Preach Magazine Issue 1 - Creativity and innovation in preaching | Page 27

FEATURE

27

Ali Martin
to being told what to think. In my
younger age group in the postmodern
culture there is the question “what
am I feeling?” and in the older culture
it’s “what am I doing?”

is on the leadership team of
Soul Survivor, a Christian
festival that aims to reach 13
to 18-year-olds.

‘In my younger age group, choice
is important, but for the older age
group choice can be confusing. So
in the context of preaching for the
younger age groups I would think
we would be encouraging people to
explore their faith more deeply. For
the older I think it’s a question of
examining the faith they have been in
touch with. They don’t really want to
be given choices, they want to “know”.

‘One of the things about young people
is that they really desire authenticity.
They want to know you’re not just
talking the talk; that this is real for
you, you’re not elevating yourself
above them or pretending to be
something you’re not. You’re a real
person who has struggles and who is
finding God in that.

‘It’s all about giving people
information in a way they can
understand. With older people I don’t
shy away from difficult subjects –
isolation, loneliness, anxiety, end of
life and heaven.
‘I think you have to engage the senses
a bit more with older people, try to
get them to imagine things, to smell
things, to think about how you touch
things and use sight and sound to get
people living the story.’
Mike Collyer’s research for the
Church Army on the spiritual needs
of older people can be found online at
www.bit.ly/churcharmyresource

‘So if I’m helping somebody else
prepare a talk for young people, one
of the things I’ll say to them is “Well
how was that for you when you tried
that or experienced that in your own
life?” And for them to give examples
of that.
‘Another thing is application – that
always needs to be tailored for the
younger audience – what does that
look like? This should always be
thought through in terms of the
context of the audience even if what
we acknowledge is the truth for all
ages. It’s fine to say how might they
put it into practice? Or where might
they be experiencing this difficulty or
this joy?

‘Illustrations are important. But
then also there are illustrations
that are more like analogies.
Some of the people who are best
at speaking to young people use
almost constant analogy, the
constant “it’s like” moments.
‘I was speaking once about the
bleeding woman and talking about
the crowd pressing in on Jesus and
mentioned it’s like being on the
London Underground and you see
a friend ahead of you and you want
to get to them but there are all
these bodies. And it wasn’t a clever
story at all but at that moment
they understand that crowd.
‘Illustrations are important for
any age audience. But the truth
has to be there first to bring it to
life. Illustrations on their own are
not going to make a great talk. But
once you’ve got content and you
really know what you want to say,
those illustrations, you can really
help a young person say “I really
get that now”.’
soulsurvivor.com

ILLUSTRATIONS ARE
IMPORTANT. BUT THEN ALSO
THERE ARE ILLUSTRATIONS
THAT ARE MORE LIKE
ANALOGIES. SOME OF THE
PEOPLE WHO ARE BEST AT
SPEAKING TO YOUNG PEOPLE
USE ALMOST CONSTANT
ANALOGY, THE CONSTANT ‘IT’S
LIKE’ MOMENTS.

LWPT8173 - Preach Magazine - Issue 1 v3.indd 27

17/10/2014 12:53:59