Taking Responsibility for Listener Attentiveness -- Part One

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Kenneth E. Bickel, D.Min.

Grace Theological Seminary

 

While it isn't the ultimate purpose for preaching, the importance of listener attentiveness to sermon effectiveness is crucial.  This paper represents the first installment of an effort to promote a greater understanding of audience attentiveness, including how to lose it, or capture and keep it.  Focus will center on sermon design that is listener-friendly.

 

Introduction

I begin with a premise upon which I believe all of us agree: the purpose for our preaching is not merely to deliver information, but to promote transformation within our listeners.  There are, however, a series of hurdles which preachers must clear as they seek to be agents of that ultimate objective.  These hurdles include matters such as the listeners' ability to comprehend the material being presented, their inclination to believe that material and integrate it with previously held beliefs, and their motivation to apply the material to their lives, to name a few.

However, the first hurdle that must be conquered is that of listener attentiveness.  "The first step in learning is paying attention." (1) In a dated, but still respected work, Harry Hollingworth asserted that "a communicator has five fundamental tasks to accomplish in winning an audience: maintaining attention, holding interest, creating an impression, instilling conviction, and providing direction." (2) No matter how significant my message is, and no matter how strongly I feel about it, its delivery will be for nothing if the audience does not pay attention.

However, experience has shown me that my audience will find it difficult, if not impossible, to pay attention throughout much of my sermon unless I determine to communicate well. That constitutes the motivation for this paper.

Giving Attention to Attention Spans

The term "attention spans" refers to the length of time that individuals can keep their thoughts centered on the stimulus they have chosen, for example, the ideas a preacher is verbalizing.  The reality we live with is that "attention is very transient and unstable, moving now to this, now to that, and now to something else." (3) Many of us take for granted that people's attention spans are quite short.  How short we do not know.  "While early experimenters estimated that the length of an attention unit is from 5 to 8 seconds, psychologists now conclude simply that the duration of attention is brief, and that it is impossible to specify an absolute time value since that depends upon the intensity of the stimulus . . . [and] . . . varies with individuals. . . . " (4) Nevertheless, it seems safe to conclude that, because of the effects of television and other cultural influences, our attention spans are not nearly what they used to be. (5)

Are we to respond to this reality with feelings of futility, concluding that we really cannot compete with contemporary influences?  Or, are there rhetorical conventions and communicative devices available to preachers that might just help our listeners pay attention better?

I believe there are useful rhetorical conventions and communicative devices, and I think that speakers must be willing to bear some of the responsibility for listener attentiveness.  Understand, I do believe that listeners bear responsibility for choosing to pay attention to sermons, but I also believe that preachers can make it either easier or harder for them to do so. (6)  Surely all of us have experienced times when the content and delivery of the sermon were so compelling that we paid attention seemingly to every word that was spoken, and went away deeply challenged.  All too often, we have endured precisely the opposite experience.  Were we entirely different people during those unfortunate experiences?  More likely, much of the difference lay with the preacher's content and delivery.

Two authors feel very strongly about this matter.  Consider their words:

"The responsibility of inattentiveness is squarely on the speaker.  There is no such thing as an inattentive audience.  What the speaker really would have meant was the audience was not attending to him.  In such a case, his speech must have been boring, trite, unclear, disorganized, lacking in vital materials, indirect or unanimated.  So the audience attended to something else." (7)

Preachers should be seeking to preach so well that listeners automatically pay attention to much of the material that is being presented.  That is, listeners will not have to think about paying attention.  They will simply do it.  Indeed, one writer suggests that the essence of holding attention consists of delivering sufficient stimuli to the listeners to keep them from even becoming aware of the passage of time. (8)

This line of thinking, of course, raises the questions:  "what elements of sermon design and delivery tend to help listeners pay attention," and "what mistakes do preachers make in the construction and preaching of their sermons that encourage listeners to travel to a far country in their minds?"  I intend to provide a few answers to those questions.  But, I also want to exhort preachers to assume responsibility for using the knowledge presented in this paper so that they will become better and better at helping their listeners pay attention.

