Diversifying Your Approach – Inductive Sermons

This post is part of a series where I discuss various sermon approaches. I hope within these posts you may discover some new methods you can use to structure and deliver a message.
PART 1 – Diversifying Your Preaching Approach
PART 2 – Story as Sermon

On February second each year, groundhogs in various communities are brought from their dens, and announcements are made as to how much longer it will be until winter passes and the warmer weather of spring arrives. This odd holiday, known as Groundhog’s Day, has been around since the early eighteenth century and has taken on new life since the 1993 movie of the same name starring Bill Murray. This odd holiday, known as Groundhog’s Day, has been around since the early eighteenth century and has taken on new life since the 1993 movie of the same name starring Bill Murray.

See what I did there? 😉

I mention this because I have a question. Without doing an internet search, do you have any idea where the celebration of Groundhog Day came from? Whose idea was it to entrust rodents from North America with meteorological prognostications?

However, to be fair, we could ask similar questions about lots of traditions and celebrations.

What do Christmas trees have to do with the birth of Jesus?Why, for sporting events, do people show up hours in advance to tailgate?Why does the United States use the Imperial System when the Metric Act of 1866 was passed by Congress recognizing the use of the Metric System?

Sure, you can search and find answers. But the reality remains that there are lots of things we do without necessarily understanding why we do them.

WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH PREACHING?

I use these examples because the approach I am about to suggest may feel as if I’m trouncing on a sacred tradition, even if you don’t know where that tradition came from.

Like many preachers, you may have a particular approach to preaching that you learn and hold dear. Yet, as I have mentioned previously, practicing new approaches can help you grow as a preacher and help ensure preaching routines do not morph into preaching ruts.

The approach I would like to recommend to you today is one called Inductive Preaching, and it is not new by any means.

Fred Craddock discussed inductive preaching in the sixties with his classic works Preaching and As One Without Authority. More recently, Andy Stanley has presented an inductive approach in his book Communicating For a Change, even if he did not refer to it in those terms. Thus, the idea is not unheard of, even if some preachers do not realize this is the very approach they are using.

WHAT IS INDUCTIVE PREACHING?

In case you have read an opposing viewpoint, I want to start with the following statement: inductive preaching, done properly, is still Biblical preaching. As with other approaches, we are changing the delivery mechanism, not the content. All preaching should be derived from a thorough study of Scripture, not psychology or our latest motivational thoughts on life. In fact, even some Scriptural passages are presented in an inductive fashion. Take, for example, the entire book of Ecclesiastes. The author, Solomon, presents chapter after chapter of how he tried and failed, to find fulfillment. Then only in the last two verses does he give the associated lesson.

So then, what is meant by an inductive sermon? To answer this, we need to have a better understanding of the terms inductive and deductive. While the differences cannot be fully covered in a post like this, I want to offer a basic understanding of definitions and differences.

ApproachObjectiveExampleProsConsDeductiveStart with general premises and draw specific conclusions.All birds lay eggs,
a chicken is a bird, a chicken must lay eggs.If your starting premises are accurate, your conclusions will be accurate

Logical in nature

Leaves no room for outside observation

Not everyone may agree on the accuracy of the premises

InductiveStart with specific premises and draw general conclusions.Chickens have feathers and lay eggs. Therefore a chicken must be a bird.Invites a process of observation and explorationLimited premises can lead to inaccurate conclusions.

Arguments against inductive preaching often focus on the aspect above about the accuracy of the premises versus the ability to draw incorrect conclusions. However, any preacher who is responsibly working to accurately draw from a text will be cautious about any conclusions that would otherwise contradict sound doctrine.

SO WHAT DOES THIS LOOK LIKE?

I want to offer two very basic outlines to demonstrate how the same passage can be preached deductively and inductively. For this exercise, I’m going to use John 3:16-21.

DEDUCTIVE

Premise: God is love and He offers His love to any who believes.

God loved us so much that He sent JesusGod does not want to condemn anyoneGod gives eternal life to any who believes in Him.

INDUCTIVE

Premise (in the form of a question): John 3:16 is the most famous verse, but why does it actually matter?

We learn of God’s love for all people.We learn that God does not want anyone condemned.We learn that God invites us to eternal life through Jesus.

Yes, those may seem quite similar, and given the passage they are. However, go back to the table above. Deductive begins with a conclusion and gives details about the said conclusion. Inductive invites the audience on a journey of discovery and ends with a conclusion drawn from the observations.

So with all that said let me ask, what attempts have you made at inductive preaching? How has a topic like this been portrayed to you? I’d love to hear about your experiences.