Contents

I. Travel

II. liturgical details

III. how to dress

IV. scripture reading

V. sermon Length

VI. balance

VII. tone

VIII. outside sources

IX. delivery

We are grateful for your willingness to share and hone your gifts among us! Before doing so, please carefully review these guidelines. Note, they are based on general observations, not anything related to you in particular. 

— Rev. Michael Spotts

I. TRAVEL

Ordinarily, we expect you to arrange your own flight which we will reimburse. Before making housing and rental car arrangements, please contact our deacons to see if a member is willing to host/transport you. Submit receipts ASAP to both PURCbills@bill.com and treasurer@phoenixurc.org for reimbursement.

Once arranged, let Rev. Spotts know when/where/how will you arrive/depart?

II. LITURGICAL DETAILS

Here’s a sample bulletin so you get a feel for our service.

Please provide Rev. Spotts with your AM/PM sermon text and titles, and a 1-2 sentence synopsis, by Tuesday prior to your visit. We’ll select the songs. The secretary should email you the completed bulletin by Saturday but feel free to ask for it earlier if need be (secretary@phoenixurc.org).

Service times:

  • 9:15 am — meet in library to pray (you might lead) — service starts at 9:30am

  • 5:15 pm — meet in library to pray (you might lead) — service starts at 5:30pm

Location:

2002 E Missouri Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85016

III. HOW TO DRESS

Try to look “forgettably presentable” (e.g., unassuming coat and tie). If you do not have one, let me know. We will provide one at no cost.

IV. SCRIPTURE READING

“Man does not live by bread alone.” Yet we need consume the whole loaf in one sitting. Rather than recite an entire chapter as your “main text”, consider reading a representative pericope (1-15 verses). Then, as you preach, reference verses from the wider context. You may find this more homiletically effective, especially when first serving a congregation. I advise against “leading with length.”

V. SERMON LENGTH

On that same note, visitors sometimes attempt to pack their whole heart and education into one sermon. The line of reasoning that says, ‘but I may never get to minister to these poor souls again,’ becomes a self-fulfilled prophesy; probably no one will wish you back. Your job is to feed sheep, especially lambs, and not to fatten foie gras. Set yourself an upper limit of 30-35 minutes (including scripture reading and prayers). In my experience, every minute past the half-hour must be at least as engaging and insightful than the one preceding it in order to have been worth it. And they rarely are (including my own).  Especially since our service is followed by Sunday school and people need 20+ minutes to transition. What a sermon gains by great length is taken from goodwill.

VI. BALANCE

Like it or not, seminarians are known to spend excessive time elaborating basic concepts and extraneous details. Bear in mind that our congregation has covered the Three Forms of Unity twice in the past eight years, along with more than a dozen biblical books of every genre. What we haven’t done is walk consistently in grace and love. Therefore, work efficiently to establish the exegetical basis of whatever point you wish to make, and then move on to applying actual consolation, substantial exhortations, and really provoking us to exalt the Lord with you—then and there! No one doubts that a seminarian understands theology, but we all wonder if you get ordinary human life. Prove that you have studied the heart of man as well as the Word of God. What good is it to connect verses and concepts, if you do not connect to your hearers in concrete and compelling ways? Above all, lead us back to resting and rejoicing in Christ, and wishing to serve him by the Spirit.

VII. TONE

It is fine to call out error for what it is. But please do not educate us in the latest controversies. Moreover, avoid sarcastic and spiteful ribbing of those with whom you disagree, especially those within the pale of Christ’s true church. Preachers who trade in caricatures and straw men are themselves cartoons and scarecrows. Ministers who shadowbox and showboat make shallow, sectarian churches. We are often visited by guests of Pentecostal, broadly Evangelical, Roman Catholic, and secular backgrounds. Such hearers should be convinced that, “whatever the preacher thinks, he yearns for my blessing.” The Spirit and truth are strong enough to work through love.

Flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (2Tim. 2:22-25)

VIII. OUTSIDE SOURCES

I personally enjoy C. S. Lewis and Tolkein. But if I hear one more reference to either, I might burn my fancy copies of Narnia and the Silmarillion. The church needs other voices and illustrations.

IX. DELIVERY

Early on in development, it is common to lean heavily on manuscripts. Yet had we wished merely for a recitation, we might have asked one of our elders to read us Spurgeon. Instead, we are inviting a living man of God to give us a lively, sacred talking-to. If you have more than a dozen sermons under your belt, let us humbly suggest it is time to stretch your wings. Try preaching from a sparse outline based on thorough study, meditation, and prayer. Prepare your heart as well as your thoughts, and then lean in to your spiritual gift, trusting Christ to enable you. Only those who try will ever discover that the Holy Spirit still grants tongues, not of angels, but of average people! Whatever fears and insecurities you must overcome, get it in your head and never forget that preaching gains more potency through a sense of personal presence and engagement with your listeners, than it has ever received by slavish concern for specific turns of phrase and exact flows of thought. That is why in Acts 2, Peter’s ardent but unsophisticated message could “prick the heart.” The difference between the priests of Baal and the prophet Elijah was not how much kindling they gathered, but the heavenly fire which God poured out. Do not pile facts like wood in the pulpit and call that a sermon. Go in the spirit of prophecy, asking and expecting God to ignite your eyes, your voice, your gestures, and words, and through them to convey the very fire that consumes the congregation in a genuine work of grace and power. Strive to embody and emote the kind of response you hope to see formed in others.

The Lord bless your preparation and service!