As you look out at your congregation during the Sunday morning sermon, do you ever feel your audience is having a tough time following your message? They don't really seem to be tracking with you as you jump around from scripture to scripture and move through the four points of your sermon. Even worse, it appears you have completely lost some of them. You notice a few of them are looking at their phones, and you can only hope and pray it's because they're using their Bible app.
As you bring things to a close, you wonder if today's first-time visitors will ever make a return appearance. Throughout the week, you wonder what you could be doing wrong. You're using sermon slides, but they just didn't seem to be doing the trick like you thought they would.
If you are a pastor in need of some serious sermon slide intervention, you've come to the right place. Here are 4 tips to help you turn your okay sermon slides into awesome ones.
Keep Each Slide Short and Simple
You've heard the saying, Keep it Simple, Stupid - buuuut since that's not a very nice thing to say to a pastor, we'll just go with "keep it simple, shepherd." If you're a pastor trying to make your sermon slides as congregation-friendly as possible, don't try putting your entire message on your slides. Don't put too much text on each slide. You want the congregation to know at a glance what you're talking about. You also want your congregation to be listening to you, not reading your slides.
Here are some basic principles to apply when trying to keep your sermon slides short and simple:
- Include just one main point on the slide
- Don't put more than four sub-points on one slide
- Each slide should take less than 10 seconds to read
Remember, your slide presentation should serve as a visual aid, not a transcription of your entire message.
Make Your Slides Easy to Read
Along with making your sermon slides short and simple, they should also be easy to read. You'll be completely missing the mark—even if you have just the right number of words—if your congregation can't see the words. Sermon slides are all about keeping people attentive and helping them to follow along. Great slides might also inspire your congregation to take notes! So how do you ensure your slides are easy to read? Here are a couple of things NOT to do:
- Don't use scary color combinations such as red/green, orange/blue, or red/blue
- Don't use a font that is super curly and illegible
- Don't use photos for backgrounds unless they are easy to read over.
For slides that have a dark background, use lighter colored text. If the background is light, use darker text. The most readable types of fonts are sans-serif such as Helvetica, Verdana, and Tahoma. When you're considering the readability factor, font size matters. Typically, the font should be at least 32-point but no larger than 44-point. To highlight certain words, you can try to make them stand out by bolding them or making them a different color. You could also consider leaving blanks for some of the key words so your congregation has to listen.
Match the Design with the Message
The image on the sermon slide shouldn't just arbitrary, there should be a meaning behind it. The design or image you use should also add context and enhance the message, not take away from it. All too often, distracting images are used or they don't really pertain to what is being said. While it's fine to use the same picture on every slide, the image should match up with the message.
For example, if your sermon is about a pretty serious subject matter, such as the death and resurrection of Christ, you're not going to add anything to your message by using images or rabbits, flowers, and Easter eggs (even if it is indeed Easter). A better option might be a black and white photo of the cross. If you're discussing "faith that moves mountains," try incorporating a picturesque mountain scene for your imagery.
(Pssst. You can find some free sermon slides here!)
Hopefully, now you're getting the picture as to how to go about matching the design with the message. If you are still having doubts, ask your team leaders if your images are enhancing or taking away from your message before using the slides for your next sermon.
Make Your Slides Visually Engaging—Not Distracting
Your sermon slides should be visually engaging. One way not to do this is to use a plain background that was an automatic theme with PowerPoint. If you're going to expect members of your congregation to be listening to you for 20 minutes or more, the least you can do is give them something interesting to look at! If you want your entire sermon presentation to be easy on the eyes, here are some things you should avoid using:
- Animations
- Distracting transitions
- A screen saver
- Gradients
Remember, when it comes to visually engaging slides, they don't necessarily have to include pictures. Sometimes using just the right background color can be equally effective.
