You are preaching through the Psalms because you want to learn to commune with God through the ups and downs of life. Tony is the Chief Strategic Officer and founder of The Unstuck Group.

As I said in this post, having sermon series planned out for the year also makes sure you’re covering a variety of topics, the full scope of the Bible. Subjective impressions are neither determinative nor evil. Those seasons are cyclical. Your explanations will probably be more robust, but my point is that knowing the heart behind a series can help the congregation own the series. Use a series to teach through a specific doctrine. I'm married to the love of my life, Tiffany. Here’s a free sermon planning template to help you quickly and completely prepare your message. You want more opportunities for people to invite their friends. This file can also be downloaded from that new Pdf window. © 2019 churchleaders.com, All rights reserved. In preaching, I believe learning how to write a sermon is more important than being gifted. If possible, ask two or three seasoned, experienced pastors to listen to your sermons and give you honest, no-holds-barred feedback. Leading the people into a hunger for expositional preaching sometimes starts with smaller bites. ), to the point where you miss the main overall point of the text. Teach through a book of the Bible in another series. God will be pleased, the church will be built and your soul will be deeply satisfied. I'm the Senior Pastor of People's Church in Oklahoma City.
If not, doing an expositional series on a long book, like Luke, may not be wise to launch the church. An email appeared in my box the other day with a question bursting with relevance: “I’m brand new to the game of weekly preaching and I would love to hear how you plan your sermon calendars for the year and the breakdown of each book you teach…”. Before you start anything, try to get some scheduled time with your preaching team to hear their big idea for the series. More: Timothy Keller on How He Prepares Sermons - Timothy Keller ; The "New" Old Way to Plan Your Sermons - Dan Meyer ; Loosening My Grip - Brian Lowery - Most recent. Teach a series of messages on a specific biblical character. It contains some simple strategies to help you improve how you plan for teaching series. Your teaching will not produce life change unless you also provide life application. So, here it is. I've extolled the virtues of advanced message series planning for years on this blog, but I realized I've never really described the process in detail. Take care that you don’t get overly bogged down in the minutiae of a passage (Greek tenses, historical background, etc. David Daniels. They depend on where you are located.

What pace serves your people right now? It doesn’t spell it out any further than that. Our tendency is to deliver only the information we want people to hear. The series "brand" can unify what a church says and does. Remember, you are seeking to serve the people in your church. 10. Plan Ahead. And that's if you already are seasoned in how to write a sermon! You don’t need to do what Spurgeon, Piper or Chandler did. Grasping what God may want you to focus on in a sermon series may seem like an elusive task.

10 Ways to Improve Sermon Series Planning. You’re asking for help because you need answers. Rest easy.

... 261 sermon outlines, including 17 multi-week sermon series. The pastors control this. The Bible doesn’t spell out a step by step plan for how to plan a sermon series. Sermon Files (Pdf) Click on desired file to open file in a new window and read sermon of that date. In a discussion like this, it should be noted that this is an area where we have freedom and flexibility.

Teach on a topic one series. Regardless of if it's your first sermon or the thousandth. There will always be tension here, but the objective is to try to balance out using services to attract a crowd and help people take their next steps in their spiritual journey. To wrap up this mini-series on series planning, I went back in to the archives and dug up this list. Here are…. Are you clear? If they’re willing to empower artists, God can use this creativity to prepare people’s hearts for the message. This is only my process, but I'm sure there are better ones out there. Here are… It trains the mind to think more clearly. Deliver biblical truth and life application. Teach through a book of the Bible in another series. In the mid 1970’s, Earl Palmer (Sr. Pastor of the 4th Presbyterian Church in Berkley, California) once explained his approach to preparing a sermon that works. At West Ridge, we’ve actually color-coded our teaching calendar to make sure we maintain a healthy balance.

Your friend may be impressed by your ability to take 3 years to go through Philemon, but the goal is service not bragging rights. You also provide time for appropriate promotions to occur. Pastors should teach, and artists should be creative. Here's my step by step guide to planning out sermons over a year. Leverage the seasons when folks are most likely to attend church. You can spend a lot of money on advertising or direct mail, but the number one way new people will attend your services is through an invitation from someone who already attends your church. I like to launch new series that have a more outreach focus when people are more likely to attend services and invite their friends. This means God’s word is not merely exposited, but delivered to a specific congregation at a specific time. Church members love sermon series and here are 10 ways to plan an amazing sermon series. Find the right balance between “reach people” series and “grow people” series. I'm a committed follower of Christ.

