost identical concerns to you. At one
point, he was given a church who had voted out their last two ministers.
They were very unresponsive and they didn't seem to care about anything
but going through the motions.
Here's what he did:
After every sermon, he'd ask one family to come over to the parsonage for
chips and dip. He spent time just getting to know them. He'd also ask
them what they thought others thought about the sermon. Usually, in
discussing the other people, their own opinions came out. He'd let the
conversation flow naturally and look for what was truly interesting to
them.
What he was looking for was feedback to tonight's sermon and a way to
connect with them on a deeper level in next weeks sermon.
Throughout the week, he'd call up one person per day from the congregation
and discuss whatever they were interested and whatever conflicts they had
in their life. He usually didn't give advice during this initial contact,
but kept looking for what was driving those people. Then on Sunday, his
sermon contained all kinds of references to their situations.
Naturally, when a major industry layed off four members of the
congregation, he spoke on "gaining stable footing" and when there was a
family who had internal conflicts, he spoke on "forgiving and living
together".
He addressed their issues and concerns without pointing out anyone
specifically, but he was always talking about their lives. And in some
way, every sermon became about them.
Within a few months, that congregation embraced him and he became "their
minister" instead of just "a minister".
Richard, just because you are searching for the answer tells me you will
find it and your church will be better off because of it.
Hope this helps,
Hal Croasmun
Beyond Learning
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