‘TED 강연이 설교자에게 주는 10가지 교훈’ 소개
10 THINGS PASTORS CAN LEARN FROM TED TALKS TO IMPROVE THEIR PREACHING
문화선교연구원(원장 백광훈 박사)에서 31일 브랜든 힐거만(Brandon Hilgemann)이라는 목회자가 쓴 ‘TED 강연이 설교자에게 주는 10가지 교훈(10 Things Pastors Should Learn From TED Talks)’을 소개했다.
힐거만은 “TED talks는 최고의 강연을 선보이는 곳으로, 이곳에서 소개된 좋은 아이디어 하나가 전 세계에 퍼져 큰 인기를 누리기도 한다”며 “마찬가지로 설교자는 세상에서 제일 중요한 ‘아이디어’를 전달하는 사람들로서, 이 시대에 가장 각광받고 주목받는 대중 연설을 통해 배울 필요도 있다”고 밝혔다.
그는 “TED talks의 강연들이 오늘날의 문화에 잘 수용되는 이유와 특징은 무엇일까? 우리가 전달해야 할 복음의 메시지를 타협하지 않으면서도 이들에게 배울 것은 무엇일까?”라며 강연자들에게 전달되는 강연 매뉴얼을 분석한 10가지 원칙들을 ‘공유’했다.
가장 먼저, ‘강연은 18분 내로 끝낸다’는 것이다. 힐거만은 “대부분의 청중이 한 아이디어에 집중할 수 있는 시간은 꽤 짧다. 시간이 짧을수록 집중력과 메시지 전달의 효과가 상승한다”며 “성도들 중 ‘오늘은 목사님이 원래 설교시간보다 15분, 아니 더 길게 설교하셨으면 좋겠다’고 생각하는 사람은 그리 많지 않을 것이다. ‘에이, 오늘 설교는 너무 일찍 끝나서 아쉽다’고 하는 사람 역시 마찬가지”라고 전했다.
힐거만은 “물론 TED talks은 설교와는 다른 부분들도 많고, 성경 본문을 다루며 설교하기에 18분이 너무 짧다”며 “하지만 30분 이상의 설교를 하면서 성도들의 집중력을 끌어낼 수 있는 설교자들은 많지 않은 것도 사실”이라고 말했다.
그는 ‘실천행동’으로 “이번 주 설교를 5-10분 정도 줄여보자”며 “아마 설교가 더 집중되고 임팩트있어졌음을 발견하게 될 것”이라고 했다.
두 번째로는 ‘한 가지의 주제를 효과적으로 전한다’는 것이다. 그는 “최고의 메시지는 예리할 정도로 초점이 맞춰진 한 가지 주제에 집중될 때 나온다”며 “주제와 밀접한 관계가 없는 예시나 주제들이라면 과감하게 버려야 한다. 만약 설교 안에 한 개 이상의 주제가 있다면 청중에게는 정확한 메시지 전달이 되지 않을 것”이라고 설명했다.
그에 대한 ‘실천행동’은 “설교의 핵심을 한 줄로 요약해 보자. 그리고 이 핵심을 강조하며 설교하자”는 것이다.
세 번째로는 ‘청중들의 관심을 끄는 도입’이다. 힐거만은 “이기적으로 들릴 수도 있지만, 청중들의 머릿속에 가장 먼저 떠오르는 질문은 ‘이게 나에게 어떤 유익이 될까’이다”며 “초반에 당신의 설교가 어떤 적용점과 유익을 주는지 보여주지 못하면, 청중은 집중력을 잃게 된다”고 지적했다.
그러면서 “당신의 설교가 그들의 삶에 중요한 이유는 무엇인가? 성경의 본문이 그들의 삶을 어떻게 바꿀 수 있는가? 설교 메시지를 통해 응답받을 수 있는 삶 속의 질문들은 무엇인가?”를 질문한 뒤, “결국 당신의 메시지가 관심을 받기 위해서는, 당신 또한 성도들의 삶에 관심을 가져야 한다”고 당부했다.
관련 ‘실천행동’은 “설교의 서론을 작성하기에 앞서 ‘나의 메시지가 청중들의 삶을 유익하게 할까?’ 하는 질문을 던지는 것”이다.
이 외에도 브랜든 힐거만은 ④청중들의 삶에 미칠 영향을 보여주는 엔딩이 있어야 한다 ⑤너무 많은 신학용어를 사용하고 개념을 설명하는데 시간을 많이 쏟지 않도록 한다 ⑥청중들이 인물, 장소, 물건들을 연상시킬 수 있도록 도와야 한다 ⑦슬라이드에는 글자의 수를 최소화해야 한다 ⑧연습, 연습, 연습 ⑨시간을 재 본다 ⑩강대상을 없앤다 등을 제안했다.(Source; http://churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/299308-things-pastors-learn-ted-talks-brandon-hilgemann.html#, Christian Today)
10 THINGS PASTORS CAN LEARN FROM TED TALKS TO IMPROVE THEIR PREACHING (by Brandon Hilgemann)
1. SPEAK IN 18 MINUTES OR LESS.
Why is this important? Because most people in your audience are good at focusing on an idea for a small piece of time.
