One of the largest free collections of sermon illustrations, organized by topic, scripture, and theological tradition.

Stay updated

New illustrations, features & occasional discounts

Browse

By Topic
By Scripture
By Tradition
By Emotion
By Source Type
Sermon Slides

Resources

Sample Illustrations
About
Premium
Contact Us
SermonWise AI
PewSearch
ChurchWiseAI

Support

Contact Us
+1 (888) 603-0316
support@churchwiseai.com
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service
Refund Policy

Home›Traditions›Anabaptist

Anabaptist Illustrations

Radical discipleship, pacifism, and the church as a distinct counter-cultural community.

Key question: “How does this text call the community of faith to live as a distinct, counter-cultural witness to the Kingdom?”

23,674 sermon illustrations through the Anabaptist lens

Sermon Illustration

The Night Shift Dispatcher Who Learned to Hear

Maria Chen was three weeks into her training at the Sacramento 911 dispatch center when she nearly missed the call that mattered most. A woman...

1 Samuel 3:1-10Universal

245 words

PreviousPage 790 of 987Next

Sermon Illustration

The Moravians Who Would Not Wait

In October 1731, a young Moravian named Johann Leonard Dober attended a gathering in Herrnhut, Germany, where he heard Count Nikolaus von Zinzendorf describe the...

Luke 2:15-21Universal

234 words

Sermon Illustration

The Second Foreman

On March 17, 1977, George Foreman shuffled into his dressing room in Puerto Rico after losing a grueling twelve-round decision to Jimmy Young. Foreman was...

Universaltransformation

229 words

Sermon Illustration

The Mother Who Prayed While Her Son Read the Tract

In June 1849, seventeen-year-old Hudson Taylor wandered into his father's library in Barnsley, England, looking for something to pass the time. He picked up a...

John 1:43-51Universal

236 words

Sermon Illustration

Kagawa's Christmas in the Kobe Slums

On Christmas Day, 1909, a twenty-one-year-old seminary student named Toyohiko Kagawa walked into the Shinkawa slums of Kobe, Japan — six square blocks where fifteen...

Isaiah 58:1-12Universal

222 words

Sermon Illustration

George Müller and the School of Grace

In 1825, a young German theology student named George Müller spent his evenings gambling, drinking, and stealing from friends. He once forged his father's signature...

Titus 2:11-12Universal

233 words

Sermon Illustration

The Man Who Turned Back on the Ice

On a bitter winter day in 1569, a Dutch Anabaptist named Dirk Willems squeezed through the window of his prison cell in Asperen, Holland. He...

Luke 6:27-38Universal

247 words

Sermon Illustration

The Night the Beach Began to Move

In the summer of 2019, a twenty-year-old marine biology intern named Adriana arrived at Ostional Beach in Costa Rica to help monitor olive ridley sea...

1 Samuel 3:1-10Universal

271 words

Sermon Illustration

The Tree on Riverside Drive

Every morning for thirty-seven years, Margaret Chen walked the same half-mile stretch along Riverside Drive in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She knew every tree on that path....

Psalm 1Universal

252 words

Sermon Illustration

Florence Nightingale and the Wards of Scutari

In 1854, Florence Nightingale arrived at the British military hospital in Scutari, Turkey, and found a nightmare. Wounded soldiers lay on filthy floors, neglected by...

Ezekiel 34:11-16Universal

227 words

Sermon Illustration

The Surgeon Who Handed Over the Scalpel

In 2019, Dr. Rana Awdish, a critical care physician at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, collapsed in the hallway of her own ICU. A ruptured...

Luke 5:1-11Universal

224 words

Movie Analogy

Finding Nemo: I Promised I Would Never Let Anything Happen to You (Matthew 10:29-31)

In the vibrant depths of the ocean, we find Marlin, a caring clownfish, navigating the waters with a heavy heart. He has already lost his beloved wife and most of his children to the merciless jaws of a predator. Only...

Matthew 10:29-31Universalfearparenting

309 words

Sermon Illustration

The Lady with the Lamp Who Sought the Forgotten

When Florence Nightingale arrived at the British military hospital in Scutari in November 1854, she found soldiers lying in their own filth on bare floors,...

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24Universal

221 words

Sermon Illustration

Monday Prayers in Leipzig

On October 9, 1989, seventy thousand people filled the streets of Leipzig, East Germany, carrying candles. The Communist regime had stationed troops and armored vehicles...

Acts 12:1-11Universal

226 words

Sermon Illustration

The Stockbroker Who Became a Father to 669

In December 1938, a twenty-nine-year-old London stockbroker named Nicholas Winton canceled his skiing holiday and traveled to Prague instead. What he found in the refugee...

Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24aUniversal

245 words

Vivid Retelling

Stay Awake: Mark 13:28-37

Cinematic retelling of Jesus' teaching on watchfulness

Universal

340 words

Sermon Illustration

The File That Already Had Her Name

In 2019, a fourteen-year-old girl named Maya sat in a group home in Columbus, Ohio, convinced nobody was coming for her. She had aged out...

John 1:43-51Universal

240 words

Vivid Retelling

Seven Letters, Seven Churches: Revelation 2-3

Cinematic retelling of the seven letters to the churches

Universal

531 words

Sermon Illustration

The Intersection With No Traffic Light

In 2003, the city of Drachten in the Netherlands tried something radical. Traffic engineer Hans Monderman convinced officials to remove nearly all traffic signs, signals,...

Judges 21:25Universal

237 words

Sermon Illustration

When the Testimony Walked Into the Room

Before Frederick Douglass ever stood on a platform, abolitionists in the North had heard plenty about slavery. They read pamphlets and printed testimonies. They studied...

Hebrews 1:1-4Universal

240 words

Vivid Retelling

Water, Blood, and Spirit: The Three Witnesses

A historical reconstruction of 1 John 5:1-21 in its context of churches shaken by schism and false teaching. Examines the three witnesses (Spirit, water, blood) that testify to Jesus as Christ come in flesh, the assurance passages that John writes so believers may know they have eternal life, and the letter's abrupt closing: keep yourselves from idols.

Universal

1383 words

Sermon Illustration

The Playwright Who Believed in a City Reborn

In 1979, Václav Havel sat in a Prague prison cell, convicted for the crime of speaking truth under communist rule. Czechoslovakia had endured decades of...

Jeremiah 33:14-16Universal

232 words

Sermon Illustration

The Map That Was Already There

In 2003, after thirteen years of painstaking work, Francis Collins and an international team of scientists completed the Human Genome Project — mapping the entire...

Psalm 139:1-3, 13-15Universal

237 words

Sermon Illustration

The Intersection Where They Removed the Stop Signs

In 2009, the town of Drachten in the Netherlands tried something radical. Traffic engineers removed nearly all the stop signs, traffic lights, and lane markings...

Judges 21:25Universal

233 words