How to Write Creative Sermons

Every pastor knows this struggle--how can I stay creative 50 weeks a year? Sermons come and go like telephone polls on the highway. Read this article to inject new life into your sermons, establish practices that will ensure creativity, and help your sermons maintain attention and change hearts.

Things You'll Need

• Bible
• Time
• Calling
• Deep desire to help people "get it"
• Personal encounters with God
• Willingness to try something new

Instructions

1. Craft a Creativity Routine. You need to realize that routine is not the enemy of creativity. Many creative writers wear the same jacket every time they write. They always get a cup of coffee and a bagel. They always work in the same chair. If you really want to be creative, you will have to make creativity your routine. What helps you be creative? Is it a certain genre of music? Silence? Caffeine? Nature? A white board? A walk? A shower with bath crayons? Movies? Art? Sketching? What gets you there?

2. Craft Creativity Crock pots. You need to give your creative self more time. If you start working on a sermon on Monday morning, you are already late on the creativity time table. You have to let creativity percolate, simmer, sit on slow cook. I suggest scheduling a two day retreat sometime in your near future. On that retreat, plan out an initial sermon plan for the next 52 Sundays. Pick texts, topics, and give working titles to the sermons. Then create a file system for every sermon. Each one should have its own labeled file. These are your crock pots of creativity. Every time you get an idea for that file, drop it in to stew.

3. Glean creativity from creatives. Watch creative communicators online to get ideas for creativity. Keep notes on any ideas their ideas birth in you. Especially look for:
   1. Ways to communicate visually
   2. Ways to communicate experientially
   3. Ways to communicate interactively
   4. Ways to communicate inspirationally

4. Craft a creativity standard. Demand certain things from yourself from each sermon before you sign off on it. For example: 1. Always have a creative use of sight, touch, taste, or smell 2. Always have a carefully crafted phrase worth quoting 3. Always use one unusual, absolutely unique-to-me illustration
   You make your own standard. Then have fun living up to it.

Tips & Warnings

• Creativity takes time, energy, and hard work. The moment of inspiration is sought after, but it only comes after a lot of sweat.

• Creative juices are often spawned in other worship services. Attend one you don't lead.

• Creativity is fostered with other creative people. Brainstorm with others.

• Canned creativity loses its punch. Be careful of using others illustrations, ideas, visuals, or concepts. Make yourself birth your own as much as possible

• Don't get too hung up on creativity. Sometimes we say something everyone knows as a gentle and helpful reminder. Faithful significance is always more important than creativity.

Resources

• Recover your creative side in this workbook