The task of writing a sermon every week can seem daunting to pastors. One of the hardest parts of the job is creating fresh material each Sunday for the congregation. Some pastors have to preach multiple times a week at different services. The amount of content a pastor is asked to preach is astronomical and can take a toll. However, sermon series is one of the most effective ways to create fresh content and reach people. Sermon series are just that: a series of sermons on a topic or a book of the Bible. The concept sounds good, but executing a good sermon series is an art and science. There’s much to think about and plan for when doing a sermon series.
Here are 8 keys to planning a powerful sermon series:
1. Margin
The first thing the pastor will need is time to plan. You can work “in the ministry” or “on the ministry.” Carving out time for sermon series planning is working “on the ministry.” Powerful sermon series can’t be created, written, and properly planned in a week or two. It takes a consistent margin. I take one writing Sabbatical weekend (Thursday-Sunday) each year to look at all 8 elements. So, first, carve out time to plan.
2. Creative Elements
Creativity is why the pastor will need margin. Creativity can’t happen in a crammed calendar. Each series will need a creative title. One series focused on the Book of Romans titled “When in Rome.” There was another series that wanted to help people have fewer regrets was titled “Back to Your Future,” playing off the 1980 blockbuster film, “Back to the Future,” starring Michael J. Fox. The creative elements include graphics, a sermon bumper before the pastor walks on, and creative stage design for a few series throughout the year. Sermon series is a fun way to breathe life into your church with creativity. It can bring excitement to the congregation to invite their unchurched friends and family.
3. Proper Calendar Placement
Series have a rhythm in a church’s calendar that runs parallel to the cultural calendar rhythm of the community where the church is located. For instance, Christmas and Easter are keys to any church. Fall is another one. These are times when people are thinking about church, new habits, and their spiritual lives. So, sermon series need to be properly placed. For instance, after each big day (Christmas, Easter, and Fall Big Event), a catchy sermon series that will get the congregation’s attention needs to be planned and promoted. On Easter Sunday, you can promote the series for the following week to build excitement. One church had a video where the pastor was interviewing his sister, who is in a same-sex relationship. He asked her the question, “Do you think you will go to hell?” Before she could answer, the video stopped, and the sermon bumper video played, highlighting a brand-new series called “Frequently Asked Questions.” He told the congregation that the video interview would continue and that he would answer controversial topics from the Bible for the next several weeks. They saw explosive growth, and lives changed. Another proper placement is utilizing a series on the significance of evangelism right before Easter. Properly placing series before and after major days each year is key.
4. Variety of Diet throughout the Year
Every pastor and church leader has their default they love to talk about when preaching. If a pastor isn’t careful, every series has the same thematic elements but is packaged differently. So, setting up a checks and balances system is important for series planning. There are two major types of series with some subsets of those types. There are:
- Exegetically Focused:
Exegetically focused series are series that walk people through books of the Bible, studying a character in the Bible or an exposition of varying passages. The Scripture that the pastor is walking through creates the topic. For instance, if they are going verse by verse through 1st Peter, then the Scripture will be the topic.
- Topically Focused:
Not all books of the Bible address every issue that a person needs to address in the 21st Century. Topical series help focus on what people need and specifically what this congregation needs. Everybody will need growth in financial stewardship, relationships, time management, and understanding their local church’s D.N.A. or values/vision. Walking through a book like Jude won’t help with those issues. So, when properly placing a series on a calendar, the pastor has to see if it is “exegetical” or “topical.” And if it is topical, you want to ensure it’s not similar to another theme or topic already covered to keep it fresh and maximize the calendar.
5. Learn as you Teach
Sermon series planning, preparation, and sermon writing can be used as a time for the pastor to learn. The pastor should find supporting resources and scholarly commentaries as they prepare the sermons. A good rule of thumb is to have a book written about the subject, a scholarly commentary for the passage being preached, and, of course, the Bible. It’s okay to glean ideas, but make sure not to plagiarize. If a pastor leverages sermon series planning correctly, it can be a time of learning, prayer, and transformation as God works on their heart through the messages they are preparing.
6. Pastor the People through the Series
A pastor knows their people better than anybody else. Every congregation and every person has strengths and struggles. The pastor knows all of the felt needs and unfelt needs. When a pastor “pastors the people through the series,” they will touch on a felt or unfelt need. A felt need is a need that everyone knows they have to work on. An unfelt need may be something they haven’t contemplated, but the pastor knows they need discipleship in that area.
7. Collaboration
Very few pastors are wired to sit in a room and come up with very creative series elements, a variety of diets, and then execute with well-written series. So, a pastor needs to collaborate with staff that can help, and it is important to collaborate with other pastors. This helps with ideas and makes the pastor sharper. It can happen in a group setting over lunch or one-on-one. The most organic way is sharing ideas with each other.
8. Prayer
Last but certainly not least is prayer. Every powerful sermon or sermon series needs to be bathed in prayer. Before any sermon series, writing, or creating starts, the pastor must kneel before God to ask God to let the Holy Spirit birth the ideas. God knows what the congregation specifically needs. He also can empower the pastor through Sunday sermons to help meet those needs. The pastor also needs a team of people to pray as the sermon series planning takes place. A Spirit-led, creative, Biblical, and well-placed series can help transform lives.
Has this been helpful? You can apply all or one of these tips the next time you plan a sermon series. The truth is that creating your sermon series doesn’t need to be daunting. They can be exciting and fun. Planning the series doesn’t take away the significance or necessity of your study and preparation, but it helps remove the challenges of deciding what to preach.
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