The "Fill-In" Church Sermon Notes Method

This video has everything you need to know about The “Fill-In” Sermon Notes Method for churches.
This strategy will increase congregation attention during your pastor’s message.
And it will also boost retention of what’s being taught.
Bottom line:
If you want the people in your church to get the most out of your weekly sermon, you’ll love this video.
Here’s the deal:
Attention spans are pretty small.
How small? When it comes to listening to speeches - or in the case of our churches, listening to sermons - the average attention span is estimated to be around 5-10 minutes.
Meanwhile, the average sermon length is about 30-45 minutes.
Why does this matter?
It matters because the goal of our sermons is for our congregation to hear them, not to simply sit through them.
I want my church to absorb what is being said and then actively live it out.
But this cannot happen if we can’t first overcome the short attention span of the human brain.
What can we do about this?
Simply stated, my preferred approach is to invite listeners into the learning and listening process while speaking.
I call this - The "Fill-In" Church Sermon Notes Method.
CLICK below to find the full post with all links and resources mentioned in this video!
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[@prochurchtools]

QUESTION: The "Fill-In" Church Sermon Notes Method gives your church the ability to add their own notes to your sermon outline AND export their sermon notes to save for later. Which of those is more exciting to you? The ability to add your own sermon notes to the pastor's outline? Or exporting your notes to save for later? LMK below! 👇👇👇👇👇👇

[@KJSCalderon]

I suck at notetaking and the fill in method helps a lot

[@Gametris]

Hey, Brady! One of the things I appreciate about PCT and your crew is how you are living out the mission of the company in transparency while helping churches modernize one step at a time. It is obvious you guys put a lot into this video, and I agree with 99% of it. The only piece of feedback I would offer is in regards to the "fill-in-the-blank" option. While I understand your point, and I think it has merit, churches have people of all types of learning styles and mental acuities, and we have to meet them where they are. You said in the video that you get the question about fill-in-the-blanks a lot. My question would be why not add the option and let churches decide whether or not to use it?
Our church has used fill-in-the-blanks for 25 years, and it is something Pastor JoBobLeroy likes to have so he can emphasize main points of the sermon. We also leave space on our bulletins for note taking so I guess you could say we use the best of both worlds. Keep up the great work!

[@lukeitaliano8841]

I served at a congregation that had never done any kind of note-taking; fill-in-the-blank was a "first step" to teaching them that yes, it's ok to take notes during the sermon! So I agree -- fill-in-the-blank has a place depending your people and where they're at.

[@prochurchtools]

Appreciate the feedback! I try to make decisions based on data as much as possible. So in this instance, the tradeoff would be...will people use fill-in-the-blanks? Maybe/yes. Will it be helpful in accomplishing the goal of the sermon? I don't know...
Bottom line: what's the goal? Is the goal to have as many people fill in the blanks as possible? Or is the goal to have people retain the message and actually live it out? Obviously, the latter. And I just don't see how fill-in-the-blanks helps accomplish that mission - because it's not condusive to active listening, but rather selective listening. I'm open to disagreement though!

[@LadiesofPurposeTV]

Haha I don’t like fill in the blank either🤣. Totally checking out your resources. Thank you!!

[@prochurchtools]

Glad to have you stopping by!

[@ricklwb]

Great video. We have been using the event feature of life church Bible app. Yes it has to be downloaded but I find most people already have it on their phones. I will have to take a look at nucleus.

[@prochurchtools]

🙌

[@kyledouglasthompson]

What up Brady? Our church still prints a physical copy of our bulletin with a sermon notes insert every week. Small, older congregation. Would you say the online note taking is as important to push exclusively as say sign-ups for events?
We may be changing our Sunday handout soon and I'm a little worried to make the plunge to say "oh, the sermon notes you're used to are ONLY online now." Since many really do enjoy handwriting notes.

[@joelwolski]

I like the ability to export the notes, but what form are the notes exported in? My first assumption is that it's just formatted as a plain text email as that would be the easiest.

[@JMartinRandomThings]

This video was MOST informative! It stinks that I just spent almost $300 for a year with another website builder that probably doesn’t have the “fill in” notes option! Any suggestions?

[@prochurchtools]

Just because your website provider doesn't have a "fill in" notes option doesn't mean all is lost! Of course, if you ever want to make the switch to www.nucleus.church/ we'll be ready for you!

[@mhpreach]

That would work good if the church has internet access. We don’t. I do a notecard, size varies. Some are 3.5x6, 2.25x7. Some are fill in some they can write their own. When I taught at Purdue University and had access to Adobe I used Indesign. I now use either Microsoft Publisher or Swift Publisher to make them. Can be seen @ mikealrhughes.com/sermon. We pass out paper copies in the assembly but there are pdf copies available for those picking up the lessons on one of 12 venues we use.

[@jirehone7]

I prefer the add notes text box. Also I was wondering whether there is box to ask questions with regards to the sermon. Is there a link to the preacher or the church? Thanks for the reply. Cornelius, Malaysia.

[@prochurchtools]

Cornelius Velo Yep, here’s how to add live chat: help.nucleus.church/en/articles/1700993-add-live-chat-drift-to-your-nucleus