7 Tips for Using Illustrations in Teaching

This article was first published in French at TPSG.

While preparing to serve in Senegal, I often heard it said that Africans loved stories and that I was, therefore, to use them often in teaching. I have since come to believe that this is not unique to Africans, nor to Latinos, nor to children, nor to non-literate people. Everyone loves a good story! And as I have grown over the years as a Bible teacher, I have come to believe that good illustrations make up an essential part of effective, faithful communication.

 

The purpose of illustrations is not to entertain or to vary the rhythm of our teaching. It is to further the main point of our message in two ways: 

-       By explaining, clarifying, and building understanding

-       By stirring emotion.

 

This second one can sound shady, right? In a day and age when sermons in general and women’s ministry in particular are often focused on appealing to our emotions and felt needs, we may want to react by staying away from any appeal to our hearers' emotions. Yet that’s not what the Bible does. It often stirs the passions of its recipients. But it does so not to manipulate but to inspire both virtue and affection for Christ.  

 

Think of your illustrations in two categories: Explanation that appeals to the mind, and emotion that appeals to the heart. Both are found in Scripture and God intends for us to wield them for the good of our hearers. The Psalms are full of both. The Psalter appeals to our emotions more than any other book of the Bible.

 

For example, Psalm 19 opens with the stirring image of the heavens preaching a sermon to God’s people about the glory of God, in v. 1-6. Then, beginning in v. 7, David describes God’s law so as to inspire obedience.

 

Examples of Illustration

Here are some examples of Illustrations:

•     Stories – Personal or from world history or current events.
•     Quotes – Usually by an expert or someone with credibility on a subject.
•     Statistics – Boring to some, but persuasive to others.
•     Jokes – The Word of God is not a joke, and we shouldn’t trivialize it with our demeanour, but a good joke that makes a point from the text could help our hearers remember the point of our message.
•     Poems - A long poem might be distracting, but a line or two could make a meaningful connection for our hearers.
•     Similes and metaphors – Short and poignant, they paint a word picture. And, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words!

 

Advice on Using Illustration

1. Check your story.

Have you ever heard someone use an illustration that you knew was not factual? I have. It detracts from our credibility if we repeat urban legends as facts. If we’re going to recount a story that is not our own, we should make sure that it’s accurate. Let others do the fact-checking for you on sites such as Snopes.com. 

2. Avoid complicated stories.

If your illustration requires extensive explanation, it defeats the purpose. One example would be using a quote full of archaic language and theological terms that are beyond the grasp of our hearers. Or it could be employing a highly technical scientific or historical illustration that would take longer to set up and explain and could confuse more than clarify.

3. Be sensitive to your demographics.

If all your illustrations are about marriage and parenting, your single and childless women and men will feel excluded. If all your illustrations are about your professional life, you’ll overlook your retired hearers, adolescents, or stay-at-home moms. The women and men in our churches are walking through a variety of ages and stages of life. 

 

Teenagers are often facing tremendous peer pressure at school. University students are approaching a crossroads. Many parents of young children are investing much time and energy into their little ones. The parents of teens are seeing their kids deal with challenges they themselves never experienced. Empty nesters are longing to hear from their kids more often. Retired woman and men may be eager to invest in the lives of younger believers in the church. Widows and widowers wisened through suffering and loss may be your greatest prayer warriors. And the list goes on. 

 

Also keep in mind that in our increasingly diverse church culture, we would do well to include stories that make our brothers and sisters of other cultures feel seen and heard. Whether they are ethnically French, autochthones, Canadian-born/European-born people of colour, immigrants who have recently arrived, or whether they are children of immigrants, they are part of the stunning tapestry of the family of God, and we want to make sure that we are sensitive to their realities as well. 

4. Include vivid details.

When we mention the time of day, the city, the temperature, etc., we transport people. We take them with us on location to the scene of our story. Here’s an example of what not to do:

 

There was once a woman, I don’t remember her name, who was sick. I don’t remember with what, and she prayed. I don’t remember how long, and she got better. And I don’t remember how. God hears the cries of the afflicted (Ps 34).

 

This, of course, is ridiculous. But it’s easy to tell boring, insipid stories. Here’s a better example:

 

My college roommate Jaime was 21 when she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. It was our third year of university, final exams were approaching, and her radiation treatment couldn’t be delayed. She chose to pray, remain in school, and trust the Lord for her academic outcome and healing. Her treatment was successful, and she remains cancer-free 27 years later. God hears the cries of the afflicted (Ps 34).

5. Employ variety.

Personal stories are often the easiest to come up with because they don’t require any fact-checking and we can usually recount them from memory. But while such illustrations help us build rapport with our hearers, they can become predictable if it’s all we ever use. That having been said, I would distinguish between a story about my own life and that of someone I met whose story I then recount. I love telling stories about my years in Senegal and introducing my hearers to friends there because I find these accounts interesting, but I also believe that they help broaden my hearers’ worldview.

6. Avoid shining the spotlight on your loved ones.

In my final year of seminary, I took an advanced preaching class in which I was the only woman. One brother’s sermon gave a message in which he depicted his wife in a mildly negative light. During the feedback time, I gently appealed to him to avoid any illustration that would give ammunition to those who would criticize a pastor’s wife. She already has a target on her back. I graduated twenty years ago, and I still keep in touch with this brother over Facebook. He recently told me that he thinks of my words every time he prepares a sermon, and his wife is all the more thankful for it.

 

Pastors’ kids also deserve to grow up without sermons shining the spotlight on them. Even if you ask them for permission, children don’t have the agency or maturity to refuse their parents. They will be the subject of great scrutiny by many who judge grown-ups’ ministry based on the behaviour of their kids. I’m told that some pastors have caused the relationship with their children long-term harm by divulging private matters about them from the pulpit.

7. Avoid making yourself the hero.

Using personal illustrations is one thing. Always making ourselves look good when we do so is another. Self-deprecating stories in which God teaches us through our mistakes are far more edifying than those in which we come out on top by our own wit or strength.