5 Elements Every Sermon Needs Part 1
Every sermon needs five elements to succeed. These elements help you communicate for life change and challenge people to take their next step in following Jesus. They are scripture, skin, symbol, story and step.
INTRODUCTION
Every sermon needs five elements to succeed. These elements help you communicate for life change and challenge people to take their next step in following Jesus.
The five elements are: scripture, skin, symbol, story and step.
Some of you have been preaching for 20 years and might be wondering what you can learn at this point. Keep reading because you’ll pick up something new and useful in your sermon construction.
Some of you reading aren’t preachers, but you support them as a creative with graphics, videos, props and stage sets. Keep reading because you play a vital role in executing these five elements.
I’m excited to write this article because I’ve seen it work from both sides. I’ve preached messages as a pastor and I’ve supported messages as a creative. So whatever side of the fence you are on, I’m glad you’re reading because these elements will help you communicate for life change. Also these five elements apply outside of a sermon. They apply to any non-religious talk or presentation you give if you just substitute scripture for your main point. So apply these elements and make any talk or presentation more engaging.
If you’re looking for coaching on this topic beyond this article then visit benstapley.com/coach to schedule a free consultation. I would love to help you determine the obstacles you're facing and if I’m the best person to help you overcome them.
1. SCRIPTURE
I’m not going to spend much time with scripture because I’m sure most of you already have this element in your sermon. But it is helpful to state the obvious, because sometimes it’s overlooked. There are a couple of sermons I’ve heard that incorporated poems from Robert Frost or lyrics from Coldplay but didn’t incorporate words from God.
Let’s avoid this mistake by starting with scripture.
Two basic questions to ask when you are selecting scripture are: “What is the primary biblical text?” and “What are your supporting scriptures.?” When you evaluate this element after the message is preached, ask yourself these questions. Did I make the plain thing the main thing? Did it flow logically? Were there enough or too much supporting scriptures?
2. SKIN
The skin is the overall look and feel of the message series. It is the cover, packaging or skin around a series. It incorporates all the branding elements to make a cohesive experience. This can include branding elements like stage design, graphic package, video bumper and worship backgrounds.
Information on these elements should get as granular as fonts and colors and be listed in your creative briefs. Here are some examples of creative briefs. Listing and describing all these elements on one document helps the creative teams be on the same page. Listing the elements will also help the creatives complement each other's work.
Having a skin for a series does three things. It gives people context, helps them engage and allows them to share. The skin gives them context by providing a bird's eye perspective on what they will experience. The colors, fonts and filters on your graphics and videos quickly give people that context. If the design is stark, people know the subject matter will be heavy. If the font is big, bold and bright people know the topic will be high energy. If colors are pastel, people know they are in for a series about emotions (If not emotions, then at least a mother’s day message 🙂).
Skins give people context. They also help people engage. The average Christian attends church two times a month at best. So if the majority of people are not attending every week, how do you help them engage with the message as quickly as possible? You do that with a skin. The skin helps people orient themselves in the series by recalling a past message in the series. This allows them to spend more time focusing on the message that day instead of where they are in relation to the whole series.
Skins also allow people to share. If you create a cool looking skin, your people will naturally share it. One of the most shared series I’ve overseen is At The Movies. The graphic alluded to free popcorn and movie tickets we would give away during the service. And the bumper had clear cultural components that people understood and wanted to see more of. And side benefit, since people share messages that have a great skin, it will reduce your marketing budget. You will no longer need to dump money into Facebook ads because your people will be organically sharing this content instead.
Here are three guidelines to creating good skins. Keep it positive. Keep it intriguing. Keep it ambiguous. I once saw a message series titled 9 Habits Of The Chronically Unhappy. Not the most positive.
Also, keep it intriguing. I oversaw a series called RTD which stood for Religiously Transmitted Diseases. The RTDs focused on religious sins like hypocrisy and pride. The series played off the term STD. It had people walking around in hazmat suits. We gave away stickers that said “17% less judgmental.” When people encountered this intriguing skin, they naturally wanted to find out more.
