There is little disagreement: starting your sermon well is a critical part of your sermon. Basically, people will willingly give you a chance in the first few minutes. If you can’t help them see why they should stay dialed in, you may end up losing them for the next 25 minutes. Your sermon introduction is important.

Here’s a typical flow I like to use for my sermon introductions:

1. Grab attention
2. Reveal what it is that people really want
3. Expose at least one barrier that’s in the way
4. Share the goal of the sermon
5. Transition to the teaching portion: Open Bible > Welcome > Series Reminder > Prayer

Grab Their Attention

Obviously, you have a wide array of choices to introduce your sermon. A thoughtful question with a pause for reflection (my favorite). Share a brief story on the topic. A recent startling discovery. You could tell a funny anecdote. Open with a quote. Tell a Bible account from memory. In general, you have a lot of options to choose from. So… be creative!

No matter what you choose, the key to your successful opening is two-fold: 1) attention-grabbing and 2) in line with the primary topic. Additionally, you get bonus points if it’s related to where you end your sermon!

Lastly, here’s one more idea I like to use to introduce my sermons: share good news about something that’s recently happened in your church that many might have missed or would enjoy being reminded of. Not too long ago, I started my sermon like this, “Not everyone at all our locations might know this but last Sunday, between all three locations, we celebrated thirteen baptisms! People are saying Yes to Jesus’ leadership in their lives! It was a great day.”

**CRITICAL: Only celebrate those things that are in line with the purpose and vision of your church. Don’t mention goofy things like, “Today is my wife’s birthday” or “Wasn’t Mildred’s potato salad great at the potluck.” Talk about people coming to faith, taking the step of baptism, joining small groups, volunteering in ministry, and sharing the gospel.**

To sum it up, use your first words to grab your listener’s attention.

Reveal What People Want

Secondly, the next place you want to go is to remind people of what it is that they want. I’m not referring to selfish, worldly motives: power, wealth, attention, etc.

No, I’m talking about what people really want and why they are at your church. Generally, most of the people who are there want to :

• Experience God in their lives
• Understand the Bible when they read it
• Find freedom from sin in their lives
• Grow healthy relationships with the key people in their lives
• Sense the Holy Spirit moving in their lives
• Use their lives in a way that matters
• Discover their spiritual gifts by serving others
• See people they know experience genuine salvation through faith in Christ

This is why many of the people are a part of your church. Regularly, people need you to remind them of that. As you remind them, you’re also casting vision about who your church is and what you do.

Use one of those desires that people have that is most closely tied to the sermon’s primary topic. If you do this right, you might even get a few “amens” this early in the sermon!

Expose A Barrier

Third, now that you have people agreeing with you, – remembering why they are at church – you have to expose the problem. Help people see what’s in the way of their ability to experience God, discover their gifts, grow in generosity – whatever it is.

I’m talking about tension. Tension creates suspense and interest. This is why you can watch a three hour movie. It’s suspense that will not let you put a good book down. Unfortunately, tension is one aspect that most preachers overlook. Most simply don’t use tension and it’s a reason many struggle to stay engaged in your sermon.

Help people see what’s in the way to them walking with God.

Here’s an example of exposing a barrier.

You want to hear the Holy Spirit speaking to you, guiding you in your every day living. The truth is: He will! However, here’s the problem, here’s what’s getting in the way: most of us have so over-filled our lives with busyness and noise that we aren’t able to hear Him. We don’t have the space or the stillness available to even begin discerning what His voice sounds like.

You’ve now just created tension. A problem has reared its head. Now what?

Share The Goal

Learn to start the next sentence using these words: “Today, I’m going to show you from the Bible…” In one sentence, you will reveal the direction of the sermon without giving away everything.

If I were going to continue the example above, I might say, “Today, I’m going to show you from the Bible why we need the Holy Spirit in our daily lives and one step you can take today that will help you begin hearing His voice.”

When you do this, you’re letting the people know what they’re going to discover AND you’ve created a teaser. There will be people in your congregation who simply must know what that one step is. Basically, you’ve created more tension, the secret sauce to sermon engagement.

There’s one more step to land your sermon introduction and get to teaching truth.

Transition To Teaching

Here’s the next group of sentences to transition.

1. “Turn in your Bibles to…” announce the book and chapter. Don’t worry about the verses yet.
2. “While you’re going there, I want to welcome everyone to Lighthouse Community. My name is Fritz Below. I’m one of the pastors. I especially want to welcome all of our guests. Thank you for making the time to be here today.”
   • If you have multiple locations or an online campus, this is the time to welcome them as well. Explicitly, I’ll say, “I also want welcome those who are joining us at our other locations in ______ as well as those who are joining at Lighthouse Online. It’s good to be a part of the family!”
3. “We’re in this series called ____________. We’ve been focusing on ________________. If you’ve missed any of the previous teachings, head to ______.com to get caught up.”
4. “Before we go any further, I’d like to take a moment to pray. Let’s bow our heads and pray.”

After you say “Amen,” your sermon introduction is complete and you’re ready to read the passage you’re teaching from or share your first point.

A KEY SECRET

Finally let me share the secret to an engaging sermon introduction that invites people to follow you into your sermon. You have five minutes or less to complete your sermon introduction. Generally, more than five minutes and people will be shocked that the sermon is only starting after your 10 minute intro.

The way to do this is clearly planning your sermon introduction and writing it out word for word. Please don’t wing your sermon introduction.

If you leverage this system, you’ll create a desire within your listeners. They will want to hear what God has to say through you.

Your sermon introduction is important.

PS – The sermon introduction is one of the reasons you should set the goal to have your sermon completely finished by Thursday.