A little while back I wrote about how I generally write my teaching outlines. You can learn more about that here. In line with sharing how I preach, I wanted to talk about sermon planning in regards to a year-long preaching calendar. That’s right – a year’s sermon planning at a time. Don’t be scared. It’s not that bad.
The reasons why I plan an entire 12 month calendar in advance for preaching are many:
- I can get a 30,000 foot view of what I’m teaching our people over an entire year.
- I can plan around unique opportunities better.
- I’m able to anticipate days off, schedule guest preachers, etc.
- I can package graphics, church communications, worship sets, creative elements, web elements, and much more well in advance and far better.
- I have a radar up for what God may be showing me for an upcoming series/sermon.
- I can channel all my creative juices into a concentrated couple of weeks of planning for the upcoming year instead of constantly having to think up new, creative series.
- I get to prepare for those couple of planning weeks with prayer and fasting for the coming year.
My series almost always run for 4-6 weeks, occasionally being as short as two weeks, or going as long as eight. But eight is the very rare exception. Series longer than six weeks have to be the best, most powerful teaching series I’ll probably do for over the next two years. If I’m not convinced I can do that with a given series subject/passage – I shorten it.
I know pastors who preach through one book of the Bible, verse-by-verse, for years on end – but this feels vain to me and dishonest to the Scriptures, and Jesus didn’t do that, so the compulsion to grind slowly through one book is lost on me.
So here’s how I plan it out. I usually do my two weeks of planning in October for the following year so all of my leaders involved in worship, small groups, graphics, and project planning can prioritize months in advance.
- Big Days. I plan three big days a year, and they’re always the same three days: Easter, Sunday after Labor Day, and Sunday before Christmas. I treat Easter like it were a one day series – all the same effort as a normal 4-6 week series, but packed into one weekend. Christmas is usually a highlighted week at the end of a series that ties into the season. And The Fall Big Day is always the beginning of another series. These three days are highly publicized, planned, and packed with tons of energy and creativity. They also set the tone for the next few months before the next Big Day.
- Christmas – Easter. Based on our “Big Days”, I set strategic plans between them for what I feel like we are suppose to accomplish. I can mix these up occasionally, but generally…
- January is a series that is a big challenge regarding habits and resolutions.
- February is almost always a relationship series.
- March is a great time for a more expository series, preferably tying the end of it into our vision for Easter. This March, I’m doing a series on the Parables.
- Easter – Summer. This is a short gap before school gets out. Without fail, the series I do right after Easter is what some might call a “highly attractional” series – something people of various spiritual levels are interested in learning more about. But it’s also critical that I disciple people right after Easter also. We always aim for one good baptism service in this time frame. This series is often on anything from marriage, finances, sex, stress, or even just a “Now What?” series about what it means to follow Jesus if you just came to Christ (like, at Easter). May is either another expository series, or a series focused on serving. We participate in community involvement to set a good tone for summer…
- Summer. This season, I accept that I’m going to have fewer guests each week, and many of my regulars are going to be sporadic attenders with being out of town, on business, vacationing, or seeing family. So I try to have fun with it. I plan some series that I wouldn’t normally do in a higher attended season. I also try to take the more consistent, faithful people into a deeper walk with their faith. Once I did a series where I basically confessed all my major faults and flaws and preached at myself for 4 weeks. I do a stewardship series, and I also like the idea of having a series that’s more Q&A related. This gives me the chance to make sure I’m answering questions people are actually asking. I end the summer with something that focuses on our mission and prepares people for the coming Fall Big Day.
- Labor Day – Christmas. This is easily my favorite part of the calendar year to preach. I put all my best ideas and planning into this season, which is why it gets the longest prep time. The opening series of our Fall Big Day is usually painting with a broad brush. Last year, for the launch of LifeCity Church, I went through the book of Acts for 5 weeks and talked about what the first church was like and what that means for us today.
- October is heavy on discipleship – talking about avoiding temptation, for instance.
- November is an attitude check. Last year I did a series on “Seasons” of loss and processing grief. We saw a ton of tears and healing.
- December is a setup for Christmas, but I like thinking at it from different angles. Once I did an expository series through the book of Ruth that ended with the prophecy of the coming Messiah.
- Sunday between Christmas and New Years. This is the one day I would cancel church worship gathering all together if I could. Everyone is exhausted (including me) or out of town. Instead, I usually use this Sunday as a reconnect, take it slow, and fellowship Sunday. Worship is almost always a softer, acoustic setup, and I might let my 9 year-old daughter preach… Kidding aside, someone else can preach that week so I can have more energy to tackle the beginning New Year series the following week.
By the time I get around to each October, I’ve jotted down about a hundred ideas of series I’d like to do the following year. I have series planned out from 4 years ago that I still haven’t preached. Now, I’ve always got a few spare messages ready to go if I need to fill in for a speaking engagement somewhere.
If you’re a pastor, or weekly preacher, how do you plan out your preaching? What in this post was beneficial to you? Feel free to ask more specific questions in the comments below.
Blessings,
Pastor John
“I know pastors who preach through one book of the Bible, verse-by-verse, for years on end – but this feels vain to me and dishonest to the Scriptures, and Jesus didn’t do that, so the compulsion to grind slowly through one book is lost on me.”
This is an unfair sweeping generalization. (Since this is the Internet, I should clarify that I’m not angry about it; but did want to bring it up and make my case — as a fellow believer and friend.)
When you think it through, a walk through a book can do exactly what you do, but in reverse: you walk through a book sectionally and topically.
I’m a bit invested in my reply because where I attend we are (and have been for over a year) going through Matthew linearly. But that also gives me experience to say that along that progression you can still teach “topically” as sections will address a particular subject (such as the example you cited about managing grief).
No malice taken, and I appreciate your interaction, Colby. Perhaps I should clarify what I mean. In the context of what I’m talking about, I’m referring specifically to preaching to our broadest audience in our Sunday gatherings. Clearly, digging deep into Scripture is vital to the spiritual growth of every follower of Jesus. Going systematically through specific books is a MUST in my opinion toward that end. I do feel that the Sunday morning gathering is not the ideal place to accomplish that – which where I was really going with what I said. So if I sounded to critical on churches who teach expository through a whole book, that was not my intention. Again, glad to have your comments!
Hey sorry for the (apparent) slow reply. I thought I checked the ‘notify me’ box but I guess not.
“I do feel that the Sunday morning gathering is not the ideal place to accomplish [digging deep and systematically].”
I agree with you (so, so much). It’s actually a topic I’ve been grappling with lately. I wish that it was a much bigger part of the Christian culture to dig into the scriptures deeply — by which I mean *not* just opening the Bible, but also digging into the theological and historical research we have that help us dig in further.
Yea, anyway, enjoy reading your stuff and that you engaged back. I figured it was about time I got to get to know you a little more 🙂