📖 Can I Get An Amen?

5 Tips on How to Preach in a Quiet Church

I got called to a church in rural South Carolina. No musicians. No Amen corner. And when I say no Amen corner, I do not just mean there were no deacons on the front row. I mean, there was little to no vocal response at all. Silence. Stillness. The kind of quiet that makes you think, Did they hear me?

Being used to a lively, call-and-response crowd, this was… different. Very different. And I will admit—it shook me. I took it personally for a while. I started second-guessing my sermon. Questioning my delivery. Doubting my effectiveness. My focus shifted from feeding the people to trying to move the people. I became obsessed with getting a reaction in the moment rather than trusting the sermon for life transformation.

One day, I finally had enough and asked a mentor of mine what I should do. I will never forget what he said. He looked at me and said, “People can’t shout and listen at the same time.”

My mind was blown. It clicked.
That was the word I needed.

I was mistaking silence for disengagement. I was craving emotion instead of trusting impact. And from that day on, I began to shift. I re-centered myself, not on how people sounded while I preached, but on how God might be speaking to them as I preached.

If you have ever preached in a quiet church, or if you are in one now, here are five tips to help you stay faithful and focused:

Believe in Your Message

Conviction is its own kind of communication.
Some people listen to your voice. Others listen to your soul.

When you believe in your message, it will show. People may not clap, they may not rock side to side, they may not wave a hand, but they feel it. And more importantly, they hear it.

Belief gives your sermon weight. People may not say “Amen,” but they might go home and call their sister to apologize. That is impact. That is fruit. And that fruit does not always ripen in public.

Preach like what you are saying is real. Like it matters. Like it can change a life. Because it does. And it can.

Deliver with Confidence

God told Jeremiah, “Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you.” That is good advice for preachers. Do not let blank stares make you forget your assignment.

You are not there to get approval. You are there to deliver a message. So stand tall. Speak clearly. And walk in the authority of the one who called you.

Confidence is not arrogance. It is clarity. You are not performing. You are proclaiming. And proclaimers do not panic when the room is quiet.

Remember: the absence of noise does not mean the absence of God.

Do Not Confuse Response with Reception

Everybody who claps did not catch it.
Everybody who is silent is not sleep.

Sometimes the best sermons are met with the deepest silence. Not because people are unmoved, but because they are processing. They are thinking. They are seeing themselves in the message and imagining how life could look if they actually followed through.

Some people will say “Amen.” Others will be an Amen.
Let the Holy Spirit interpret the fruit.

Preaching is not about applause. It is about alignment. If the sermon is doing its work, the room may not move, but hearts will.

Trust the Work of the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the true preacher in the room. We are just the mouthpiece.
The Spirit does the pre-work. The during-work. And the after-work.
Our job is not to manipulate the moment, but to release the message.

Even when people do not respond, the Spirit is planting something in them. Seeds are going down deep. Roots are starting to form. And harvest may come later—but it will come.

Preach in partnership with the Spirit. Trust the quiet. Let the Word do the work.

Measure the Ministry, Not the Moment

If you judge the sermon by how the crowd responded in the sanctuary, you will miss what God is doing in secret. Some sermons do not bloom at the altar—they bloom in the kitchen, in the car, in the quiet moment before someone gives up.

Ministry is bigger than moments. It is about movement. Did the Word move them closer to Christ? Did it nudge them toward healing? Did it crack open something that had been hardened?

You may not see it during the benediction, but if you keep showing up with a clear heart and a true Word, it will show up in their lives.

Final Thought

Quiet churches are not dead churches. Stillness is not absence. Silence is not resistance.

So preach anyway. Preach fully. Preach faithfully.

Because God does not need volume to speak, God needs a vessel who believes.
And if you keep showing up with faith and focus, you will see the fruit.

Even in the quiet.

The Shepherd’s Note is the pastoral reflection section of each newsletter, offering a grounded word of encouragement, correction, or clarity for those called to preach and lead with integrity.