Prayer. Use a series to teach through a specific doctrine. I like to launch new series that have a more outreach focus when people are more likely to attend services and invite their friends. Make it a goal in every message to clearly identify one next step for people to take to apply what they’ve learned. Consider the maturity level of the congregation. They were preaching for their specific congregation. How do other preachers you respect (both dead and alive) divide the book when teaching through it? Some ways to discover the timeliness of a particular series include: When determining the length of a teaching series, I would encourage you to ask: Since you asked about the wisdom of going long and deep on shorter sections, let me encourage you to consider: I would also encourage you to get regular feedback on the messages you preach.

Obviously, Christmas and Easter are two common times when people are likely to attend church.

Since the elders are responsible to exercise oversight in the church (. If you’re Piper-esque in your preaching (and by the way, that can’t be a self-assessment….it’s gotta come from others! It can help to rotate between books that are more theological and books that are more narrative or “practical”. They depend on where you are located. However, it's worked for me for years. This isn’t the obligatory action step offered and dispatched so we can get to the important stuff of leadership and logistics! 9. It contains some simple strategies to help you improve how you plan for teaching series. Preaching through the entirety of Romans, followed by exploring each chapter of Ezekiel may not serve your congregation most effectively.

Mix up your approach. Generally, narratives can be done in larger chunks than epistles. After several readings of this Bible book, how does it appear to group naturally for me? Your teaching will not produce life change unless you also provide life application. There will always be tension here, but the objective is to try to balance out using services to attract a crowd and help people take their next steps in their spiritual journey. Oh and if you’re a newer preacher, seek to identify a proposition, or main overarching point, for each sermon. Consider how God has been speaking to you personally through your own communion with him. A friend of mine routinely reviews the headlines of women’s magazines to get a sense of the topics that people are discussing in today’s culture. Leverage the seasons when folks are most likely to attend church. By. Here’s a free sermon planning template to help you quickly and completely prepare your message.

You can trust that God will use your efforts, no matter how feeble. 4. ), feel free to take two years to go through Romans. Teach a series of messages on a specific biblical character. Your level of gifting. Another team may drive the series packaging, including identifying titles and visual images. 1. The Bible assumes you will be preaching the word in season and out of season. Your people.

If you’re teaching through a book and it needs to go longer than that, try to break it up into multiple series. Are they used to expositional preaching? How did the translators of your Bible break up each section of the book you want to exposit? Make it easier for people to invite their friends.


What if I mess it up? Also ask the leaders in your church to give you honest feedback. These are 7 strategic sermon series that God has used in a pivotal way to exponentially grow disciples at Liquid Church-- one The Top Three Faith Moments in the Harris-Pence Vice Presidential Debate, The Bible Has Been Translated Into Its 700th Language, The Vicious Cycle You Need to Fear: The Lonely Use of Porn, Why Your Youth Ministry Numbers Are in Decline, A Simple Way Leaders (Or Anyone) Can Reduce Stress, Things We Don’t Want to Talk About (But Probably Should), 7 Ways to Show Appreciation to Your Lead Pastor, Pastoring Undocumented Workers in Civil Unrest, 5 Core Qualities of Leadership Confidence, The Power of Small Things: God’s Open Secret, The Crucial Step We Must Not Forget When We Preach – Apply the Scriptures, Hospitals, Not Country Clubs: Churches Without the Broken Are Broken Churches. You are preaching through Romans because you want to grow in understanding the gospel. Your average series should be 4 to 6 weeks. 1. To wrap up this mini-series on series planning, I went back in to the archives and dug up this list.

You need to preach in such a way that will feed those put under your care. Remember the people who already attend your church are your best promotions vehicle. Struggling with sermon preparation? The book’s genre. When preaching a particular series, explain to the congregation the purpose behind the series. Address questions that people are asking. The series I’ve experienced with the biggest impact both numerically and in life change have occurred when artists let the pastor drive the teaching and pastors let the artists drive the creative elements. The rest of us mortals need to consider our abilities and aim for more reasonable goals. Without application, people may experience conviction or inspiration, but they won’t know what to do with that. You can wait until Saturday to finish your message, but try to at least outline your topics a couple of months in advance. Those seasons are cyclical. For some pastors, the whole idea of planning out a lengthy preaching series may present a significant temptation to fear. Yet in all of this please remember, your primary goal is to feed your folks. Whatever the case, the end result will always be better when you have the right people engaged in a team approach. Getting up in front of your church and preaching every week is a challenge. (.