Henry Mitchell states: “Real soul preaching demands rhetorical flair” in the book Black Preaching: The Recovery of a Powerful Art. He also states: “The flow and phraseology of the King James Version will never die in America while Black Christianity stays Black.”

Black preaching demands not just saying what you want to say, but the way in which you say it. The preacher should use “rhetorical flair” to aid the presentation of the gospel through the sermonic event.

This is why I suggest that one should have at least three edits of the black preacher’s sermon manuscript. One of them is a rhetorical edit. Here you should attempt to say what you say in as poetic a way as possible. You can download the free book You Can Preach where I describe this.

Also related to this, Mitchell notes that the preacher should not attempt to be objective in the presentation. The preacher is not objective but is invested deeply in the presentation. The preacher is attempting to give God’s side of the story and to be a vehicle to convert others to that view.

The preacher is not an objective reporter of the news, but a subjective cheerleader for the gospel. When the preacher takes into account the actual word choice and attempt to line that up with the behavioral purpose of the sermon then it will have a good chance of reaching the deep “core belief” of the hearers.

As Henry Mitchell notes in his book Black Preaching: The recovery of a lost art, African American preachers often engage in a sermon that is “story telling.” sometimes they even change into the character that they are preaching and preach a first person story. Both of these approaches are steeped in the narrative approach. Sometimes a preacher in the Black tradition is judged by whether they can “Tell the Story.”

One of the interesting things about using the Bible as a source for story telling is that many of the stories of the Bible are in outline form. In order to tell the story the preacher must often use her or his “Sanctified Imagination” to fill in details that are not in the text. Kelly Miller Smith in his book Social Crisis Preaching talks about a “freeze-dried” process to explain this phenomenon. Basically the Bible story is “freeze-dried.” However to make it available and usable by the people, water must be added. Water in this case is details to help the story to be made real in the life of the people.

To fill in these details requires that the preacher get into the characters as well as the scene. In the preacher’s exegesis the preacher should attempt to enter the story to understand it not just mentally, but with eyes, touch, and sound.

Black preachers sometimes use the sound of words to make a rhythm. Sometimes this might be a pause for breath. Sometimes the very taking of the breath will make a noise that is a part of the rhythm. Sometimes even the organist joins in with the rhythm.

Henry Mitchell noted that he didn’t always find significant use of rhythm in black sermons, but he still put it in the section on Black Preaching Style. He noted that he has not found a significant use of rhythm in many sermons except for the pause for breath and the use of musical accompaniment to the sermon that often happens today. While that may be true, still the most effective preachers make use of cadence and rhythm. Mitchell correctly notes that the use of rhythm must be genuine and not for show otherwise it might not be received warmly.

Note a master of cadence or rhythm in his use of words, Dr. Martin Luther King. This clip includes parts of various speeches. The video is not the greatest, but I like the rhythmic and poetic use of languge. Note how the clip begins with the way that King says, “Caught up in an inescapable network of mutuality.”

Now I am going to begin a series of posts on Black Preaching style. This will go on for a while often interrupted by other posts. In this first one I look at Mannerisms that Henry Mitchell describes in his book Black Preaching: The Recovery of a Powerful Art.

Mitchell notes that Black congregations are very permissive of mannerisms of the preacher. Basically the congregation expects that the preacher will be his or herself in the presentation of the gospel and even welcomes things that might be considered quirks in other traditions.

These mannerisms could be gestures, eye movement, and even word choice. Sometimes mannerisms can be excessive and distracting, but often they become almost a “signature” for the preacher that a preacher can use to effectively present her or his message. Mitchell notes some examples like unbuttoning the collar and digging the chin in the chest. We can all probably think of some things like the preacher who always removes his jacket when the preacher is about to enter the “celebration.”

In short the African American congregation expects that the preacher will embody the Gospel message by authentically being his or herself.