It was an odd sermon introduction. The guest preacher stood up to speak and told the congregation, "If you didn't know better, you'd think this was a classroom or a seminar. I'm standing here at the front, and you are all seated to listen. Many of you have pens and notebooks ready to take notes. But our purpose today is to worship God, not to teach a class."
As I glanced around me, I could see he was right. Aside from the drum set and instruments up front, the room's arrangement looked little different than a college classroom.
The preacher had a point; the purpose of a sermon is to do much more than impart information. Partnering with the Holy Spirit, it aims at transforming lives by bringing people closer to God. Yet that doesn't mean conveying information effectively isn't important. Knowledge is a crucial part of transformation. And recent research has yielded insights into how our brains receive information. For preachers these insights are especially important. They can enhance our teaching and help cultivate the soil onto which the seeds of God's Word fall each Sunday.
Attention deficits
Our brains cannot handle information the way it is presented in a traditional sermon. The average person can only pay attention for about 10 minutes.
Our brains cannot handle information the way it is presented in a traditional sermon. The average person can only pay attention for about 10 minutes.
Good preachers can hold an audience's attention at first, but they must continually reengage it during a lengthy sermon.
This presents preachers with two options: shorten the sermon or intentionally create attention grabbing elements at least four times in a 40-minute sermon. Shortening a sermon does not mean that you are dumbing it down or compromising the message. A 10-minute, tightly constructed sermon can pack as much punch as a 40-minute sermon. So there's nothing wrong with shortening your content to accommodate the brain capacities of your audience. If preaching shorter sermons is not an option, try to tell a new story or illustration at least every 10 minutes to recapture your audience's attention.
The important thing for any length of sermon is to clearly articulate a single big idea. Research tells us that the brain is very good at capturing the gist of a situation or experience. In a conversation, a friend may not say she's late to an appointment, but from a combination of tone of voice and body language we can pick up that she's in a hurry to get going. In a similar way, a sermon filled with details that consistently point to a central idea will make that idea memorable, even if no one in the congregation remembers the definition of a Hebrew word or recalls a specific verse reference. But a single big idea supported clearly will help your listeners' brains home in on the content you want them to remember all week long.
Even with careful preparation, a memorable sermon can't stand alone in a worship service. Research tells us that the brain takes in information best in experientially rich environments. Our brains don't work like tape recorders, packing information all together in nice bundles. Instead, a single nugget of input is sliced and diced into a thousand separate pieces. For example, when we look out a window and spot a car going by, the fact that it is moving is stored separately from its direction, which is stored separately from its speed.
Sensorial sermons
When it comes to Sunday morning, the richer the learning experience, the harder your listeners' brains must work to store information—and that's a good thing. When the brain works harder, it is more apt to retain the information. The key word here is to enhance the learning experience, not to make people multi-task. Science has proven over and over again that our brains simply cannot multi-task. In studies, multi-tasking research subjects learn half as much as single-task subjects, and take twice the time to do so. So, for instance, if you direct people to your church's app or website during the sermon (while expecting them to continue listening to you), you will merely distract them and slow the learning process.
Use different colors and images every week of a sermon series to visually reinforce your messages.
Instead, as you plan your worship services and your sermons, carefully consider whether each of the individual elements enhance or distract from the central message of the morning. For example, use illustrative pictures in your PowerPoint presentations instead of words. Your congregation won't have to choose between reading and listening to you. Add sensory elements such as scents (incense anyone?) or sounds. Use different colors and images every week of a sermon series to visually reinforce your messages. Find hymns or choruses that reinforce the message, and perhaps even play them softly as you preach. All of these elements, taken in to the brain together as a cohesive message, will be broken down by the brain, and enhance retention.
In worship, we adore God and engage actively in the transformation of our minds. Our latest understanding of the brain can assist us as we spur on our congregations to these tasks. So much of our Sunday mornings are devoted to learning. It behooves us to be wise gardeners, carefully cultivating the soil in preparation for the sowing of the Word.
Rob Moll is editor at large for Christianity Today and author of What Your Body Knows About God (IVP).
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