MVP Training & Formation

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Formation for faithful leadership. Explore courses for CREs, pastors, elders, deacons, and other church leaders.

Training scheduleLeadership pathsCatalog source: Church Commons

Course information is maintained by Church Commons and refreshed automatically on MVP. Course numbers identify curriculum areas, not a learner’s experience. Prerequisites apply only when listed.

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PRAC 101 · 100 Series

Preaching Lab 1

Foundational Ministry Practice

About this course

This workshop introduces foundational skills for effective preaching by focusing on communication, structure, and listener engagement prior to advanced work in biblical interpretation and exegesis. The course is designed to help students recognize and address common barriers to hearing and understanding the preached word, and to develop habits of proclamation that are clear, hospitable, and attentive to the lived experience of listeners.

Attention is given to identifying rhetorical, structural, and delivery practices that unintentionally inhibit communication, including abstraction, over-explanation, lack of narrative movement, and assumptions about listener knowledge. Students are introduced to several sermon frameworks that support clarity and engagement, including the Homiletical Loop and the Four Pages of the Sermon, as tools for shaping sermons that move faithfully from text to life and back again.

The workshop emphasizes preaching as an act of communication in service of the gospel, not performance or information transfer. Through guided practice, discussion, and reflection, students begin to develop preaching instincts that are listener-aware, theologically grounded, and pastorally responsible.

Course objectives

  • Identify common communicative obstacles that prevent sermons from being heard and received.
  • Describe preaching as a relational and theological act shaped by both content and form.
  • Be able to identity the focus of the sermon in one sentence.
  • Be able to identify the function of the sermon, including application options/holy invitations
  • Utilize basic sermon structures, including the Homiletical Loop and the Four Pages of the Sermon.
  • Demonstrate increased awareness of listeners, context, and narrative movement in preaching.
  • Practice sermon development that prioritizes clarity, coherence, and theological integrity.
  • Reflect on their own preaching habits and identify areas for continued growth.

Who may participate?

All church leaders unless a prerequisite or a particular offering states otherwise.