The Common Alternative to Paying Attention

Often, when the people in the pew do not pay attention to the thoughts being preached, they are engaged in what is commonly called "daydreaming."  Normally, when people daydream, they begin to visualize scenes or follow other distracting thoughts in their minds. Perhaps occasionally people begin to daydream because they consciously choose to do so but, most often, they do so spontaneously and unconsciously.  They do not think thoughts like, "I'm not getting much out of this sermon right now, so I'll do something more entertaining in my mind," and then begin daydreaming.  They do not usually plan it; they just do it.

Experts seem to agree that, in addition to external distractions, (9) there are two general causes for why people would daydream instead of paying attention to the preacher: they lose interest, or they become confused. (10) [Surely, no preacher wants to become boring or to create confusion, but they do exactly that when they violate some of the important principles of oral communication. 

Personally, I suspect that daydreaming often represents a defense mechanism that helps listeners escape a sermon that is boring them or creating too much confusion for them.  Such coping strategies can easily be consciously chosen, but often are chosen unconsciously.

 

Designing Sermons to Help them Pay Attention

I am thinking of a preacher - I'll call him Dave.  Everyone would agree, I think, that Dave preaches with passion.  I like passion.  I appreciate vocal variety.  I commend a preacher who loves the Lord deeply, loves his people wholeheartedly, and loves the Word fervently.  Dave fulfills all these qualities.  But, every time I hear him preach, I have trouble paying attention.  He seeks to preach Christian truth faithfully and he uses numerous illustrations.  I still have trouble paying attention as he preaches.

By contrast, I recently attended a church where the preacher who delivered the sermon - I'll call him John - was not as passionate in his presentation as Dave.  John was not very intense as he preached.  He did not use as much vocal variety as Dave.  I know very little about his love for the Lord and his concern for his flock.  And yet, my mind wandered very little throughout that sermon (and it came at the end of a very long day).  What made the difference?

As you might imagine, there is no simple explanation for resolving that question.  Still, I will seek to provide some answers.  Some of the problem might well rest with the way the sermon was designed and constructed. That is my premise for this present focus.  I begin by discussing some of the important issues that should not be ignored as preachers construct their sermons, that is, if they want to help their listeners pay attention.

The Importance of Clarity

It seems foolish to appeal for clarity in sermons.  I'm sure that most preachers truly want their sermons to be understood clearly by their listeners.  However, many faithful people of the pew attest to the frequency of times where they have been subjected to sermons during which confusion prevailed.  One physician friend with whom I discussed this research, admitted that many times he has designed boats in his head as his pastor delivered seemingly esoteric thoughts in the name of preaching a sermon.

Clarity, particularly in oral presentations, is extremely important.  Studies have shown "an undeniable, positive, and significant relationship" between teacher demonstration of clarity and learning. (11)  Considering the commonalties between oral communication in the classroom and sermonic communication in the sanctuary, preachers should take these findings seriously. (12)  

Further, while the focus of this presentation rests with attentiveness and not learning, the relationship between the two cannot be denied.  It just makes sense: while attentiveness might not always yield learning, learning depends upon the attentiveness of the listeners.  One expert states it very simply:  "No attention, no learning." (13) Indeed, research has confirmed that link. (14)

If preachers want their listeners to pay attention (and learn) they must communicate with clarity.  Doing that successfully encompasses such things as the way a sermon is constructed, the way ideas are verbalized (and visualized), and the way communication devices are used in the delivery process to help listeners follow the speaker's sequence of thoughts. 

 

Structuring the Sermon for Good Tracking"An Essential for Clarity

 "The human mind craves unity, order, and progress.'(15)  That means, as preachers present their ideas and verbal images in sequence, the listeners' minds will be seeking to make some sense out of that sequence of thoughts as it flows forth.  Listeners want to see how the ideas or images that are being currently uttered fit with the over-all thrust of the message (they are seeking unity).  They want to understand how a given thought or package of thoughts connects with the thoughts that preceded (they are seeking a sense of order).  They want to see that the flow of thoughts and images is leading somewhere, not just restating the same ideas again and again (they are seeking some progress).

The human mind craves this unity, order, and progress and if preachers do not deliver their messages in ways that help listeners sense unity and order, then clarity is compromised seriously and listeners become confused.  When an idea is restated again and again, listeners soon become bored.  These are the two dominant precursors to inattentiveness.

