Planning Your Preaching Series
Heading into the new year, this is a great time to think through what you’ll be preaching on for the next 12 months. When you plan in advance, it enables you to think through things like:
Extra Sermon Augments: With advance planning, you can think through small group study curriculum, reading plans, videos, testimonies, and special service moments to add to the message series.
Invitation and Communication: Create invitational cards and Facebook advertisements to promote certain series throughout the year.
Making the Most of Special Days: The calendar has special days built-in and planning in advance helps you think through what you’d like to do on those special days to make the most of them.
So … how do you plan 12 months ahead?
Get A Calendar: Sounds pretty straightforward huh? But seriously, get a calendar and mark all the special days and any other day or moments in your church calendar (baptisms, communion, AGM, membership Sunday, etc…) You can use a template for this HERE.
Plan Sermons That Answer Questions People Are Asking: As you work through your preaching calendar, ask yourself “Can our church people easily invite someone to this sermon series?” Is it something that non-Christians would find helpful to their lives? Is it answers from the Bible that are needed today? I think that if your preaching is answer answering those questions, the Christians in your church will benefit as well. If you ever need some inspiration, CLICK HERE.
Plan Two or Three Major Invitational Series: Not every sermon series needs to be a highly invitational one. Plan two or three over the course of the year. I would suggest one post-Thanksgiving and one post-Easter.
Make the Most of Special Days: There are some great days in the church calendar that you can utilize to your advantage. Think through opportunities when non-believers would be more likely to come to church. Those times would be: Baby Dedications, Christmas Eve, Easter Sunday, Mothers Day, Baptisms.
What are you preaching on this coming year?