I‘ve discovered the acid test for any sacred orator. Preaching to kids.
I got my baptism by fire one Sunday when asked to preach to the children’s church, a restless crowd of fifty kids in a hot gym. On the top row, swinging his feet so they banged the bleachers, sat Mike, a skinny 9-year-old with shaggy, blond hair.
“Get down from there,” the children’s minister instructed him. “You know we don’t sit up there.” Mike shrugged his shoulders, gave one last bang with the heel of his shoes, and moved down two rows.
With that as my introduction, the children’s minister glanced at me. I decided no sacred hush was forthcoming, so I might as well plunge in.
I quickly scanned my audience, which was constantly rustling, like finches on a feeder. In the higher rows of the bleachers sat the fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. I knew I could communicate with them. But in front sat 5-year-olds whose toes didn’t even touch the floor. They had been nursed on Nickelodeon, and now I was supposed to keep their attention. Gulp.
I decided no sacred hush was forthcoming.
The children had been studying “God’s Heroes in Genesis,” so I’d been assigned to preach on Jacob’s all-night wrestling match at Peniel. The text presents some thorny questions for example, was Jacob’s opponent human, angelic, a divine theophany? Worse, the theme wrestling with God requires a nonliteral application, and these young minds wouldn’t be capable of abstract reasoning for years to come.
Trying to forget that, I began my sermon, focusing on Jacob’s persistence. He refused to give up or give in until he received God’s blessing. To keep the kids’ attention, whenever I pointed to the right side of the group, those twenty-five kids were to yell, “Don’t give up!” And whenever I pointed to the left side, the other twenty-five kids would respond, “Keep on going!”
About three minutes into my message, I realized I had already preached three times longer than the longest commercial on television. So I concluded with a story of a time I had needed to be persistent, and a final, rousing, all-kid yell of “Don’t give up! Keep on going!”
I sat down. Between my shoulder blades, my back was awash with sweat.
“That was great,” the children’s minister said, with a smile. “You’ll have to come again.”
Too bad I had used my best audience-participation device the first time out.
Afterward, I realized I had learned some things about preaching. Keep moving no sidetracks. Focus on one, clear, simple point. Involve the audience.
Hmmm. I wonder if preaching to kids might be the next wave in homiletical training?
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For fourteen years, our most popular column has been “To Illustrate,” in which readers share fresh and effective sermon illustrations. More recently, we’ve added “To Quote” (quotations), “To Verify” (reliable statistics), and “To Quip” (humor). Readers have given these columns high marks as well.
Now I’m pleased to announce “To Illustrate Plus” (begins on page 73), which blends all four preaching columns so they’re easier to use:
- all the material is arranged by topic. If you’re preaching on, say, forgiveness, you can find everything you need in one place, rather than four.
- each topic includes suggested biblical texts.
- each item includes two cross references, to make filing quicker and easier.
We hope the new format is helpful and welcome your suggestions for continued improvements.
Kevin A. Milleris editor of Leadership.
1997 by the author or Christianity Today/Leadership Journal. For reprint information call 630-260-6200 or contact us.
