By Any Other Name

A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold.
~ Proverbs 22:1
(Though Solomon probably wasn’t referring to sermon tiles.)

What should we call it?

Sermon titles is not a riveting subject. Let’s just admit that up front and get that out of the way. In terms of what is important about a sermon, the title is not high on the list. But, with that said, often the title of your sermon is the first thing people are going to encounter. If you publicize your sermon titles in advance, or if you publish your sermons in written, audio, or video form, the title is the first thing people see. Bad titles probably discourage people from clicking the link when other interesting things appear in their feeds.

Titles are not that important to the congregation you stand before week to week. They are live in-person in front you already. Your introduction is typically more important at that time to gain their attention. Titles are more important on the outside. If you release your sermons into the wild, I’m assuming you do so with the hopes they will be heard. Here is where good titles can interest and encourage people to listen and bad titles can put up a barrier to listening. If you truly view online sermons as outreach, then your target demographic is made up mostly of people who do not know they need your message or even why they need it.

Think about this in marketing terms for a moment. If you are trying to sell a product or service, you have to reach your target audience. If people don’t know what you’re selling, they can’t very well buy it. In order to sell anything, your product has to fit into one of two categories. First, it must meet a need or want that is known to potential customers. In this case, they know what problem they have and are looking for a solution. So you need to get their attention in a way they immediately recognize you have what they are looking for. Second, your product must meet a need your potential customers don’t realize they have. In other words, you’re trying to sell a solution to a problem people have but they don’t realize they have. This is generally some technology or service that makes some task easier for them. They don’t realize there is a better way to do it, so you have to educate them to the problem. Ideally, once they’ve recognized the problem and the validity of your solution, they’re ready to buy.

Selling to the first group is easier than selling to the second. If people are already looking for what you have, you just need to ensure visibility so they find you. However, if people are bouncing about on their merry way, watching cat videos and reading the latest gossips available online, you have to get their attention and quickly get them to understand they have a problem and need your solution. If you’re putting out sermons, your potential audience is some in the first group and many in the second. I realize people will not be comfortable with the marketing comparison I’ve used, but if something as simple as a published sermon title could result in more people hearing God’s word, isn’t it worth some attention?

Titling Do’s and Don’ts

I don’t know any hard and fast rules, but I can give some personal observations. I’ve talked with some who agonize over titles for lengthy times and tinker with subtle things endlessly. I can’t recommend this. Titles deserve some attention, but I still think a good sermon with a mediocre title is better than a mediocre sermon with a good title. You want people to listen and you want them to come back and listen again. Titles can help or hurt. I think about this more than I used to, so here’s my list in no particular order.

  1. Informative
    Titles should give listeners some idea about what they are going to hear. I have used titles like “Colossians #3” in the past. Such a title is not very informative. It could be worse, but not much. A person seeing that knows it is the third message in a series of messages on the book of Colossians, but they don’t have any idea what the message is about. I could have improved the information by rather using the title, “Paul’s Prayer for the Colossians.” That’s still not great, but it would be better than the first one.

    You want to avoid titles that are overly technical, confusing, or too long. You want a brief title that informs the potential listener what the sermon is about. In terms of the information conveyed, you want to keep it simple.

  2. Accurate
    Titles should match the sermon content. Not only do you want to inform, but you want to accurately inform. The title should accurately describe the content of the sermon and the sermon should deliver on the title. If you over-hype or get too flashy with the tile, the sermon will be disappointing. You can also lose credibility so people will not come back to hear more. You want to avoid being too clever so that your title plays on something so subtle that people listen and cannot make the connection.

    In a way of thinking, your title is a promise you are making to the listener. Keep your promise and deliver on it. You want to maintain accuracy, but understating is probably better than overstating. You don’t want to be clickbaity with your title.

  3. Interesting
    Titles should pique curiosity and/or invite people in. You want interesting along with informative and accurate. The title can convey some sense of how the sermon will help the listener. Avoid narcissistic titles. You should not be the hero of your sermons and neither should you be the hero of your titles.

    Sometimes it’s good to use applicational titles. Such titles speak directly to the listener. For example, I recently used the title, “Will You Hear?” I’m not saying it’s the greatest title ever used but it does speak immediately to the listener. The message was an expository message on part of Isaiah 28, but one of the applications of the passage was a challenge to hear God’s word. Again, it’s not the greatest title ever given to a sermon, but it fits the criteria of being informative, accurate, and interesting. It’s definitely a better title than, “Isaiah #42.” Any time you can speak directly to the needs of the listener, you can invite them in to listen.

It’s worth giving time and attention to titles, but not too much. You’re not trying to do everything with a title. I think you’re simply wanting to improve this aspect of the sermon and remove hindrances so more people will possibly listen.

About Jeff Short