In my experience, not many preachers are guilty of making too little progress.  By contrast, many more preachers are guilty of not being careful to help their listeners track with them as they progress forth, meandering down circuitous paths of thought flow.  I think I know how it works.  As preacher Dave prepares his sermon, he has several thoughts arise that he feels ought to be proclaimed with reference to a given truth.  So he strings those thoughts together in a sequence that makes fine sense to him (it should, he originated the sequence).  Then he comes to another truth and, again, several thoughts arise that he feels ought to be spoken related that second truth.  So he strings those thoughts together in a sequence that seems clear to him.  And so it goes.

Unfortunately, Dave's listeners'minds do not work just like his does.  There are too many differences of personality, training, experience, and interests.  As a rule the listeners cannot intuitively sense which way Dave is going as he proceeds in a given direction through the delivery of truth.  At the same time, it is often true that they cannot easily connect the package of thoughts that Dave just delivered, with the package of truths he offered previously.  Preacher Dave thinks his line of reasoning is clear (because it has been quite clear to him ever since he first originated it), but it is usually not clear to listeners unless Dave helps them track with him mentally.  Preacher Dave can help them track with his line of reasoning by using a variety of means.

 

Uncomplicated Sequencing

One communication consultant says it very simply:  "Structure your presentation so that it is easy to follow."(16)  That represents a very elementary concept.  But, many preachers violate that principle, thinking their sequence of thoughts will be easy to follow, simply because it is clear to them.  They need to discard that assumption and begin to take responsibility for making sure their listeners can successfully track the presented flow of thoughts.  Consider:

"If a speech, whatever its type or purpose, is to communicate your thoughts effectively, . . . the plan of the speech as a whole must be easy for the audience to grasp and remember.  If listeners have difficulty seeing how your ideas fit together or if the ideas are joined in ways that do not immediately make sense, attention will be distracted from your ideas. . . ."(17)

Preachers can communicate the over-all map of their sermons, either verbally or through the use of a bulletin insert, overhead transparency, or PowerPoint presentation that offers an outline of how the sermon is laid out.  This practice seems to have fallen into some degree of disuse among some preachers, perhaps because it seems to be too pedantic or common.  Unfortunately, the result has been, in all too many cases, sermons that are hard to follow and, therefore, confusing.  Any degree of tension that is lost because of over-all mapping can be regained through other means of introducing tension.(18)

 

Transitional Sentences and Verbal Cues

Preachers can communicate the structure of their sermons by using transitional sentences.  "With transitions, the preacher demonstrates the relationships of the introduction to the body of the sermon, the parts of the body to each other, and the conclusion to all that has preceded."(19)  Transitional sentences not only link together the various segments of thought, they also signal progress and direction.  They provide opportunity for review as well.  Listeners need that!

Preachers must grasp this.  Listeners have needs, particularly when the communication is primarily oral and mono-directional.  Preachers who do not embrace the need to use transitional sentences and verbal cues with care, probably do not recognize just how easily listeners can get lost in the labyrinth of words that flow from speakers' mouths.  Preachers cannot afford to blithely deliver their thoughts with the assumption that everyone is going be able to follow.

Verbal cues are devices of communication that point to the content of the communication itself. They accomplish such things as: (1) calling attention to important insights that are coming up (e.g., "take special note of what I'm going to say now"); (2) referring back to previously presented ideas in order to make connection (e.g., "what I am about to suggest demonstrates how this truth fleshes out in life"), and (3) offering explanations of ideas (e.g., "all that I have been saying under point two of my outline represents the next reasonable step after we admit the truth of point one of my outline").

Verbal cues help listeners track with their speaker's ideas.  Questions intended to help listeners ponder some of the consequences of the thoughts just covered and assertions intended to arouse curiosity that will be satisfied in the coming material can also be effective.  But, the main purpose remains: helping the listeners move with the speaker in an orderly (not confusing) fashion as the ideas and verbal images flow forth.

 

The Importance of Skillful Introductions

Enticing Listeners to Enter In -- Be Compelling!

Standard exhortations regarding message introductions virtually always include the call for a compelling beginning that captures the attention of the listeners. There is good reason for this.

The introduction of a sermon establishes a "contract for communication."(20)  In the opening sentences of the message the audience begins to gain an impression of preachers - whether they will be trite, mundane, and not very committed to an engaging style of communication or whether they will be engaging, relevant, and even compelling.  If listeners form an opinion early that the preacher appears content with trite, mundane, and unengaging communication, motivation to pay attention is sure to be dampened.  