Lastly, keep it ambiguous. The skin should include just enough to get the big idea but no more. We did this with a series called Games People Play. Here is the bumper. When people saw this they understood the series was about games, but that’s it. And that is where we wanted to leave them. In other words, spark their imagination but leave them wanting more.
When it comes to how long a series or skin should be, I suggest four to six weeks. If the series is shorter it's difficult to go in-depth on a topic. It’s also hard for guests that have missed a week to feel part of a short series. Also the shorter the series are, the more of them you need to do over the year, which means more work from your creative teams. If the series is longer your regular guests can start to lose interest in the topic. But remember this - your teaching staff will always get bored of the series way before your guests do. That’s because your teaching staff is spending 10-20 hours planning and practicing the message but your guests are only experiencing it for 1 hour. So regardless of how long your series are, make sure you choose a length that is beneficial for your guests, not your teaching staff.
PART TWO
Look out for part two being released soon!
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For over twenty years Ben has created & captured moving and memorable moments for individuals, non-profits & corporations across the globe. He has served on the executive team of multiple megachurches and currently serves as the Executive Pastor at Zarephath Christian Church in New Jersey. Ben also consults for churches, teaches at universities and speaks at conferences about leadership, communication and creativity. For more information visit www.benstapley.com.
INTRODUCTION
Every sermon needs five elements to succeed. These elements help you communicate for life change and challenge people to take their next step in following Jesus.
The five elements are: scripture, skin, symbol, story and step.
Some of you have been preaching for 20 years and might be wondering what you can learn at this point. Keep reading because you’ll pick up something new and useful in your sermon construction.
Some of you reading aren’t preachers, but you support them as a creative with graphics, videos, props and stage sets. Keep reading because you play a vital role in executing these five elements.
I’m excited to write this article because I’ve seen it work from both sides. I’ve preached messages as a pastor and I’ve supported messages as a creative. So whatever side of the fence you are on, I’m glad you’re reading because these elements will help you communicate for life change. Also these five elements apply outside of a sermon. They apply to any non-religious talk or presentation you give if you just substitute scripture for your main point. So apply these elements and make any talk or presentation more engaging.
If you’re looking for coaching on this topic beyond this article then visit benstapley.com/coach to schedule a free consultation. I would love to help you determine the obstacles you're facing and if I’m the best person to help you overcome them.
1. SCRIPTURE
I’m not going to spend much time with scripture because I’m sure most of you already have this element in your sermon. But it is helpful to state the obvious, because sometimes it’s overlooked. There are a couple of sermons I’ve heard that incorporated poems from Robert Frost or lyrics from Coldplay but didn’t incorporate words from God.
Let’s avoid this mistake by starting with scripture.
Two basic questions to ask when you are selecting scripture are: “What is the primary biblical text?” and “What are your supporting scriptures.?” When you evaluate this element after the message is preached, ask yourself these questions. Did I make the plain thing the main thing? Did it flow logically? Were there enough or too much supporting scriptures?
2. SKIN
The skin is the overall look and feel of the message series. It is the cover, packaging or skin around a series. It incorporates all the branding elements to make a cohesive experience. This can include branding elements like stage design, graphic package, video bumper and worship backgrounds.
Information on these elements should get as granular as fonts and colors and be listed in your creative briefs. Here are some examples of creative briefs. Listing and describing all these elements on one document helps the creative teams be on the same page. Listing the elements will also help the creatives complement each other's work.
Having a skin for a series does three things. It gives people context, helps them engage and allows them to share. The skin gives them context by providing a bird's eye perspective on what they will experience. The colors, fonts and filters on your graphics and videos quickly give people that context. If the design is stark, people know the subject matter will be heavy. If the font is big, bold and bright people know the topic will be high energy. If colors are pastel, people know they are in for a series about emotions (If not emotions, then at least a mother’s day message 🙂).
Skins give people context. They also help people engage. The average Christian attends church two times a month at best. So if the majority of people are not attending every week, how do you help them engage with the message as quickly as possible? You do that with a skin. The skin helps people orient themselves in the series by recalling a past message in the series. This allows them to spend more time focusing on the message that day instead of where they are in relation to the whole series.
