Here’s a simple piece of advice for my generation of seasoned pastors. If you want to make your Sunday messages more effective for how people live and listen today, do (or stop doing) this one thing:
Stop making your sermon notes rhyme or alliterate.
Rhymes and alliterations used to make speakers seem credible, authoritative, and prepared. That’s no longer the case.
Recently, I was teaching a session on how to preach for today’s congregations, and when I advised them to stop making their sermon notes rhyme, something in the room shifted.
The older pastors looked shocked, but the younger pastors started nodding up and down, vigorously. Some glanced sideways at their senior pastors, hoping they were paying attention. So, I paused to point out the difference.
“Am I right on this one?” I asked the young leaders. Their nodding increased. So I went on, supported by my bobblehead choir of young leaders, to explain why I no longer make my sermon notes rhyme or alliterate.
1. We No Longer Need It For Memory
If people want to remember what we said, they’ll check the handout notes, rewatch the live stream, listen to the podcast, email us, record the message on their phone . . . You get the idea.
People don’t even have their best friend’s phone number memorized any more. They’re not trying to remember the points of our sermons.
2. People Don’t Care About The Format
I hate to break it to you, but the time pastors spend trying to make every point rhyme or start with the same letter is wasted. We’re the only ones who care.
3. One Practical Idea Is Better Than Five Points That Rhyme
No one leaves church with our acronym ringing in their ears. If we give them one helpful principle, they’ll latch on to it. And if it’s applicable to their lives, they may even do it.
4. Rhyming Feels Phony
This may be the biggest reason of all to give up rhymes and alliterations. It was the one that really got the young bobbleheads going.
Unless it’s in a song, rhyming feels fake.
The younger generation has given up on finding easy answers. Some have given up on finding any answers at all. But they all know that real answers don’t rhyme, start with the same letter, or spell out F.A.I.T.H.
Pastors think it’s clever. Listeners think it’s phony.
5. Rhyming Feels Old and Stale
Old is not always bad. It can often provide us with much-needed stability.
But there’s the kind of old that’s just stale.
Rhyming and alliterating used to feel authoritative and prepared. Now it feels old and stale.
6. Life Doesn’t Rhyme
Instead of playing linguistic games, here’s an idea. Let’s produce better content.
Then put it in a format that matches the way people really listen, talk, and live.
Speak genuinely, from God’s Word and your heart into people’s real lives.
Real life doesn’t rhyme.
(Photo by Jes | Flickr)