Sometimes less is more.
There is nobody in church on Sunday who thinks, “Oh boy, I hope the pastor preaches 15 minutes over his allotted time again today!”
Nobody ever said, “Bummer, church let out early today.”
Now, I understand that TED talks are different than sermons. 18 minutes is probably too short if you are unpacking a larger section of Scripture.
However, few preachers have the ability to preach over 30 minutes and keep their congregation engaged the entire time.
ACTION STEP: Cut 5-10 minutes off your sermon this week. You may find your sermon more focused for an even greater impact.
2. COMMUNICATE ONE IDEA EFFECTIVELY.
The best messages are laser-focused on a single idea.
How many times have you heard a pastor preach a sermon that contained enough ideas to be a whole series of sermons?
What is the one idea that God wants the key passage of Scripture you are preaching to say to your audience?
Unless closely tied to the main idea, if you have more than one point, your audience will miss the point.
ACTION STEP: Write one sentence that summarizes the point of your entire sermon. Preach only this point.
3. START BY MAKING YOUR AUDIENCE CARE
Selfish as it sounds, the first things people in our audience are asking is, how does this help me?
If you don’t immediately show how your sermon will apply to your audience, they will begin to tune you out.
Why do they need to know what you are about to tell them?
How can this verse in the Bible change their life?
What questions do they have that this message will answer?
Care about your audience enough to help them care about your sermon.
ACTION STEP: Answer this question before writing your introduction: How will this message help my audience?
4. END BY ADDRESSING HOW THIS IDEA COULD AFFECT YOUR AUDIENCE.
In other words, cast the vision for your audience how the single truth of the day’s Scripture can radically change their life.
Conclude your sermon by casting the vision for what life could be if they applied the point of the message?
“Image what could happen if we all…”
“Imagine how your life would change if…”
“How would your family be different if…”
Help them leave inspired with a vision of something greater.
ACTION STEP: Answer this question before writing your conclusion: If someone believed this and acted on it what could happen?
5. DON’T USE TOO MUCH JARGON OR EXPLAIN TERMINOLOGY.
If people need a theological dictionary to understand your sermon, you are not communicating clearly.
Drop the jargon. Translate the Christianese, and speak common English.
If you there is a word in the Bible verse that needs explanation, then please explain and move forward.
We cannot assume that most people even have a basic knowledge of the Bible anymore.
Nothing alienates a newcomer more than insider language.
ACTION STEP: Identify any Christian terminology in your message that needs explanation.
6. HELP THE AUDIENCE REMEMBER A PERSON, PLACE OR THING USING IMAGES.
We live in a highly visual society.
Many people are more likely to remember things we see than things we hear.
Take advantage of this and use photos, images, or videos in your sermons as often possible.
Don’t go overboard. But if you quote or tell the story of a historical person, show a photo of them.
If you talk about a place in the Bible, show a picture of it today.
Don’t just tell; show and tell.
ACTION STEP: Identify any people, places, or things in your sermon that an image would help make more memorable.
7. USE AS LITTLE TEXT AS POSSIBLE IN SLIDES.
If your audience is reading, they are not listening.
TED talks tend to have great slides because they follow this principle.
Never have more than one point per slide.
Instead of bullet points, put each point on a different slide.
Sometimes a good photo says more than words.
ACTION STEP: Watch a few TED talks and study how they do slides. Then, make your sermon slides like this.
8. REHEARSE, REHEARSE, REHEARSE.
If you want to deliver a world-class message every week, you have to prepare like a world-class speaker.
Running through your message one time in your head is not enough.
Never rehearsing your message, because you bring all your notes on stage with you won’t cut it.
Although most pastors do not have months to prepare their talks, like TED speakers do, that does not excuse us from practicing at all.
I cannot tell you how many times I wrote something that I thought was good, but sounded terrible when I said it out loud. Thank goodness I catch most of them when I practice.
ACTION STEP: Before you preach, rehearse your sermon at least three times.
9. TIME YOURSELF.
There is nothing worse than having only three more minutes to preach and thirty more minutes of content.
Know how much time you have to preach, and practice preaching within that time limit.
ACTION STEP: Time your message with a stopwatch while you practice so you know how long it takes.
10. NO PODIUMS.
This one might hit a nerve.
We pastors love our pulpits and podiums. But why doesn’t TED allow them?
Podiums disconnect the speaker from the audience.
There is a barrier between you and them.
Also, podiums are more formal.
ACTION STEP: Preach without a podium this week. You may be surprised how much more engaged your audience is.