Most of the time I prepare and preach the conventional way. I pray, study, and craft a 25-30 minute sermon and then stand in front of the congregation and I deliver it to them. But from time to time, my congregation would speak up in the middle of my preaching. This was unusual and, at times, a little unsettling.
Eventually, I recognized that there were many very mature, bright Christians listening to my sermons every week. It occurred to me that they (and I) might benefit from hearing God speak through each other now and then. So I came up with the concept of designing a few Sundays each year that were deliberately interactive. I didn't stand in front in a posture of authority, but I usually sat on a wooden stool. These interactive Sundays fell into two special series types. I never preached them on sequential Sundays; they were widely distributed over years.
For more on this type, just click Character and Conduct.
For over 10 years I used the Revised Common Lectionary to frame my sermon calendar. Every week we printed the 4-6 lection scriptures in the worship folder for the following Sunday. Many people used these, often in conjunction with the daily reading plan which was posted on the website, to guide their scripture reading throughout the week. So by Sunday, several people were very familiar with the scripture set, causing them to hear the sermon in a deeper way.
Knowing that by Sunday this body of reading and reflection was already a part of several peoples' experience, I decided to take advantage of it by occasionally designating a Sunday as "The Peoples' Sermon." The idea was for the congregation to preach the sermon to itself.
I prepared for a Peoples' Sermon Sunday by having the lection scriptures available on PowerPoint. In varying flows, we'd read 2-3 of that week's lectionary scriptures and then I'd invite anyone from the congregation who sensed that the Lord spoke to them during the week from one of these to share that insight with the rest of us. I cautioned them not to give a Bible study, or fill the time with stuff they read in a commentary, or give a testimony disconnected from the scripture. Instead, I coached them to limit their sharing to what was fresh from the Lord, arising from their scripture reading, reflection time, and experiences of the week.
Just to be safe, I also prepared a mini-sermon(s) on some of these scriptures in case people needed a little help getting started, or in the rare event that they came up dry. Usually, the problem was the reverse; the people had too much high-quality sharing for the time available.
My control was limited to
Selecting the scriptures (usually the lection has too many scriptures for one setting so I pared it down to the gospel and the epistle, or some such thing).
Encouraging shy people to have the courage to share with us what the Lord shared with them.
Playing the "coach" role in a way that was as sensitive to the Spirit of Jesus as I knew how. Occasionally I needed to clarify or redirect the flow a bit or, when the time was up, to bring things to closure.
The first time I walked into a Peoples' Sermon I was pretty unsettled. But it went very well so we did it a couple of times each year. Peoples' Sermons encourage parishioners to read more scripture and to invite God to speak through it. I discovered that God chooses to speak to the congregation through its people things he was not going to give me to speak.
Blessings, Tim