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From time to time individuals question whether a sermon title is even needed. One person told me that all you need is just the text. This individual thinks that you should just call your sermon John 3:16 or Jeremiah 2:7 or whatever text you are preaching. I have not always titled my own messages, but over time, I began to realize their purpose and need. In this article I wanted to give you four reasons why you need a title.
First, it helps you as the preacher. It forces you to clearly articulate the main point of your message. How many times have you gone into the pulpit without finely distilling the point of your message into a compact package? If you know exactly what the point is, it makes delivering and hearing the message much easier.
Pointer To The Main Thing
Likewise, second it helps the people because it gives them a pointer to the main point of the message that you believe the people should remember. A sermon title helps people to know what you as the preacher deem important about the message. Hopefully it will be clear in the sermon, but often it is not. It is also surprising how many people can even miss the important point of even a clear message. It may surprise you how a simple aside may be what some members remember while missing the whole point of the message. A good sermon title can give a pointer to the people to the main point.
Third, it gives the people and you a handle to aid in the memory process. A clear and effective title sticks to your mind and your tongue and thus drives the main point of the message into the people’s mind. A year from now, they may be able to pull the whole sermon back because of an effective title.
Where Are You? Let The Title Guilde
Finally, it helps you and the people in the preaching moment to remember where you are going and what you are doing. You ever been in a sermon where you lose your place? The sermon title is a guiding light back to home base (your main point). You ever listen to a sermon and you are wondering what is really going on in the sermon? The title is a promise that helps you organize the message in your mind.
Now it is true that some sermon titles have nothing at all to do with the sermon. Sometimes they are jump off points. These sermon titles will not help you in the ways I have articulated, but if the sermon title is a pointer to the main point of the message and it is an encapsulation of the message in some way, then it will aid both preacher and the congregation in the hearing and remembering of the message.
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