How to start a preaching group (no prep required)

Over the years I’ve been involved in a number of different preaching groups.

The format has often been quite similar. There might be half a dozen of us who get together in a room. One of us will stand up and deliver a recent or upcoming sermon, and then the rest of us will offer feedback. It's a good and helpful thing to do, though not without a few downsides.

1. First, it feels a slightly artificial scenario. Preaching to a room "for real" feels very different to preaching to a few peers who are sat there to critique.
2. Second, you can end up trying to prepare in such a way as to impress your peers, rather than help the ordinary people you normally speak to.
3. Third, it can be quite terrifying to do as a process, making you even more nervous than you might ordinarily be.
4. Fourth, we often hold back (because we’re nice) from really giving people all the feedback they might need.
5. Fifth, it can feel like the blind leading the blind as we fumble through together, perhaps not knowing that much ourselves as to what it is we’re really looking for – particularly as younger preachers.

A couple of years ago I started a preaching group here at our church using a different approach, which requires almost zero prep, is much more enjoyable and arguably more profitable.

We called it CRAFT, because it involved reflecting on the craft of communication, while sipping a craft beer together. And rather than one of us bringing a message to critique, we would find a talk on YouTube by someone generally recognised as a good speaker. We sit round once every other month, watch the online sermon and then reflect together on what worked and why - and perhaps what didn’t work and why? It’s much easier to say what you really think when the person who has just spoken isn’t sat in the room!

Just to make it interesting, we’ll find speakers from all sorts of backgrounds – not only the conservative evangelicals we might be more naturally drawn towards. We’ve listened to people from all parts of the world, and all kinds of denominations. One of the most interesting was when we listened to a YouTube message from an Imam in a Mosque - you suddenly realise what it feels like to be an outsider trying to make sense of lots of insider jargon. We’ve listened to African American Pentecostals, Australian Anglicans, "Hipster" charismatics, and even an FIEC pastor or two! The variety has been a really stimulating and thought-provoking way to think about what makes for good preaching.

The guys involved in this have often described it as one of their favourite get togethers. We enjoy fellowship, snacks and a beer. We get to really wrestle with and creatively reflect on what makes for good preaching. We push each other into getting better. It’s not fake; it’s not threatening; it’s not coddling. And it requires almost no prep – just someone to find a YouTube sermon for the rest of us to watch.

Why don’t you give it a try and see how people respond? You might, like us, be surprised at how formative and enjoyable it can be.