Certainly, motivation to listen can be kindled later in the message, but why would preachers want to wait until later when there is the very real possibility they can accomplish that right from the outset?  Some suggestions of how speakers can engage listeners right from the opening statement include: 1. opening with a startling statement; 2. asking a compelling question, 3. offering a story that helps the audience to visualize what is being described; 4. employing a visual aid; 5. referring to a recent incident, 6. disclosing  personal information; and 7. referring to an occasion or place that would be known by most of those present.(2)

To accomplish the greatest unity possible for the sermon, the point of the opening offering should lead directly to the main truth (or to a portion of the main truth) to be developed in the message.  As previously stated, there definitely is a connection between sermon unity and audience attentiveness.

 

Keeping Attention by Generating Interest " Surface a Felt Need

Even if preachers capture the attention of their listeners early in the message, that does not guarantee that listeners will remain attentive for long.   A whole world of ideas is just a few moments away, available through daydreams. To keep the attention of listeners, preachers should assume responsibility for helping them see just how the central theme of the message applies to them.  Better yet, if preachers can help listeners gain a sense of why they need to hear and consider the central thrust of the message, then their interest is more definitely piqued.(22)

For example, assume that a preacher wishes to preach from John 1:1-5, with a central theme focused on the deity of Christ.  That is an indispensable Christian truth.  The problem is that most of the Christians in the pew do not understand why that is a nonnegotiable of the Christian faith, or why it is important to them personally.  For them to be any more than mildly interested, the preacher should assume responsibility for telling the audience why it is important to them. 

The process of emphasizing the personal importance of that truth should begin early in the message, so that interest is stimulated early. Certainly, not all the applicational insights of the sermon should be disclosed early in the sermon.  That would be unwise for a number of reasons.  However, glimpses and partial answers can be offered early, along with the promise of more being said and greater clarity being supplied as the sermon progresses. 

The better interest is stimulated, the more likely the audience will pay attention, as long as the other components of the sermon are designed and delivered well. 

 

Orienting Listeners to the Main Body of the Sermon " Point the Way Clearly

Introductions are not intended to be the sermon; they are intended to inaugurate the sermon.  To do that well, they must not be constructed simply to win the hearers' attention and generate interest in the topic.  There should be a clear connection between the ideas introduced in the introduction and the main truth(s) to be developed in the body of the sermon. 

When that clear connection exists and clear transitional sentences are utilized, the introduction will orient the listeners to the main body of the sermon in a way that not only  promotes clarity, it enhances listener satisfaction.  That listener satisfaction leads to greater attentiveness.(23)

Again I say it, clarity is important so that listeners will not get confused.  When listeners get confused in the midst of a sermon, they can only tolerate that for so long.  Their natural (and usually unconscious) response to that confusion is to daydream.  Thus, the conclusion is inescapable: the less clarity, the less attention paid by the audience.

 

Content that Helps Them Listen

Focus turns now to the kind of sermonic content that contributes to a message that is easy to listen to. Initial consideration is directed toward concrete communication.

 

Concrete Content

When I speak of the opposite of concrete content"abstract content"I am referring to the presentation of truths, concepts, principles, beliefs, and so forth, when no object, instance, or action is associated with the topic under consideration.  Listeners are not given the chance to visualize the truth as applied to life.  Consider an example:

God loves people with an everlasting love.  That means that He cares for them deeply.  It means that He deals with them selflessly.  It means that He responds to them tenderly. It means that He reveals truth to them compassionately.  It means He waits for them patiently.

That constitutes abstract communication.  Abstract communication has merit.  The problem is, it is hard to pay attention to for more than a short period of time.  "The psychological principle is that any stimulus is a symbol which must be interpreted in terms of our experiences, and that our experiences seldom survive as abstractions but rather as memories of concrete things. . . ."(24) Thus, for people to be able to process sentences like the abstract communication suggested above, they must be able to apply those thoughts to the reality in which they live.  However, it is hard to do that rapidly when receiving those thoughts through oral communication, because the thoughts are coming too quickly to link each of them to something of the listeners" life experiences.

