Preaching and the Enneagram: Understanding the gifts and shadows of your Enneagram type
I delivered the first sermon I ever preached—after ordination as a (transitional) deacon—in the Episcopal church where many of my seminary’s professors attended on Sundays.
I offered the sermon just two months after graduating while contemplating whether my next move would be to pursue a Ph.D. in homiletics, as my preaching professor encouraged.
Three days after the sermon, however, I received a two-page, single-spaced letter from one of my professors who attended the service.
The content of the letter, shall we say, suggested I was not only unfit to pursue a higher degree in my field of interest, but I might want to look for a different day job altogether!
It was a scathing critique of my sermon.
And I was mortified.
Criticicism of my sermon felt like criticism of me as a human being.
Already encumbered by the dis-ease of perfectionism, I suffered even more perfectionist angst in my sermon prep after that experience.
To avoid any chance of repeat humiliation, I would make my sermons perfect: word-smithed, polished, manuscripted, with never a comma, jot, or tittle out of place again.
I would control the sermon so I could control the reaction. If the sermon was perfect, there would be nothing to critique—including me.
Based on the usually positive receptions my sermons received in my congregations, my drive for “perfect” sermons seems to have had an upside: the gospel was heard.
That said, the fallacies to my flawed thinking were legion, and one of the most insidious was that I couldn’t be human.
I believed I had to skip all the human steps of development between novice and proficient, tesseracting instantly to “expert.”
I had to be learned—not learning.
Years later when I discovered the Enneagram, it was with a lightning bolt of recognition.
My perfectionism as an Enneagram One, even if it drove me to attempt to craft excellent sermons that fed my parishioners, was fueled more by shame-avoidance than joy-cultivation.
But I didn’t know that.
Now that I do—and with the benefit of a few decades of learning in between—few things delight me more than to be an imperfect human preacher who is always learning.
Preacher, Know Thy Gifts—and Shadows
The Enneagram is a great tool to help us offer the gifts we take into the pulpit to God’s glory, while also helping us recognize the shadows of the gift.
The following is by no means exhaustive, but I offer brief examples of the perspective our Enneagram number might be having on us unduly and unawares.
Ones
Gift: A One’s drive to do the right thing and make the world a better place for everyone can move mountains.
Shadow: Preaching can show a lack of compassion or empathy for parishioners who don’t “get” what they “should” be doing, and subtly reveal resentment, or worse, contempt.
Twos
Gift: Twos will go to the nth degree to craft a great sermon and make themselves available to preach at weddings and funerals of those who don’t have a church home.
Shadow: Twos need to be needed, so in the guise of pastoral care, hospitality, or evangelism, Twos can make themselves too available for any- and everyone’s wedding, funeral, or special occasion—regardless of the personal cost of time, energy, or family life.
Threes
Gift: The Three’s need to succeed can prompt them to work very hard to be stellar preachers, and listeners are the beneficiaries.
Shadow: The lure to be seen as a “Celebrity Preacher” is a potential pitfall. Threes might not preach to magnify the Lord as much as they do to magnify themselves.
Fours
Gift: The true artists of the Enneagram, Fours dig deep to find that unexpected kernel of truth that reaches deep into listeners’ souls.
Shadow: Fours can feel a bit superior in their quest to bring the beauty of the gospel to light. They can believe they have something truer, deeper, and more authentic to preach than other preachers, robbing themselves of the joy of the gospel by constantly comparing their sermons’ to others.
Fives
Gift: Fives see the big picture and are adept at seeing patterns of Scripture and patterns of the World. Placing them side by side in a sermon can widen eyes to new perspectives.
Shadow: Fives may be tempted to trust the Great Thinkers instead of trusting the thoughts God gives them. Their sermons can err on the side of scholarly discourse at the expense of the wounded humans right in front of them—the ones who need their pastor, not Pantaenus.
Sixes
Gift: Loyal to God, Scripture, and denomination, Sixes shepherd us well on the orthodox path to love God and love neighbor, just like the Bible says.
Shadow: Safety in numbers motivates Sixes, so if feeling threatened they can offer their loyalty to a distorted version of Church, denomination or parish.
Sevens
Gift: An innate, infectious exuberance draws people in to hear a Seven preach. The life of the party and the one you want at your dinner party, Sevens can make everything fun: even a sermon on Leviticus becomes the one everyone wants to hear.
Shadow: Good Friday? Pass. Sevens don’t want to explore their own shadows let alone the painful stories of Scripture. This can lead to sermons that are all glory and no cross, ignoring the suffering their parishioners experience in real life.
Eights
Gift: Confident and eager to preach prophetically, Eights love nothing better than to challenge the powers that be.
Shadow: Confidence can turn into arrogance and contempt for listeners—and fellow preachers—not yet ready to take up The Good Fight. A lack of empathy and impatience can come through their sermons in not so subtle ways.
Nines
Gift: Even-keeled, gentle, affable souls, Nines see both sides of the issues and find the common ground that brings people together.
Shadow: Nines can be Peacemakers to a fault. Avoiding conflict at all costs, they may not champion the ones whom Jesus says could use one.
Create Sacred Space to Come to Yourself
Our backstories—known and unknown, those hidden and brought to light—affect the ways we interpret Scripture, theology, the world, and our congregations.
The Enneagram is just one tool that helps us articulate what is helpful about who we are, and what is as yet unknown to us.
If you’re not familiar with the Enneagram or haven’t considered its effects on your preaching, I encourage you to do so. (A good place to start is Richard Rohr and Andreas Ebert’s book, The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective.)
Because our Enneagram perspectives are so deeply entrenched and its shadows devilishly clever in finding their way into the nooks and crannies of our preaching, we often can’t recognize their influence by ourselves.
We need trusted colleagues, friends, and mentors to show us, kindly and reverently, when we’re offering our gifts to the benefit of those around us—and when we’re offering too much of that gift and need to pull it back a notch or two!
Forming a colleague group on your own or seeking a mentor to explore the Enneagram and its influence on preaching can offer tremendous insights.
I am extremely blessed to work in the company of preachers who aren’t afraid to (respectfully and kindly) point out each other’s gifts, or be gracious and vulnerable with each other when our shadows are exposed.
The Mentors at Backstory Preaching have created sacred space amongst ourselves where we meet regularly to appraise our sermons and explore our backstories, including how our Enneagram type influences our preaching and mentoring.
In each other’s company, we come to our sacred selves and thus preach more authentically and effectively.
If you don’t have a group or mentor, I invite you to consider The Backstory Preaching Mentorship.
Whether you want to explore your Enneagram number specifically or consider other aspects of your backstory, together we create a sacred space and process so that— alongside other preachers and Mentors—we are being transformed into the Good News we preach.