Working on preaching with fewer notes. This morning I took about half of what I usually do with me, and was able to fit it all on a single sheet of paper tucked in my Bible.

@nathanrhale Over the twenty years I’ve preached regularly, I’ve gone back and forth on this. Sometimes I’ve preached from a half-page outline and others I’ve preached from a manuscript. Both methods have advantages and drawbacks.

@KyleEssary @nathanrhale I learned to present (not preach) using bare outlines and thought it was the be all and end all. But when preaching, I manuscript everything as we have simultaneous translation (turn taking in effect). This helps me make sure I don't have a long speaking turn which the translator then has to remember everything for. Recently, I've started ignoring the manuscript more and using it only for the parts when I really need to nail my words. If I were in a monolingual context, I think I'd like to write the manuscript but preaching from an outline, but keep the opening, closing and key parts scripted. I suspect my opinion will change though.

@nathanrhale Transitioning to shorter notes with main movements was a really helpful change for me. Felt a lot more engaged with everyone as I spoke, and I think it helped me have a more cohesive outline too. Hope it works well for you.

@nathanrhale What inspired you to preach with less notes? How did it go?

@johnchandler John, I'm interested in your phrase "with main movements." What does this look like in your notes?

@KyleEssary Totally - I'd like to get to a half-page outline! This time I took about 1,000 words with me - so a pretty detailed outline.

@ChrisJWilson I'm basically aiming for this approach, I think. More precise openings/closings with a looser outline in the middle.

@johnchandler I absolutely experienced a greater personal connection, which was delightful. More eye contact makes a difference! I was also freeer to move around; I stepped down from the pulpit and preached most of the sermon on the same level as the congregation. In our small space this definitely created a greater sense of intimacy.

@christopherchelpka A few things prompted the shift: 1) A desire to spend more time in the biblical text itself during prep time, and less writing 2) I wanted to develop greater clarity and focus, and this is one way (not the only one, of course) to facilitate internalizing the sermon's main idea and refining the flow 3) I want to be better at preaching from and to the heart, and I think preaching from fewer notes may help with making a personal connection with my congregation during the sermon.

@nathanrhale Thanks for sharing. I love it!

@KyleEssary I started to think in terms of ‘movements’ rather than ‘points on an outline’ to help me see it as a natural flow of connected thoughts. I figured if I couldn’t easily remember the big main pieces of my outline, then it would also be hard for others to follow along. Really helped me with clarity I think. The concept works better in a sermon than in a teaching outline, of course.

@KyleEssary I think in terms of moves instead of points as well. For the why and how, this article by Tim Keller is a good place to start and an essential compliment to David Buttrick’s big book on this subject.

@christopherchelpka This is helpful. I haven't read Buttrick, but I've long used Keller's 1-2-4-3-4 method from his lecture on "Unintentional Preaching Models." It does progress along movements rather than textual points.