The truth is, most people sitting in pews will not bother trying.  They will simply listen politely, perhaps appreciating the first few sentences but without trying very hard to apply the "flesh" of their lives to the thoughts.  They will wait, hoping that the preacher will do that for them.  If the preacher fails to link the thoughts quickly to the listeners" lives, they will soon tire of receiving those abstract thoughts and of not being able to do much with them.  The human mind will take only so much of that before it begins to daydream.(25)

Concrete communication, by contrast, uses many different means of conveying truths, concepts, principles, beliefs, and so forth by linking them to objects, instances, or actions of life.  When information is presented concretely, the listeners are better able to visualize quickly (even instantly) the thrust of information that is delivered because they will be able to link it to life.  Following is an attempt at delivering the ideas presented above, but in a more concrete fashion:

God loves you with a love that began long before you were born "a love that will continue way beyond your natural death.  In fact, He will never turn away from you; He will never stop giving you good things.  His love is a caring love, like the love of a good father for his only son.  His love is a selfless love, one where He was willing to sacrifice His most cherished possession for you.  His love is a tender love, like the love of a mother for her small child.  His love is compassionate, meaning that He"s closer to you than your best friend.  His love is very patient - He is willing to wait years and years for you to become the mature believer He has called you to be.

There are, of course, other ways (even better ways) to communicate these truths concretely.  But, even this meager effort at concrete communication would enable listeners to pay attention longer.    This call for concrete communication stands as another one of those beliefs about which virtually every communication expert agrees.  Concrete communication "commonly holds interest while abstractness loses it."(26)  

Of course, this is why illustrations, anecdotes, applications, stories, object lessons, and the like are so important to the preaching event.  These concrete means of communicating thoughts not only help explain concepts better but, by their very nature, they are able to draw attention to themselves. 

Preachers habitually deal with abstract truth as they are studying for their sermons.  While this abstract truth is occasionally difficult to process, preachers have an advantage since they are dealing with written communication.  They have the time to pause and ponder those truths before moving on to the next thoughts offered in the writings.  After having gained a reasonably good grasp of the truths about which they are reading, they sometimes mistakenly believe that they can deliver those truths to their sermon listeners in the same format that they received them.  Or, perhaps they know that they will have to provide some illustrations and applications, but feel that they can first deliver five to ten minutes of abstract teaching before they get to the illustrations and applications. 

On both counts, they would be wrong.  They should be seeking to deliver that truth in ways that are concrete.  If that proves too difficult for some reason, they should be seeking to pause for an illustration, application, or object lesson before a minute (or two at the most) has transpired.  Allow me to be clear about that.  I am not suggesting that preachers should use illustrations or applications every minute or two.  I am suggesting such a strategy if they cannot communicate the thoughts and truths they are preaching in concrete ways.

 

Vital Content

Certain issues are perceived by the majority of people as more important to them than many of the other topics that can arise in messages. Issues like those have been characterized as vital issues, and vital issues are more stimulating for people.(27)  When preachers offer biblical instruction on how to be godly parents, that theme will be more vital for those parents who are in attendance than, say, the timing of the rapture.  For those parents, that instruction on parenting will be more stimulating "and, therefore, more easy to pay attention to" because they feel a greater need for that instruction in their daily lives.

Some of the issues that people tend to perceive as vital include: (1) handling the trials of life; (2) how to maintain healthy relationships; (3) how to handle life on the job with wisdom; (4) how to handle finances sensibly; (5) how to handle emotions like anger, guilt, worry, and depression; and (6) how to experience an intimacy with God.  That list is, by no means, exhaustive.  Effective preachers should spend time with people learning from them the themes that they consider to be vital, then preach with that awareness in mind.  That awareness can help preachers to make good decisions about what kind of topics to preach and it can also yield sermons that are easier for listeners to attend to.

 

Concluding Remarks to Part One

Take responsibility for your listeners" attentiveness.  Do all you can to structure the sequence of your sermon well and, thereby, help people to track with you"so they don"t become confused.  Do all you can to make your sermonic content concrete and vital"so they don"t become bored.  If you can do that, they"ll pay attention better, and you"ll communicate more of God"s precious truth because you will be conquering that first hurdle.

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11. Donald R. Cruickshand, "Applying Research on Teacher Clarity," Journal of Teacher Education, Vol. 36, No. 2 (1985), 45.

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