During my pastorate this was the time of year I spent time thinking about my sermons for the new year. I would often begin with a theme for the year or a primary focus our church needed to have as we began a new year of ministry. That didn't mean the entire year would be given over to that focus, but it would be the one we would begin with. My goal was to have at least the first three months of sermons planned with at least a title and the text. If I began the year with the first quarter planned it was much easier to stay prepared 2-3 months in advance.
This allowed me to do several things. One, I didn't have to begin each week trying to decide what to preach. I could spend that time actually preparing the message. This also enabled me to be looking for illustrations and stories that could be included in the message to help bring it alive.
It also made it easier to have the resources I needed to prepare the messages. For instance, each year after Father's Day I would do a series of messages on a book or major section of the Bible. Once I decided what book I would cover, I could order commentaries and other helps to assist me in preparing the messages. When it came time to prepare the sermons I had the resource material I needed.
Planning my sermons this way helped me offer more balanced preaching. Every pastor has his or her favorite topics. Our people need to hear more than that. We need to provide them with a well-rounded study of what the Scriptures have to teach us.
In addition to preaching through a book of the Bible each year I also did a shorter series between Mother's Day and Father's Day that focused on various aspects of family life. Families in America need a lot of help, and the Bible has much to say about the family. If I returned to the pulpit today I would also offer a series of messages each year focusing on apologetics to help people be better able to defend their faith.
I found that planning my sermons well in advance made me a better preacher and helped me better manage my time as a bivocational pastor. I quickly got tired of not knowing until Friday or Saturday what I was going to preach the next Sunday. Saturday night specials are not helpful to anyone. Planning my messages at least three months in advance did much to relieve that stress.
As important as sermon planning is, your schedule cannot be written in stone. In fact, I wrote my sermon's title and text in pencil. You always want the flexibility to change your message if circumstances dictate. For instance, I know one pastor who preached the sermon he had planned a year before the Sunday after 9/11. The church was full that Sunday of people who wanted to know what God had to say about such events, but they left after hearing a message that said nothing about the event. It was a great opportunity that was missed because the pastor would not deviate from his plan. If you feel God leading you in another direction be willing to change your sermon plans.
Sometimes people will push back on the idea of planning their sermons in advance by saying they want to allow the Holy Spirit to lead them. I've heard some of their sermons, and I don't think I would want to blame the Holy Spirit for what I heard! I've always thought God can lead us three months in advance just as well as He can lead us from week to week.
If you have not made it a practice to plan your sermons in advance I encourage you to try it in 2019. If it doesn't work for you feel free to go back to whatever you were doing. My guess is once you do it for awhile you'll continue doing it.
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