The Deputation Process— Preaching


The Deputation Process— Preaching

Many times the churches you will go to will ask you to preach. You should alway be prepared and ready to preach, but here are some ideas and tips about preaching while on deputation.

  1. Never go over your time limit!—You have heard this many times but do not go over your time limit! Always make sure that before the service you find out normally what time the service is over so that you can end the service on time. Always try to end a few minutes early rather than a few minutes late! Be respectful of the pastor and his peoples’ time! DON’T GO OVER YOUR TIME LIMIT!
  2. Be excited—You should be excited about preaching the word of God! People should be able to tell you are excited about it and you are not just going through the motions! Be excited about what you are preaching! If you are excited about the Word of God and preaching, it will make the people more willing to listen and more excited about what is being preached.
  3. Be passionate— This goes in line with being excited, but people should see your passion when you are preaching. They should see you have a passion for world evangelism and lost souls. They should see you have a passion for serving God. They should see you have a passion to see God do big things in your life! The people should be able to see your passion in your preaching!
  4. Be encouraging—Many people that are hearing you preach are going through hard times. Preach something to encourage them in the Lord. Preach to encourage them in their spiritual walks!
  5. Be mindful of the Holy Spirit—Let the Holy Spirit guide and direct you on what you are to preach. Be mindful as you are preaching if He prompts you to even say things you normally would not say during a message. If we are filled with the Holy Spirt and guided by the Holy Spirit, He will guide and direct our preaching!
  6. Have several messages prepared— You need at least two or three messages to preach while on deputation. You could end up teaching two or three times at the same church so you want to make sure you are prepared! The more messages and lessons you have prepared the better!
  7. Avoid controversy!— You are not there to be controversial. You are not there to fix the churches problems! You are there to be an encouragement and help to that church! DO not preach on a controversial subject! 
  8. Always give the Gospel (every time)— This does not mean your message has to be a Gospel message in its entirety, but the Gospel should be presented at least once in your message. You never know who is in the audience and who is listening. You could have lost people in the service for the very first time and not know! You always should present the Gospel in some way in every message you preach!
  9. Do not be long winded— Do not keep going on and on in your preaching! Stick to the Bible and preach the truth of the Word of God. Do not keep rambling on. If you are long winded you will lose the people eventually. If you stay within the given time limits this normally will not happen, but some pastors tell you to preach however long. This is not a license to preach an hour and a half. 
  10. Be mindful of your audience—Who are you preaching to? Is it a majority of lost people— make sure to preach the Gospel. Are there a lot of kids in the audience—make sure to not preach over their heads and keep it exciting! Be mindful of who is in the audience as well as what they might be going through! This helps in letting God direct you in what to preach, but also what kind of illustrations you could use as well as the focus of the message!

These are just a few tips that you should consider while preaching on deputation! Again, not every church you will go into will have you preach, but many of them will and you need to be prepared! What about you? Do you have any tips or advice for those preaching on deputation? Maybe some things you saw that worked and didn’t work as you travelled around? Let us know in the comments below!