Skins also allow people to share. If you create a cool looking skin, your people will naturally share it. One of the most shared series I’ve overseen is At The Movies. The graphic alluded to free popcorn and movie tickets we would give away during the service. And the bumper had clear cultural components that people understood and wanted to see more of. And side benefit, since people share messages that have a great skin, it will reduce your marketing budget. You will no longer need to dump money into Facebook ads because your people will be organically sharing this content instead.
Here are three guidelines to creating good skins. Keep it positive. Keep it intriguing. Keep it ambiguous. I once saw a message series titled 9 Habits Of The Chronically Unhappy. Not the most positive.
Also, keep it intriguing. I oversaw a series called RTD which stood for Religiously Transmitted Diseases. The RTDs focused on religious sins like hypocrisy and pride. The series played off the term STD. It had people walking around in hazmat suits. We gave away stickers that said “17% less judgmental.” When people encountered this intriguing skin, they naturally wanted to find out more.
Lastly, keep it ambiguous. The skin should include just enough to get the big idea but no more. We did this with a series called Games People Play. Here is the bumper. When people saw this they understood the series was about games, but that’s it. And that is where we wanted to leave them. In other words, spark their imagination but leave them wanting more.
When it comes to how long a series or skin should be, I suggest four to six weeks. If the series is shorter it's difficult to go in-depth on a topic. It’s also hard for guests that have missed a week to feel part of a short series. Also the shorter the series are, the more of them you need to do over the year, which means more work from your creative teams. If the series is longer your regular guests can start to lose interest in the topic. But remember this - your teaching staff will always get bored of the series way before your guests do. That’s because your teaching staff is spending 10-20 hours planning and practicing the message but your guests are only experiencing it for 1 hour. So regardless of how long your series are, make sure you choose a length that is beneficial for your guests, not your teaching staff.
PART TWO
Look out for part two being released soon!
podcast transcript
For over twenty years Ben has created & captured moving and memorable moments for individuals, non-profits & corporations across the globe. He has served on the executive team of multiple megachurches and currently serves as the Executive Pastor at Zarephath Christian Church in New Jersey. Ben also consults for churches, teaches at universities and speaks at conferences about leadership, communication and creativity. For more information visit www.benstapley.com.
INTRODUCTION
Every sermon needs five elements to succeed. These elements help you communicate for life change and challenge people to take their next step in following Jesus.
The five elements are: scripture, skin, symbol, story and step.
Some of you have been preaching for 20 years and might be wondering what you can learn at this point. Keep reading because you’ll pick up something new and useful in your sermon construction.
Some of you reading aren’t preachers, but you support them as a creative with graphics, videos, props and stage sets. Keep reading because you play a vital role in executing these five elements.
I’m excited to write this article because I’ve seen it work from both sides. I’ve preached messages as a pastor and I’ve supported messages as a creative. So whatever side of the fence you are on, I’m glad you’re reading because these elements will help you communicate for life change. Also these five elements apply outside of a sermon. They apply to any non-religious talk or presentation you give if you just substitute scripture for your main point. So apply these elements and make any talk or presentation more engaging.
If you’re looking for coaching on this topic beyond this article then visit benstapley.com/coach to schedule a free consultation. I would love to help you determine the obstacles you're facing and if I’m the best person to help you overcome them.
1. SCRIPTURE
I’m not going to spend much time with scripture because I’m sure most of you already have this element in your sermon. But it is helpful to state the obvious, because sometimes it’s overlooked. There are a couple of sermons I’ve heard that incorporated poems from Robert Frost or lyrics from Coldplay but didn’t incorporate words from God.
Let’s avoid this mistake by starting with scripture.
Two basic questions to ask when you are selecting scripture are: “What is the primary biblical text?” and “What are your supporting scriptures.?” When you evaluate this element after the message is preached, ask yourself these questions. Did I make the plain thing the main thing? Did it flow logically? Were there enough or too much supporting scriptures?
