● Preach Like the Greats · 09 of 87

Preach Like Augustine
of Hippo.

Talk with the crowd, not at them: teach, delight and persuade.

Preach Like Augustine of Hippo — Talk with the crowd, not at them: teach, delight and persuade.. A free guide from Pastor Center.
  • ✓10 of his sermons, studied start to finish
  • ✓Ten steps to preach the way he did
  • ✓A fill-in outline in his shape, 8 pages

Where should we send it?

Fill this in and the PDF is yours on the next screen.

Free. Instant download. We never sell your information.

By submitting this form, you agree that Pastor Center may follow up with you via SMS. Reply STOP anytime to opt out. Msg & data rates may apply.

— Why he’s one of the greats

Talk with the crowd, not at them: teach, delight and persuade.

As bishop of Hippo he preached an estimated 8,000 sermons to a congregation that stood, and stenographers took many down as he spoke. Roughly 500-550 survive, and new ones are still being found. His secret: he talked with the crowd, not at them. He read their faces out loud, named the hardest question in the text, and gave a homely picture for every abstract idea. Every text led to the whole Christ (head and body) and to love. His rule, borrowed from Cicero: “to teach, to delight, and to persuade.”

  • 8,000Estimated sermons over about 40 years of preaching
  • 500+Sermons that survive, with new ones still being found
  • Book IVOf On Christian Teaching, the first Christian handbook on preaching

What makes his style unique

He talked with the crowdHe read their faces out loud and voiced their questions.
A homely pictureEvery abstract idea got an image people could see.
Christ and loveEvery text led to the whole Christ and to love.

The pattern in every sermonThe reading → The puzzle → Dialogue → Image and wordplay → The whole Christ → Love → Turn to God

“It was not… when I heard their applause, but when I saw their tears, that I thought I had produced an effect.”
Augustine, On Christian Teaching 4.24.53

Read the full story: How Augustine of Hippo Preached →

— Who wrote this

We’re pastors. We’ve had your Monday.

Pastor Center is built and written by pastors — a lead pastor who planted churches, and a church planter who grew one to 4,000 in four years. The same team teaches 9 free courses and 164 lessons. This guide is the short version.

  • 9free courses
  • 164lessons, all free
  • ARCChurches partner

— What you get

What’s inside

Preach Like Augustine of Hippo — Talk with the crowd, not at them: teach, delight and persuade..

  1. 01Why he’s one of the greatsThe story, the numbers and what made his style his own.
  2. 02What he does10 of his sermons, studied start to finish, and the shape they share.
  3. 03How he does itTen steps to preach the way he did.
  4. 04His outlineWhere the time goes, movement by movement.
  5. 05Write one like Augustine of HippoA fill-in outline in his shape, ready for your own text.
  6. 06SourcesEvery quote and number, cited.

— The plan

Three steps. Starting today.

01

Tell us where to send it

One short form. The PDF is on the very next screen — no trial, no card, nothing to wait for.

02

Study him in one sitting

8 pages: 10 of his sermons studied, ten steps, and an outline you fill in with your own text.

03

Preach it Sunday

Fill in the outline with your own text and preach your next sermon the way Augustine of Hippo would.

Get your free copy

One minute, and the PDF is yours.

Free. Instant download. We never sell your information.

By submitting this form, you agree that Pastor Center may follow up with you via SMS. Reply STOP anytime to opt out. Msg & data rates may apply.

Built for this.

You just studied one of the greats. Sermons helps you do the same work every week: research on your passage in minutes, a library of every sermon you’ve preached, and a coach that hears your rehearsal before Sunday.

7-day free trial · Card required · Cancel anytime

Preach Like the Greats, a free book

Free book · 203 pages

Want all 87? Get the whole book free.

Every guide in one PDF, from Clement of Rome to the pastors filling arenas today, plus the family tree of preaching and the eight styles, beat by beat.

Free. Instant download. We never sell your information.

By submitting this form, you agree that Pastor Center may follow up with you via SMS. Reply STOP anytime to opt out. Msg & data rates may apply.

Keep going through the greats

87 preachers, 87 free PDFs. See all 87 →