5 Common Preaching Mistakes Many Pastors Make

Being a pastor is hard. There may be no calling that is greater or more difficult, especially when you carry the five-hundred-pound expectation of preaching a mind-blowing, original sermon every seven days.

Because it’s so hard, many pastors make simple preaching mistakes that can be easily corrected. These common mistakes are often the difference between a memorable message and a forgettable one.

So here are five of the most common that I have noticed (and have often been guilty of).

1. Facts Without Fact Checking

A few years ago a pastor friend of mine emailed his sermon to me asking for feedback.

I read it and replied, “The sermon is great! I wouldn’t change a thing… except that it’s not true.”

The content of his message was good, but his big illustration was based on a fake internet photo. I did a ten-second Google search and learned it was a fraud.

If he would have preached this message, how much trust could he have lost? Someone could have come to church for the first time, realized the story was bogus and never came back!

Not everything on the internet is true. Not every email story is true. Not every story on a sermon illustration website is true. So be careful.

Check your facts. Google and snopes.com are either a pastor’s best friend or worst enemy.

One survey found that almost 40% of people in the Millennial generation fact check their pastor’s sermons.

You must assume that everyone in your audience has a phone, and they will Google your facts. You can’t afford to be sloppy, or you’ll lose credibility. Trust takes years to earn, and seconds to lose.

Don’t make the mistake of not checking your facts.

2. Points Without a Main Point

I recently sat in on a sermon where the pastor preached too many points. The outline handed to us at the door had so many fill-in-the-blanks that I got lost.

I had no idea where this man was going because his points were all over the map.

Sure, they were all good points. But I lost the point in all the points.

When your sub-points have sub-points, you are probably getting a little carried away.

Keep your message focused. What is the single big idea that people need to understand from the passage of scripture?

Think of preaching like driving a bus. You need to know where you are taking people and the best route to get there. The big idea is the destination, and everything else should lead your audience there.

Stick to one central point, or you’ll lose people on the road.

If you have other points that you can’t get to, it’s OK. Save them. Those are other sermons for another day.

3. Stories Without Transitions

You just told a great story. It was funny, thought-provoking, and inspiring. But as soon as the story ended you suddenly switched direction and started talking about something else.

Slow down. How did we get from that funny thing your kid said, to some old guy in the Old Testament?

You have to make obvious connections between one part of your sermon and the next.

Often it’s as simple as saying, “that funny thing my kid said reminds me of a story in the Old Testament where a wise man named Samuel said something similar.”

Boom. Transition made. We can all see where you are going now.

Don’t overlook how important a simple transition statement is in keeping everyone in the audience on track with you.

And if you can’t bridge the gap between parts of your message, maybe that part doesn’t belong.

4. Abstract Ideas Without Real-World Examples

You preach a lot of big ideas, abstract concepts, and sound doctrine. That’s great. But even the best doctrinal teaching without real-world application will lose most church-goers.

The whole time you’re weaving a theological masterpiece, they’re asking, “So what? How does that affect me?”

Selfish? Yes, but that’s reality.

Go ahead and keep on preaching abstract ideas, but don’t stop there. Answer the questions you know they are asking.

Say, “So what? How does this impact you and me?” Then lay out some detailed, concrete, everyday examples of how it applies to ordinary people.

Jesus did that. He would talk about abstract ideas like faith using examples like mustard seeds (Matthew 17:20).

Your people will not only appreciate the practical tips, but they’ll also begin to appreciate theology more as they see how it matters.

5. Christian Words Without Explanation

If you are saying a lot of words like “Sanctification,” “Transubstantiation,” “Regeneration,” “Incarnation,” or any other term you learned in seminary, people will be confused.

If there’s an “ation” in the word, you probably need to define it or pick a different word.

Don’t make people feel like they need a dictionary or a seminary degree to understand you.

Even words that you may think are common knowledge like “Gospel,” “Sin,” “Glory,” and “Salvation” need explanation. Your understanding of the word “sin” may be completely different than what others think.

Define your terms.

I’m not against big words. I went to seminary and learned them all too. Go ahead and use technical terms if you want. All I’m asking is for you to explain big words in simple terms so that you don’t lose people in translation.

You can’t assume everyone in the audience is on the same level as you. They aren’t.

What other preaching mistakes do you see?