One of the best arguments against sermon manuscripts is they can become a manacle. The preacher can stay shackled to his sermon notes. Instead of preaching the sermon, he reads it.
How do you keep your manuscript from become a manacle? How do you break free from your carefully prepared manuscript so the sermon is preached rather than read? That’s the focus of this final installment in the mini-series on Sermon Manuscripts. (If you missed them, you can read Part 1 and Part 2 in my previous posts).
First of all, let me say that breaking free from our notes is challenging for most of us preachers and teachers. Especially for those who write manuscripts. After all, we spend significant time working on the precise wording of our manuscripts. We work hard to get it right. Now should we just jettison all that effort and lay aside our manuscripts?
At the same time, most preachers aren’t thrilled with the idea of reading their sermon notes. They know reading their notes is less engaging than looking people in the eyes and speaking directly to them.
But how do you actually get free from your sermon manuscript and still communicate accurately the things you wrote down?
My answer is found in a booklet called Getting Free From Your Sermon Notes. You can access a flipbook version of the booklet using the link below.
Rick and Linda Reed 