Watch Out For This Kind of Illustration In the last few posts we have considered various kinds of illustrations according to the guidelines developed by Haddon Robinson.  Then we illustrated the first four levels of illustration.  We now turn to illustrating the last two levels of illustration.  The bottom line is this: watch out for this kind of illustration for your preaching. Level 5 Illustrations to watch out for The simple definition of this kind of illustration is that you use something, a story or an example where  your learned experience doesn’t connect with t ..read more

Preaching Illustrations Illustrated We are considering how to use effective illustrations for preaching.  We continue that focus in this post as we look at preaching illustrations illustrated for better preaching. In the last two posts we have considered the kinds of illustrations that connect with people.  We reviewed the ideas given by Haddon Robinson of the various kinds of illustrations possible.  We’ve given illustrations of the kinds of illustrations Robinson described as level 1 and level 2: Level 1 is when your lived experience corresponds to your audience’s lived exper ..read more

Illustrations of Illustrations for Preaching In the last post, we considered the five levels of illustration, as described by Haddon Robinson.  In this post we examine illustrations of illustrations for preaching for those levels. Level 1: Shared Lived Experience In his book, Preaching Nuts & Bolts, Brandon Hilgemann gives the example of when he was young.  This is the way he puts it: Little girl sitting on her grandpa lap. When I was younger, whenever I heard a pastor tell a heartwarming story about a little girl, I wondered why people in the audience would cry.  I would ..read more

Make Sure You Illustrate Well When Preaching I’ve addressed the need for good illustrations earlier in this blog.  You can check  out posts here and here.  However, my recent reading has included some reflection on what makes a good illustration.  So, in this post we will consider how to make sure you illustrate well when preaching to your congregation. Adding Design Through Illustrations Celebration Community Church A man in the last church that I served full time was a building contractor.  He helped several churches as a volunteer.  At one point, he was assis ..read more

Preaching to an Intergenerational Church We’ve been considering the unique needs of five generations of people that are likely represented in your church.  Here is the first post in that series, in case you missed it.   Preaching to an intergenerational church provides some unique challenges, and that is what we will consider in this post. We’re All Family My son-in-law was trying to explain to one of my grandsons about why the family schedule got messed up.  One unit of the family got stuck at the family cottage with a car that wouldn’t function, and they needed a ride back to ..read more

Preaching Good News to Generation Z Those born between 1999 and 2015 make up Generation Z.  After looking at preaching to Builders, Busters, Millennials and Generation X, we turn now to consider preaching good news to Generation Z people in your church and community. The Challenge of Preaching to Generation Z This group grew up with technology.  Recently, my 8-year-old grandson was at our house.  I was having some trouble with my older model, somewhat finicky iPad.  He picked it up, figured out how to bypass my problem login and get to my homepage.  It was natural to h ..read more

Preaching Good News to Millennials We explored in previous posts some keys to preaching to the Builder Generation, the Boomers, and Gen X.  In this post we move on to learn something about preaching good news to millennials in your congregation. Who Are The Millennials? They are people who are born between 1984 and 1998.  This is the smallest generation of the five generations that we are considering.  They have many generalized characteristics.  Here’s a list of what this generation is like: They feel “special”.  They were raised, often, by helicopter parents, or th ..read more

Preaching to Generation X We are considering how to preach to the various generations in your church.  We’ve already looked at the Builder Generation and the Boomer Generation.  Now we turn to the subject of how to go about preaching to Generation X people, who represent about 30% of the adult population in the United States. Generation X Challenges Generation X people, sometimes referred to as Baby Busters, are complex as a group, and present some interesting challenges to the preacher.  Here are some of the things that set this generation apart. The GenX people were born betw ..read more

Preaching To The Baby Boomers We are considering how to preach to the various generations in your ministry.  In the last post we looked at the preferences of the Builder, or Silent generation.  This post will focus on preaching too the baby boomers in your church, those born 1946 to 1964. Who Are These People? After World War II ended in 1945, soldiers came home to resume their lives.  In 1946, not surprisingly, a baby boom began.  From 1946 through 1964, approximately four million babies were born each year in the United States.  That works out to about seventy-six mi ..read more

Preaching to the Builder Generation In the last post we began considering what it means to preach to the various generations that exist in your church.  In this post I will combine what is usually called the Builder Generation (born between 1901 and 1925) and what is usually called the Silent Generation (those born before 1945).  We will explore the specific characteristics of preaching to the Builder Generation in your church, or those born before 1945. Who Is the Builder Generation? The statistics that I have access to on the generations reflect life in the United States.  You ..read more