Several years ago, I was involved in an email discussion about sermon evaluations. A friend and fellow pastor was inquiring about how to do a more effective job at sermon evaluation in his context. Here’s how I responded,
“I use a sermon outline with a central question (I creatively term it The Big Question or TBQ) and a 3 or 4 point outline. The goal of our evaluation is to determine if the sermon and outline were true to scripture and if the sermon satisfactorily answered TBQ. Most sermons are biblical, any tool that I used would be heavy on application and illustration critique. Most sermons that flop do so because the illustrations are bad or the application is bad. On page 100 in vintage church, Driscoll says every sermon should answer the apologetical question. I would look at that section of his book and order Michael fabarez’ book preaching that changes lives. He emphasizes application. That’s where I stole my ideas for my sermon outline and discussion guide.”
As I look back on that answer, I would still encourage pastors to do the things listed above, especially purchase Fabarez’s book (You can read my review of it here, you can purchase it here). However, I now see the need to take a more systematic approach in the way that I critique sermons and have them critiqued.
I still rely heavily on my staff (and my wife) to critique and analyze my sermons. However, the longer I spend with them, the more I come to realize that they sometimes understand me even when others don’t. The people who know me best are able to fill in some of the blanks in my preaching and presentation that others may miss. For this reason, I have come to believe that I need to come up with a way to have my sermons critiqued by those who do not know me as well.
With this in mind, I set out to create a sermon evaluation tool that I could use within my congregation easily and somewhat anonymously. I wanted the evaluation form to be online and relatively quick as well as anonymous (this is of course optional). By making it online, the form can be submitted immediately and can be emailed out to church members or others on Monday mornings. This format al
so makes it easy for me to ask others to critique my sermons posted online and respond with the form I’ve created.
The goal of preaching is to glorify God and see others changed through this Word. The more effectively and clearly we communicate, the better we bring glory to God and the greater chance we have to see lives changed. Regular evaluation can make our sermons better.
Here’s the google form I’ve created for online sermon evaluation.
photo credit: jamelah via photopin cc
