Over the last five decades, an insidious trend has crept into American preaching, and not only are most pastors unaware of it, they have embraced it without realizing how significantly it depreciates the impact of their preaching.
In the ’60s and ’70s, very rarely did a preacher use an illustration from his own life. In the 1980s, some pastors began to share a story or two from their own lives, but rarely every week. In the 1990s, the trend intensified and one could anticipate hearing a story or two each week from the life of a pastor. Now, it’s not unusual to hear a message where 60-100 percent of the main illustrations come from that preacher’s life.
If you are young or not a student of preaching, it would be easy to miss this trend. But when you step back and look at the general trend of preaching over the last half century, it’s mind-boggling. Worse still, it is hindering the potential impact that preaching could have on the lives of millions of people. But before we explain why, let’s take a look at how we got here.
How did this trend happen?
The first reason is the impact of the generation me. who grew up in generation me (1960s and 1970s) we know we stopped appreciating history and started to focus more on ourselves and now. Illustrations about Spurgeon and Hudson Taylor, civil war and Greco-Roman culture, or even biblical characters, were things of the past. We didn’t care about those things. We only care about ourselves. And as more of us became preachers, it seemed sensible to start using “we” illustrations.
Second is the advent of the great church movement. Note: I am not against big churches. I herded one. But one of the unintended consequences of the great church movement has been the creation of a culture of celebrity preachers, and celebrity always invites imitation. Subtly, those of us who aspire to grow our churches think, “If he uses a lot of stories from his own life, and I want to pastor a big church, then I should do the same.” ;
The third main cause for this trend would be the cultural shift here in America towards authenticity. In a desire to be more “real” most of us have chosen to share more stories of our lives to communicate that we are like them.
And the fourth major cause of this trend is the one most pastors don’t want to admit: it’s easier. Let’s be honest, finding good illustrations is hard work. Read books, magazine and blog posts, search the internet, ask staff, talk to people outside the church, etc. just to find the right illustration is hard work.
However, sitting in your chair and thinking, “What is something in my own life that relates to this point?” it’s pretty easy. All you have to do is access your memory banks.
When you put these four tendencies together, you end up with a movement that could easily be described as the Enlightenment movement primarily driven by pastors (PPDIM). But why is PPDIM so bad?
What is the purpose of an illustration?
One of the errors that I frequently see in most of the messages I hear is that the preacher is not looking for the best illustration for the point he is making, he is simply looking for an illustration, and the difference between those two practices is enormous. It’s as if they remember their preacher teacher saying, “Never make a point without an illustration.” so now they are just completing blocks in an outline (1.a. explain, 1.b. illustrate, 1.c. apply).
But the point of an illustration is to be a “window to the soul” as Chuck Swindoll says. It is to help people in our congregations see the point more clearly. It is removing the dust and the monotony, the cloudiness and the darkness, the misunderstandings and the bad beliefs around a point so that a window opens and the listener can say: “I understand”. And beyond achieving it, it is helping them to apply it. It’s to help you see, “Oh, this is what it would look like if this were real in my life.” Or to help them see, “Oh, I do that.” Or, “That’s what someone who follows God should do.”
The point of an illustration is not to be funny. It’s also not for filling airtime or completing a scheme. The purpose of an illustration is to help listeners better understand the point being made and how they can apply it (or how it applies to them). Once you own that principle, you’ll understand why PPDIM is such a bad trend.
why shepherds are bad illustration
I know. Most pastors don’t like to hear this, but to normal church people, you’re not normal. In their minds, you are not real. You have some kind of special deal with God, and the work you do is totally different from what they do. So any time you use an illustration from your own life, by definition, you’re not opening a window into their own soul on how they can make something you’re sharing real in their life.
For example, I recently heard a pastor of a large and very successful church, in a series on giving, mention that, several times throughout his life, he felt that God was calling him and his wife to give all their money . away to a construction campaign. And each time they had done that, God had proven faithful and they ended up with more than they had before.
