“Preaching without notes? Is that even possible?!”

Yes, it is and I’m gonna show you how 🙂

But first, here’s a good reason to leave your security blanket at home next Sunday…

Preaching without notes means you can focus on your people instead of your papers.

When you’re reliant on those beloved sermon notes, you’re reading to people instead of engaging with them.

All they can see is a talking head peeking at them over a pulpit.

There’s no better way to improve your preaching than to get rid of the notes that hold you back so you can focus on your people instead of focusing on your papers.

Instead of faking eye contact while trying not to lose your place, you can actually look your people in the eye.

Words alone make up a mere 20% of human communication…

Can you imagine if instead of being bound to your notes, you could communicate the truth of the Word using 100% of the tools that God gave you?

You’ll be free to preach the message through your tone of voice, body language and eye contact.

And being free to focus on your congregation alone will add so much more energy, confidence and emotion to your sermons.

“But What If I Forget What To Say?”

It’s fear… or rather, terror that holds us back!

You just need to have confidence in what God has already given you.

You need to realise that you already have everything you need:

You’ve invested hours preparing your sermon, you’re prayed up and now it’s time to let go.

That being said, there are a number of techniques you can use to ease your way into this.

Pastor Andy Stanley of the Northpoint Community Church wrote a great preaching book entitled Communicating for a Change.

In the book, Andy reveals that instead of thinking of his message as a series of sermon points, he goes by what he calls his ‘mile markers’. 

These mile markers are the reference points that guide him through the message without the need for notes.

Here’s a great sermon preparation structure that you can use to preach without notes:

1. Me
2. We
3. God
4. You
5. We

Let’s go through them one by one 👇

1. Me

“Here’s my problem”

Opening your sermon by introducing your topic like this is a great way to introduce yourself and the topic you’ll be speaking about.

I think too often as preachers we answer questions that nobody is asking.

Identify the problem and ask the question until your church can not wait for the answer.

Have you ever heard the saying “You can take a horse to water but you can’t make him drink”?

Well, why not just make the thirsty by giving him a salt cube?

The ‘Me‘ milestone of your sermon should make your congregation thirsty for the answer.

2. We

“And I’m sure I’m not the only one. We all share…”

The next milestone that Andy uses to help him preach without notes is ‘We‘.

Now you’ve identified the issue you’ll be dealing with, now you can move on to find not only are you finding common ground with your listeners.

It’s good to build as many emotional bridges as possible. Again, emphasising the pressing need.

You are answering the question “Why do they need to know this?“

3. God

“So what does God have to say about this?”

Now it’s time to turn to the Scriptures for God’s solution for us today.

At this most important segment of your sermon speak straight from the text – but make it engaging.

Don’t just read it – bring it home and make it fascinating!

4. You

“Here’s what you should do about it…”

Let’s be doers of the Word and get into the application.

You’ve explained why it’s important for them to know. You’ve shown them the truth of God’s Word so rather than just telling them to do something, you’ve given the reasons why.

5. We

“Can you imagine if…”

Now it’s time to end your sermon on a high by casting vision.

You can inspire your congregation by asking:

“Can you imagine what our marriages/family/church/community/world would be like is we all learned to deal with fear/conflict/greed/anger/finances in this way? What a difference it would make!“

Feel free to follow this structure as a way to outline your next message or any other structure that means you don’t have to use notes or memorise your sermon verbatim.

Make Your Next Sermon Your Best Sermon

Learning the methods and systems of the top preachers of our time is the #1 way to take your preaching to the next level.

That’s why we’ve spent over 40 hours trying to find the best preaching courses out there.

Here are the top ones we’ve found so far…

Give Preaching Without Notes A Try

I hope you can see how structuring your sermons in this way can free you up to preach without notes.

I believe that having this simple 5 step framework in your mind as you preach will really help free you up to reach your full potential as a preacher and your church will benefit from it.

I want to leave you today with a great teaching on preaching directly from pastor Andy Stanley himself.

In this interview, Andy gives great insight into how to take the stress out of message preparation and deliver effective sermons.

I know you’ll get a lot out of it! Enjoy! 🙂