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Sermon Introduction Ideas
Four ways to open a sermon so people lean in
The first minute of a sermon decides whether people lean in or check their phones. Here are four kinds of sermon introductions from The Sermon That Holds the Room, with examples and the mistakes that sink them.
An introduction has one job: give people a reason to care before you ask them to listen. The old sermon skeleton answers a question nobody in the room is asking. A strong introduction makes them ask it.
The book names four ways to open: a story, a question, a startling statement, or a personal experience. Each one draws people in before you ever get to the problem. Here is how to use them.
1. Open with a story
Stories bypass the intellect and go straight to the heart. A good opening story puts a person in a situation your listeners recognize, then stops just before it resolves.
The rule from the book is strict: the illustration must be tightly connected to the point. A great story that wanders confuses people. If you have to explain how your story connects to the sermon, it is the wrong story.
Write your opening story out in full and read it again before you preach. Of everything in your notes, this is the part you should know word for word.
2. Open with a question
Questions force engagement. People answer them internally, and they convict themselves far more effectively than you ever could by telling them.
Ask a question that lands on the problem you are about to preach. For a sermon on Philippians 4:13, the book's examples are pointed: "What has the can't cost you?" "How many years have you been living below what God has for you?"
Avoid questions with an easy answer. "Does anybody here want to be happy?" gets a polite nod. A question that makes someone go quiet inside gets their attention.
3. Open with a startling statement
A startling statement says out loud something people suspect but have never heard from a pulpit. It cuts through and makes them look up.
From the same example: "Some of you have been sitting on your calling so long you've stopped expecting God to use you at all." That sentence names a real wound. It is not shock for its own sake; it is the problem, said plainly.
The book calls this direct truth: sometimes love sounds like a roast. Call it what it is, not to tear people down, but to cut through the self-deception that keeps them stuck.
4. Open with a personal experience
Nothing is more powerful than telling what God has actually done in your own life. An honest moment from your own struggle tells the room you are not preaching at them from somewhere above it.
Keep it short and keep yourself out of the hero's spot. The book is clear that Jesus is always the hero of the message. Your story is there to open the door to the problem, not to make you the point.
What comes right after the introduction
An introduction is only as good as what it hands off to. In the nine-step framework, the introduction leads straight into the problem: what is broken, said clearly enough that people feel its weight.
Then comes the first glimpse of hope, which is really an open loop: "That is not God's plan for your life. In a few minutes I'm going to show you a Scripture that will change the way you see yourself. But before I get there, I need to show you something." The brain cannot stand an unresolved promise. People will stay to get the payoff.
See all nine steps in How to Prepare a Sermon, or fill them in with the sermon outline template.
Plan your ending when you write your opening
The strongest conclusions come full circle. They return to where the sermon started, now carrying the weight of everything in between. If you open with a story, finish it at the end. If you open with a question, answer it in the call to action. If you open with the can't, close by calling people away from the can't.
That means you should write your introduction and your conclusion together. More on that in How to End a Sermon.
Introduction mistakes to avoid
- A long warm-up. Announcements, thank-yous, and a rambling lead-in spend the attention you need for the problem. Get to it.
- An opening joke that goes nowhere. Humor is fine if it is tied to the point. A joke for its own sake is a story that wanders.
- Giving away the answer. If the introduction already tells people the solution, you have released the tension before you built it.
- Starting with background. History and context belong in the message, but they rarely make people care in the first minute. Lead with the person, the question, or the problem.
The Sermon That Holds the Room covers introductions, transitions, the full preacher's toolbox, and every step in between. See the book and order a copy.
More free sermon guides
- How to Prepare a Sermon — The nine sermon preparation steps, from Scripture to a clear call.
- Sermon Outline Template — A free nine-step fill-in outline with a worked example.
- How to Write a Sermon Step by Step — Blank page to pulpit, one step at a time, even your first sermon.
- How to Preach a Funeral Sermon — A chaplain's complete funeral order of service and four-truth sermon.
- How to End a Sermon — Application people can do, a clear call, and a full-circle close.
- How Long Should a Sermon Be? — Why structure matters more than the clock, and how to cut.
- How to Preach a Bible Story — The eight-step Hero's Journey for narrative sermons.
- Sermon Illustrations and 22 Preaching Tools — The 22-tool preacher's toolbox and where each tool fits.