Sermon Titles

[jjraby]

What type of sermon titles do you use do and how do you come up with them? Do you do an ironic title, or straightforward and to the point? Jean Lerroux once did a whole sermon series where the titles to his sermons were Jimmy Buffet song titles, granted they did have something to do with the sermon.

What is yalls opinion and how do you come up with them?

 

[fredtgreco]

I think that far too much time can be spent on generating sermon titles. I try to make them either descriptive or somewhat humorous. My experience is that within 2-3 weeks after the sermon, no one remembers the title. They will say "Can I get the sermon on Galatians 2?" (or even "theone from December 12th") and not ask for the witty title.

 

[jjraby]

yes this is true, the only reason I'm Asking is that i am in an intro to preaching class, and i get stuck on thinking of sermon titles for my outlines. This week is on Luke 19:1-10, i was thinking either look who's coming to dinner ( i know it's been used before) or something else.. haha

 

[JML]

I don't really title my sermons other than just announcing the text and giving the main topic.

 

[fredtgreco]

yes this is true, the only reason I'm Asking is that i am in an intro to preaching class, and i get stuck on thinking of sermon titles for my outlines. This week is on Luke 19:1-10, i was thinking either look who's coming to dinner ( i know it's been used before) or something else.. haha

BTW - who teaches that class now? Does Dr. Thomas still?

 

[Backwoods Presbyterian]

I just take a 3-5 word line from the passage I am preaching from that week. So for example this week I preached from Amos 5:1-3 and my sermon title was "The Virgin Israel Has Fallen".

 

[jjraby]

[/QUOTE] BTW - who teaches that class now? Does Dr. Thomas still?[/QUOTE]

He most certainly does

 

[au5t1n]

Sermons have titles?

 

[Ivan]

A straight forward title is best. If I give a title, that's what I do, although I rarely do. Like John, I announce and read the text, pray and tell him what the main topic is and away we go.

 

[Jack K]

For the occasional sermon, I pick something simple that reinforces the main point. You don't really need a title that'll sell the sermon, since most of your listeners show up before they ever see the sermon title.

But for the online columns and articles I write, a title that hooks the reader is essential. I will admit that I train myself to think in the necessary fashion by reading the article titles on flashy magazine covers. Those magazine guys know how to sell a story. Using this line of thinking, I've written articles with titles like "How to Hate Mom and Dad," "Christmas Cards I Shouldn't Have Sent," and "Three Surefire Ways to Avoid Jesus."

 

[TomVols]

Since the hermeneutic should lead to the homiletic, the title of my sermons are in some way direct or indirect statements of the subject/predicate composition of the theme. For instance, last Sunday AM was "Living a Life of Love" from Eph 5:1-2. A sermon on 1 Cor 13 is entitled "The Excellency of Love." I never announce a title in the sermon (since when did you hear a song lyric say "the title of this song is...."), nor do I spend a ton of time on it. However, people do find them important, so to ignore them altogether is silly. That said, do them well or don't do them at all. "Seven Dips in Muddy Watter" (Naaman) or "Orca and the Prophet" (Jonah) makes a joke of the preaching event at best.

 

[Marrow Man]

Ordinarily I use straight forward titles, derived from the Scriptural text. For example, when preaching through 2 Peter 1:12-15, I entitled the sermon "Remember This," for vv. 16-18, I entitled it "Eyewitness News," and for this week (vv. 19-21), I'll used "The Certain Word."

The most creative I've gotten in naming sermons was when I was preaching through the first part of 1 Samuel. Each sermon title was in the form of a question. So for the passage on Hannah's turmoil over being childless, I entitled it, "What Do We Do When Everything Is Against Us?" For the capture of the ark, it was "Is God Just a Good Luck Charm?" For the passage detailing the sins of Hopni and Phineas, it was "Do We Despise the Offering of the Lord?", etc.

In part, that was due to one of the chapter titles in John Woodhouse's commentary on 1 Samuel, but now that I look at it, maybe it was Alex Trabek.

 

[Curt]

My titles are usually pretty straight forward and descriptive. I post sermons texts and titles three months in advance, so I usually haven't done a lot of work on the sermon in question yet.