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SERIAL
Sermon delivery requires the use of a voice. This is a painfully obvious
point, yet I wonder if you have read many books or articles on preaching
that even touched on the vocal aspect of the craft? And as you prepare
your sermons, do you think about how you might use your voice to
maximise the impact of your message?
H
ershael York, Professor of Christian
Preaching at the Southern Baptist
Theology seminary, says, in an
article on churchleaders.com,
‘A listless, monotonous voice can suck
the life out of the most profound biblical
truths. Astonishingly, few preachers
give any consideration to their most
important and necessary instrument.’
Let’s look at some of the ways our voices
can help or hinder how our sermons are
received.
VOLUME
A friend of mine preached at her church
recently. At the end, one of the more
mature ladies of the congregation said to
her, ‘I didn’t hear everything you said, but
that was a wonderful talk you gave on
homelessness.’ She wasn’t talking about
homelessness.
I don’t know if this issue was to do with
volume, but for many, especially the
elderly, it is vital to speak loudly and
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project your voice to the back of the
venue. These days, a pulpit will often
be equipped with a microphone. It is a
good idea to do a sound check before the
service begins, and if you know you have
a tendency to be on the quiet side, you
could check your audibility with your
listeners before diving into your sermon.
Churches are now required by law to be
equipped with hearing loops that work
wirelessly with telecoils and cochlear
implants. This should mean you don’t
have to speak unnaturally loudly to
adjust for deafness in your congregation.
Some people’s voices get quieter at
the end of sentences or when they
reach a point about which they feel
less conviction. It is worth listening to
recordings of yourself and identifying any
patterns you fall into.
CLARITY
The preacher Charles Spurgeon gave a
rather hilarious lecture to his students
on the voice, an extract of which was
published in ‘The Sword and Trowel’
in 1875. You can find the full article
at spurgeon.org/s_and _t/voice.
htm and it is well worth a read. In it
he says, ‘A sharp discordant squeak,
like a rusty pair of scissors, is to
be got rid of at all hazards; so also
is a thick, inarticulate utterance
in which no word is complete…
Equally objectionable is that ghostly
speech in which a man talks without
using his lips, ventriloquizing most
horribly: sepulchral tones may fit
a man to be an undertaker, but
Lazar