2. SKIN
The skin is the overall look and feel of the message series. It is the cover, packaging or skin around a series. It incorporates all the branding elements to make a cohesive experience. This can include branding elements like stage design, graphic package, video bumper and worship backgrounds.
Information on these elements should get as granular as fonts and colors and be listed in your creative briefs. Here are some examples of creative briefs. Listing and describing all these elements on one document helps the creative teams be on the same page. Listing the elements will also help the creatives complement each other's work.
Having a skin for a series does three things. It gives people context, helps them engage and allows them to share. The skin gives them context by providing a bird's eye perspective on what they will experience. The colors, fonts and filters on your graphics and videos quickly give people that context. If the design is stark, people know the subject matter will be heavy. If the font is big, bold and bright people know the topic will be high energy. If colors are pastel, people know they are in for a series about emotions (If not emotions, then at least a mother’s day message 🙂).
Skins give people context. They also help people engage. The average Christian attends church two times a month at best. So if the majority of people are not attending every week, how do you help them engage with the message as quickly as possible? You do that with a skin. The skin helps people orient themselves in the series by recalling a past message in the series. This allows them to spend more time focusing on the message that day instead of where they are in relation to the whole series.
Skins also allow people to share. If you create a cool looking skin, your people will naturally share it. One of the most shared series I’ve overseen is At The Movies. The graphic alluded to free popcorn and movie tickets we would give away during the service. And the bumper had clear cultural components that people understood and wanted to see more of. And side benefit, since people share messages that have a great skin, it will reduce your marketing budget. You will no longer need to dump money into Facebook ads because your people will be organically sharing this content instead.
Here are three guidelines to creating good skins. Keep it positive. Keep it intriguing. Keep it ambiguous. I once saw a message series titled 9 Habits Of The Chronically Unhappy. Not the most positive.
Also, keep it intriguing. I oversaw a series called RTD which stood for Religiously Transmitted Diseases. The RTDs focused on religious sins like hypocrisy and pride. The series played off the term STD. It had people walking around in hazmat suits. We gave away stickers that said “17% less judgmental.” When people encountered this intriguing skin, they naturally wanted to find out more.
Lastly, keep it ambiguous. The skin should include just enough to get the big idea but no more. We did this with a series called Games People Play. Here is the bumper. When people saw this they understood the series was about games, but that’s it. And that is where we wanted to leave them. In other words, spark their imagination but leave them wanting more.
When it comes to how long a series or skin should be, I suggest four to six weeks. If the series is shorter it's difficult to go in-depth on a topic. It’s also hard for guests that have missed a week to feel part of a short series. Also the shorter the series are, the more of them you need to do over the year, which means more work from your creative teams. If the series is longer your regular guests can start to lose interest in the topic. But remember this - your teaching staff will always get bored of the series way before your guests do. That’s because your teaching staff is spending 10-20 hours planning and practicing the message but your guests are only experiencing it for 1 hour. So regardless of how long your series are, make sure you choose a length that is beneficial for your guests, not your teaching staff.
PART TWO
Look out for part two being released soon!
VIDEO transcript
INTRODUCTION
Every sermon needs five elements to succeed. These elements help you communicate for life change and challenge people to take their next step in following Jesus.
The five elements are: scripture, skin, symbol, story and step.
Some of you have been preaching for 20 years and might be wondering what you can learn at this point. Keep reading because you’ll pick up something new and useful in your sermon construction.
Some of you reading aren’t preachers, but you support them as a creative with graphics, videos, props and stage sets. Keep reading because you play a vital role in executing these five elements.
I’m excited to write this article because I’ve seen it work from both sides. I’ve preached messages as a pastor and I’ve supported messages as a creative. So whatever side of the fence you are on, I’m glad you’re reading because these elements will help you communicate for life change. Also these five elements apply outside of a sermon. They apply to any non-religious talk or presentation you give if you just substitute scripture for your main point. So apply these elements and make any talk or presentation more engaging.
If you’re looking for coaching on this topic beyond this article then visit benstapley.com/coach to schedule a free consultation. I would love to help you determine the obstacles you're facing and if I’m the best person to help you overcome them.
