How to Preach Without Notes – 3 Simple Steps

How do you preach without notes?

I wrote earlier about some of the benefits to preaching without notes. But, as some readers mentioned, the question remains: How does a person actually go about doing this?

What are the steps, tips, and tricks to preach without notes?

Here are the three things you absolutely must do to succeed.

3 Steps to Preaching Without Notes

1. Absorb the text.

Preaching without notes does not equate to a lack of preparation. In fact, you need to prepare more to do it effectively.

Approach your study like a sponge. Absorb so much about the passage of Scripture that it leaks out of you.

Slowly read it over and over again. Take notes on everything you observe. Ask questions. Find answers. Read commentaries (only after you have studied all you can on your own). By the time you are finished, you should be an expert on the text.

You should know the text so well that if all you had was a Bible, you could fill the sermon time talking about it.

2. Memorize thoughts, not words.

You are not an actor reciting lines. You are a preacher communicating truth. If you forget a few words or a witty joke, nobody will know but you. It’s OK.

You are only in trouble if you forget the outline.

Memorize the outline. Think of you sermon as blocks of thought instead of words. If you know the order of the thoughts, you can preach without notes.

This may sound counterintuitive, but write a full manuscript of your message (or at least a highly detailed outline) to organize your thoughts.

Tip: Don’t write like an essay. Write like you speak. You are writing a talk, not a paper.

When your manuscript is finished, in a separate document, cut it down to a single page. Fitting your message on one page forces you to keep only the most important thoughts.

This is your outline.

Tip: Using the same outline format for each sermon helps you remember your sermon easier.

3. Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.

To preach without notes well, you have to know your message cold. The final step is to rehearse your message out loud.

The night before preaching, I read my manuscript out loud a few times. Then I try to rehearse the message without looking at the manuscript, only looking at the pages when I draw a blank on the next thought. Finally, I rehearse my entire message without looking at all.

On Sunday morning, I talk through the outline of my sermon in the shower and on my drive to church. By the time I stand on stage, I have absorbed my message so much that I cannot wait to let it out.

I never preach the manuscript word for word. But I am always amazed how natural it is, after going through this process, to preach the same sermon in multiple services with only slight differences in each message.

I have gone into much further detail on my studying, writing, outlining, and rehearsal process in my book. So check it out if you want more ideas and tips.

Preaching without notes may sound terrifying to you. It was to me at first too. But you can do this!

You don’t need an exceptional memory. You just have to put in the work. And like everything else, the more you do it, the better you will get.

Freeing yourself from your notes may just be what you need to take your preaching to the next level.

Give it a shot. Make it an experiment. See what happens, and let us know how it goes.