The Joy Of Preaching Without Notes

No, it’s not the only way to preach. And I’ve preached both ways–with and without notes–for years. There are advantages and disadvantages of preaching either way, and it’s not my intention to cover all of them or even argue for one method’s superiority over another.

A couple of years ago, my pastor friend on the West Coast, Keith Krell, provided a helpful post on this site about preaching without notes, an article entitled Overcoming The Fear Of Preaching Naked. It’s a great article, and I agree with Keith on the benefits of preaching without a sermon manuscript or outline. In this post, I want to encourage preachers to consider three advantages of preaching with only an open Bible in the pulpit.

1) You’ll Enjoy Greater Freedom Of Delivery

When you don’t have a manuscript to anchor you to the pulpit, you’re not anchored to the pulpit! You have unparalleled freedom to move your body naturally as you do in everyday conversation. Watch videos of compelling speakers, and you’ll find most to be expressive communicators. They convey passion with their faces, “talk with their hands,” and naturally move across the platform. Nearly everything about their communication suggests confidence and conviction. Any preacher who has preached just once without notes will feel a greater sense of liberty in sermon delivery.

2) You’ll Enjoy Greater Connectivity With Your Listeners

Just ask yourself which you prefer as a listener: Would you rather a speaker read to you from a manuscript or preach while looking you in the eye with feeling and fervency? I realize the Word of God has an intrinsic power of its own, but when a speaker teaches the Word while looking directly at us, we seem inescapably drawn to that individual and feel we must listen to what he says. This feeling is tangential to what communicators of earlier generations referred to as sympathy, the notion that listeners share something in common with the preacher.

We mentioned last Friday the homiletical contributions of John Albert Broadus. Consider the following excerpt, obtained from Broadus’ seminal volume on preaching, where he explains why preaching without notes achieves greater sympathy and connectivity with listeners than a preacher’s relying upon a written manuscript brought into the pulpit:

The mere turning of the pages, however skillfully done, breaks the continuity of delivery.  In the midst, perhaps, of some impassioned passage, while the preacher’s face glows, his action has become varied and passionate, and he has wrought us up to a high degree of sympathy with him, presently his right hand descends and flings over a leaf, and the spell is broken; we are made to remember what we are doing, are reminded that, after all, this is not living speech, but only splendid reading, that we are not, as a moment ago we seemed to feel, in immediate and fully sympathizing contact with the burning soul of the speaker, but “that paper there” is between us. ¹

3) You’ll Enjoy Greater Dependence On The Lord

Preaching without notes does NOT mean preaching without study!!! My own practice is to write out a full manuscript for every sermon so that nearly everything I plan to say has been thought through and written down. Recall, for example, our earlier post on why preachers should write out their sermons or why writing out a sermon can achieve more significant movement in sermon delivery. So, yes, we must study hard and also take time to write down all we plan to say.

Then, after prayerfully familiarizing ourselves with our manuscript, we enter the pulpit with nothing but our Bibles in hand and utter trust in the Lord, believing He will guide us to recall what is necessary.² Indeed, before preaching, I will often pray something like, “Lord, guide my words so that I say exactly what You want me to say–nothing less, and nothing more–so that You may be glorified and the church edified.”

Resource Recommendation: For practical suggestions, check out Keith Krell’s post and scroll to the end to find the heading “How Can I Preach Without Notes?”

PREVIOUS COMMENTS:

John Hurtgen Todd, thanks for this one. Preaching half-naked, taking at least an outline with key quotes. Even then, some of the same things can happen if you read from a full manuscript.

Comment by post authorTodd Linn, PhD Amen and amen! Thank you, Dr Hurtgen, for your helpful comments–always encouraging and edifying. Appreciate you!

1. John Albert Broadus, A Treatise on the Preparation and Delivery of Sermons (Philadelphia: Smith, English and Co.; New York: Sheldon and Co., 1870), 414-415.
2. If preachers want to use an exceptionally long quotation or poem in their sermons, they may write them down on a card kept in the pocket until needed or projected on a screen to be seen by the congregation while recited in the sermon. Generally, it is wise to avoid lengthy quotations or poems, but sometimes they are helpful.