1. SCRIPTURE
I’m not going to spend much time with scripture because I’m sure most of you already have this element in your sermon. But it is helpful to state the obvious, because sometimes it’s overlooked. There are a couple of sermons I’ve heard that incorporated poems from Robert Frost or lyrics from Coldplay but didn’t incorporate words from God.
Let’s avoid this mistake by starting with scripture.
Two basic questions to ask when you are selecting scripture are: “What is the primary biblical text?” and “What are your supporting scriptures.?” When you evaluate this element after the message is preached, ask yourself these questions. Did I make the plain thing the main thing? Did it flow logically? Were there enough or too much supporting scriptures?
2. SKIN
The skin is the overall look and feel of the message series. It is the cover, packaging or skin around a series. It incorporates all the branding elements to make a cohesive experience. This can include branding elements like stage design, graphic package, video bumper and worship backgrounds.
Information on these elements should get as granular as fonts and colors and be listed in your creative briefs. Here are some examples of creative briefs. Listing and describing all these elements on one document helps the creative teams be on the same page. Listing the elements will also help the creatives complement each other's work.
Having a skin for a series does three things. It gives people context, helps them engage and allows them to share. The skin gives them context by providing a bird's eye perspective on what they will experience. The colors, fonts and filters on your graphics and videos quickly give people that context. If the design is stark, people know the subject matter will be heavy. If the font is big, bold and bright people know the topic will be high energy. If colors are pastel, people know they are in for a series about emotions (If not emotions, then at least a mother’s day message 🙂).
Skins give people context. They also help people engage. The average Christian attends church two times a month at best. So if the majority of people are not attending every week, how do you help them engage with the message as quickly as possible? You do that with a skin. The skin helps people orient themselves in the series by recalling a past message in the series. This allows them to spend more time focusing on the message that day instead of where they are in relation to the whole series.
Skins also allow people to share. If you create a cool looking skin, your people will naturally share it. One of the most shared series I’ve overseen is At The Movies. The graphic alluded to free popcorn and movie tickets we would give away during the service. And the bumper had clear cultural components that people understood and wanted to see more of. And side benefit, since people share messages that have a great skin, it will reduce your marketing budget. You will no longer need to dump money into Facebook ads because your people will be organically sharing this content instead.
Here are three guidelines to creating good skins. Keep it positive. Keep it intriguing. Keep it ambiguous. I once saw a message series titled 9 Habits Of The Chronically Unhappy. Not the most positive.
Also, keep it intriguing. I oversaw a series called RTD which stood for Religiously Transmitted Diseases. The RTDs focused on religious sins like hypocrisy and pride. The series played off the term STD. It had people walking around in hazmat suits. We gave away stickers that said “17% less judgmental.” When people encountered this intriguing skin, they naturally wanted to find out more.
Lastly, keep it ambiguous. The skin should include just enough to get the big idea but no more. We did this with a series called Games People Play. Here is the bumper. When people saw this they understood the series was about games, but that’s it. And that is where we wanted to leave them. In other words, spark their imagination but leave them wanting more.
When it comes to how long a series or skin should be, I suggest four to six weeks. If the series is shorter it's difficult to go in-depth on a topic. It’s also hard for guests that have missed a week to feel part of a short series. Also the shorter the series are, the more of them you need to do over the year, which means more work from your creative teams. If the series is longer your regular guests can start to lose interest in the topic. But remember this - your teaching staff will always get bored of the series way before your guests do. That’s because your teaching staff is spending 10-20 hours planning and practicing the message but your guests are only experiencing it for 1 hour. So regardless of how long your series are, make sure you choose a length that is beneficial for your guests, not your teaching staff.
PART TWO
Look out for part two being released soon!
Sign Up for Product Updates
For over twenty years Ben has created & captured moving and memorable moments for individuals, non-profits & corporations across the globe. He has served on the executive team of multiple megachurches and currently serves as the Executive Pastor at Zarephath Christian Church in New Jersey. Ben also consults for churches, teaches at universities and speaks at conferences about leadership, communication and creativity. For more information visit www.benstapley.com.
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