Now, how many normal church people do you think thought that was a good illustration that helped them? get a good picture of how they might give sacrificially to God? Very few. Why? Because, in their minds, pastors have a special deal with God. They are not real.
On the other hand, if that pastor had used an illustration of an auto mechanic or an elementary school teacher or an insurance salesman or a secretary or a computer programmer or a nurse or a janitor who had done the same thing, that would have been a better illustration. However, an even better illustration of sacrificial giving would have been somewhat less dramatic because most normal people will never empty their bank accounts for a campaign, ever!
As much as you may not like it, as a pastor, you are not “real” in the minds of your people. And that’s why you’re not a great source for illustrations. When you talk about your job or your week, you have simply hindered the effectiveness of your message.
Where are we going?
If you’d like to change this and help more of your people understand God’s truth and know how they can apply it to their lives, I encourage you to implement the following seven practices.
1. Reduce your personal artwork to 10-20 percent of your total artwork.
I’m not saying you should never share a personal illustration. My problem is with the illustrative movement mainly driven by shepherds. Even though people may not think you’re “real,” it never hurts to help them understand that you are and that you’re one of them.
2. Change the questions you ask yourself each week.
The questions you and I ask determine the answers we receive. If you want a different answer, you should ask a different question. Instead of asking, “What is something from my own life that illustrates this point?” you might ask, “Who in my congregation would be an illustration perfect from this point?”
3. Use your staff to help discover illustrations.
I tell my clients that they should start their staff meetings every week by asking for stories from their people. This creates a database of great stories. Plus, it’s a double win. Your staff members can highlight someone from your ministry and you can share a story from a “real” person in your congregation that is a perfect illustration of the point you are trying to make.
4. Raise your standards of illustration.
If your standard is, “Anything in the stadium is fine”, ” or “What’s easy” then that’s what you’ll aim for. If your standard is that you’ll only be content with a great illustration that fits one point perfectly, then that’s what you’ll be looking for.
5. Don’t use yourself as an illustration about “Church” things.
Whether you like it or not, 99 percent of the people you preach to never They will become part of the staff of a church. So sharing stories about your call to ministry, for example, while cathartic for you, won’t be helpful to your people. You would do much better to share how Joe, an ordinary man in your congregation, felt God called him to open a nonprofit or go on a mission trip or lead a small group or help a neighbor in need, because Joe considers himself normal for them.
6. Make sure you are not the hero of the story.
Unfortunately, too many church people put pastors on pedestals. So if you’re going to use yourself as an illustration, make sure you’re rarely the hero. For example, several years ago, during a message on pride, I said:
“The interesting thing to me about our ego is that it often rears its ugly head in ways that we would never anticipate. In fact, last week he was sitting at a red light at the corner of Great Seneca and Clopper. I was in my Infiniti, enjoying the music, the sun was out and I was in a good mood. In the lane next to me, a little boy, in a little race car, pulled up. His windows were down, his music was blaring and he was revving his engine. When the light turned green, I don’t know what happened, or what force took over my body, but somehow my foot forced the throttle all the way down and I blew the boy away. My first thought when I looked in the rear view mirror and saw him behind me was, ‘Yes!’ My second thought was, ‘I can’t believe I just did that. I am a 42 year old community leader and pastor of a large church and I just did a drag race with a kid near his school.’ What was that? What led me to do something that I would never intentionally do? It was my ego. I just wanted to win.”
My people loved that story (and talked about it for a long time afterwards). But the reason it worked so well was because they thought, “Hey, he’s one of us.”
Note: This doesn’t mean you can never be a good role model, it just means you don’t want to do it too often or you’ll keep increasing the distance between you and them.
7. Make Heroes from “Normal”; People.
If the goal of a great illustration is to help people in your congregation not only get a point, but also know how to apply it, then I encourage you to make a commitment to find and use “normal” illustrations…