When you are preparing for preaching, one must edit the sermon. One must take a very close look at the sermon and rewrite it. Henry Mitchell has written a very important article on this very subject that you can find in Best Advice for Preaching. I would encourage all new preachers to get this book.

Henry Mitchell provides some things that the preacher should refine and revise in the editing process. These are:

  1. Grammar and Consistency – Here correct the grammatical problems
  2. Sentence Structure – Simplify
  3. Paragraph Structure – Shorten, provide good topic sentence, and good transitions.
  4. Words – Choose the word you want, use clear words and limit adjectives and adverbs.
  5. Particularity – Get out of the theoretical clouds and preach in particulars with concrete details.
  6. Pronunciation – Figure out how you will pronounce the words in the sermon. Correctly pronouncing a Biblical city or personality really helps your credibility.

When you edit your sermons, think about these aspects as suggested by Henry Mitchell.

2 thoughts on “How to Prepare – Editing the Sermon

  1. Roger B. Abuloc says:

    Thanks for posting this article. It somehow enforced my understanding of my own style of writing sermons. And also make me more aware especially in the pronunciation department.

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