Targeted Preaching - Christianity Today

Recently I risked an unorthodox sermon introduction. I held up a large, green squirt gun and asked for three child volunteers. I said I had a mission for them, but I didn’t say what the mission was. I just handed them the toy.

The first little boy examined the water toy and stared back at me with a puzzled gaze. After I coaxed him to take some action, he squirted his horrified mother sitting near the front.

I reclaimed the toy and announced, “You failed the mission.”

Next I gave it to a bashful little girl. She also hesitated but then squirted me. Confiscation came with added expediency. “You failed,” I decreed.

The look on the face of the third volunteer hinted he had a plan. A freckle-faced fourth grader, he confidently seized the soaker and launched a salvo of unholy water in all directions. I lunged for the toy and told him he too had failed the mission.

Then I explained that the mission had been to squirt Pastor Bill, who was sitting (hiding) off to the side. “Why do you think you failed in your mission?”

“You didn’t tell us what we were supposed to do!” they moaned. “We didn’t know who the target was!”

That was just what I wanted to hear. The message to the congregation: knowing the target is critical to the success of any mission. Especially in ministry.

Preaching through trifocals

Most preachers realize we face three different crowds every Sunday morning. We address mature believers who want meat, young believers who need milk, and seekers who are exploring the gospel. Each group has unique needs. Some individuals will not return if I speak only the language and concerns of another group.

Most pastors feel sure-handed ministering to one or maybe two groups. Some preachers are naturally drawn to non-believers. Other pastors take special delight in teaching young believers the basics of Christian life.

Our biases, whatever they are, may cause us to neglect many of our listeners

I became a Christian as a child, enjoyed a healthy church youth group, and was thoroughly enculturated to church life by seminary. The language of Zion is my native tongue.

My church leaders are also well established in the faith. Together we can subconsciously pull the church’s focus toward people like us. Our biases, whatever they are, may cause us to neglect many of our listeners.

A few years ago we decided to address intentionally all three groups in our Sunday morning services. Our leaders hammered out a profile of each group’s needs, wants, and defining characteristics. Then we set about the stretching business of being an inclusive fellowship.

Are you talking to me?

The most important place to speak to all three groups is in sermon application. As I prepare, I ask myself how to relate the text to the concerns of each group. I keep a checklist.

In one sermon on Joseph, for instance, I focused on how he had been painfully betrayed by his brothers who sold him into slavery, Potiphar’s wife who had him jailed on false charges, and the cupbearer who forgot his promise to plead Joseph’s case before the king. My point: we must forgive the past.

I needed a way to bring the concept alive for all my listeners. At a local health club I found a huge punching bag that the owners were willing to lend me. During the service I set the bag on a chair and asked a couple of the kids to come up and punch it.

“A punching bag is good,” I said, “because it’s tough but soft. It takes hits without retaliating. That punching bag is a lot like Joseph. He was strong and tough, but he also had a soft side. When Joseph became governor of Egypt, he didn’t retaliate against those who had hurt him.”

This I applied to new believers. They had taken some terrible blows in life, I said, and now they were learning to respond in a way radically different from how they had responded before coming to Christ.

Then I said, “Some of you have been Christians for many years. You’ve tried to live like Christ, but recently unfair things have happened to you. Perhaps you worked hard for a corporation, and one day your employer informs you they are eliminating your position. Though you know how Jesus wants you to respond, you’re struggling with bitterness.”

Then I addressed unbelievers. “Who had all the power to retaliate but chose rather to take the hits for our sake?” I then preached Christ and the cross.

After the sermon a couple in their thirties who are new in our church approached me.

“I’m a fireman, and there’s a lot of politics in our firehouse,” the man said. “You can’t say anything you don’t expect to hear repeated or used against you. I feel like a punching bag. What you’re talking about is an attitude I need to have.”

A 12-point inspection

Even though I try to apply the message to each group in every sermon, I don’t always succeed. So I asked my wife, Marina, if she would critique a dry run of my message each week. She is a teacher and an effective communicator.

Marina evaluates my sermon for four qualities important to people in all three groups:

Is the sermon interesting?
Does the sermon present significant content from the Bible?
Does the sermon have practical application?
Does the sermon have “heart”? (Does it go beyond mere facts to engage the emotions and the will?)

I’ve encouraged her to be brutally honest. One Friday Marina was quiet through my entire practice run. She usually asks questions or comments as I go. This time she waited until I finished. “Where I am in my Christian life, you didn’t teach me anything about the Bible I didn’t already know,” she said cautiously, “and you didn’t give me anything to do that I’m not already doing.”

Ouch. But I would rather hear that from her on Friday than fail on Sunday.

Marina and I brainstormed what we thought particular mature Christians in our congregation needed to hear from this Scripture. Marina also suggested I add less familiar but related Scriptures to supplement the biblical content.

Previewing another sermon, she sensed my focus on unbelievers was blurry. “You’re slipping into pastor jargon. You’re using religious words without explaining them.”

Marina often asks me to state in concise sentences what significant truth I am offering to each group. This can be time consuming, but it really helps.

A universal language

One key to reaching all three groups at one time is to be visual. Warren Wiersbe says the human mind is not so much a debating hall as it is an art gallery. Most people reason by pictures and analogy. Pictures give them a place to hang the truth. I frequently use object lessons like the squirt gun and the punching bag.

In a recent sermon I held up an old wooden square that can be adjusted to any angle. My dad was a machinist and I inherited his tools. When I’m searching for an illustration, I go to the garage to see which gadget might fit my point.

I loosened the nut and set the square at about a 30-degree angle. “The problem with our world,” I said, “is people have redefined what square is. Some people have decided this is square.” Then I readjusted the nut to a 110-degree angle. “Other people are claiming that this is square.” Then I reset the square to 90 degrees. “God’s Word tells us what square is. It is the only accurate measure of right and wrong.”

When we are visual, we don’t have to be superficial or soft on theology for seekers. We can even use ponderous theological terms if we illustrate them. And the most seasoned saint will appreciate a fresh understanding of the deep truths of Scripture.

Targeting three groups in one sermon or one worship service is not easy, but it can be done. By speaking to all the people all the time, we demonstrate the sufficiency of the gospel in every stage of life. And we are ready to share that truth with whomever happens to be in our services.

David Riemenschneider is pastor of Bloomingdale Church 260 Glen Ellyn Road Bloomingdale IL 60108