It’s Saturday night—what are you doing? If you’re preaching Sunday morning, you’re likely finishing up the details of your message. Pastors are busy people, and the weight of preparing a weekly sermon often falls later and later into the week, regardless of your best intentions. Then, suddenly, it’s Saturday, and you’re left praying and preparing for the next day.
You know how that usually ends—your messages are rushed, redundant, and underprepared. They are microwave meals instead of a well-seasoned dinner. Worse, you don’t have a discipleship plan for your congregation. You are dictated by the moment. And when the moment dictates your actions, you often fail to look to the future.
But what if it didn’t have to be that way? What if you really could plan your sermon more than two or three weeks in advance? While sometimes the Holy Spirit changes our course at the last minute, planning a preaching plan that leverages the seasons of the year will free you to be more studied, confident, and intentional.
If you take the time to prepare your sermons further in advance, you’ll have more time to prepare, leading to better messages. You’ll have more flexibility to adapt when needs arise. But even more than preaching, you’ll be able to minister to people better by being wholly present when you’re needed most.
We want to help you with the tools you need to succeed as you communicate the most important message on the planet. That’s why we’re hosting a live webinar on Thursday, September 15 at 2pm ET. In this webinar, Ministry Pass and Sermonary co-founders Justin Trapp and Wade Bearden will join Church Juice’s Bryan Haley to teach you how to plan your sermon calendar twelve months in advance, empowering you to preach the gospel more clearly and intentionally.
You’ll walk away with practical how-tos that will empower you to plan your sermon calendar without taking a ton of effort. We’d love to have you join us for this free webinar—click here to register! Have questions? Shoot us a message.
This article was originally published at Church Juice. Church Juice is a production of ReFrame Ministries, the media missions agency of the Christian Reformed Church in North America.
Comments
If the purpose of excellent sermons are to address concerns, needs, and desires of a group of people such as a congregation, how can anyone set up a year's speaking agenda without having a substantial knowledge of his/her audience's lives? I believe the first order of things aught to be learning as much as possible about your congregation, then fashion sermons, bringing the Word of God to bear on the needs/desires/concerns of the congregation. I know all scripture is useful to teach, but your congregations are not faceless individuals, and like sponges absorb whatever is irrelevantly cast at them , all with the same issues. So, please, when fashioning any sermon, think about where your congregation sits, consider the experiences they may have had that may have encouraged, disappointed caused grief and joys of being counted among the elect.
May God bless you all in your calling, I know it may be difficult for many.
If the purpose of excellent sermons are to address concerns, needs, and desires of a group of people such as a congregation, how can anyone set up a year's speaking agenda without having a substantial knowledge of his/her audience's lives? I believe the first order of things aught to be learning as much as possible about your congregation, then fashion sermons, bringing the Word of God to bear on the needs/desires/concerns of the congregation. I know all scripture is useful to teach, but your congregations are not faceless individuals, and like sponges absorb whatever is irrelevantly cast at them , all with the same issues. So, please, when fashioning any sermon, think about where your congregation sits, consider the experiences they may have had that may have encouraged, disappointed caused grief and joys of being counted among the elect.
May God bless you all in your calling, I know it may be difficult for many.
Let's Discuss
We love your comments! Thank you for helping us uphold the Community Guidelines to make this an encouraging and respectful community for everyone.