Planning Your Preaching: PART 3 – Five Considerations When Sermon Planning

This post is part of a series where I discuss the benefits and processes of planning your preaching.
PART 1 – Why Planning is Important
PART 2 – Getting Ready For Your Planning Session

So what now?

You’ve got your snacks, your drinks, your books and Bibles, your notepads and pens, you have a block of time where it is just you (or your preaching team)…now what? How does this process of sermon planning actually work?

As I have said previously, tweak these recommendations based on your needs and experience. Make these work for you. Yet with that being said, here are five considerations when going into your time of sermon planning.

1) Consider how God may lead

I have been in full-time ministry with a local church since 2006. I have also been guilty on more occasions than I would like to admit how I have planned much and prayed little. Before you start writing, brainstorming, branding, or questioning, take time to truly open your heart and seek the leading of the Holy Spirit. While I have mentioned this before, here is an outstanding reality – the Holy Spirit can work just as much in the preparation as the presentation. The Holy Spirit’s activity is not limited to when you are standing up to preach. He can, and will, be active even in your time of planning. He knows what will be happening at certain times, even if you do not. He will help guide you with wisdom if you are willing to ask and listen.

2) Consider what you have preached recently

Here is a question, “What styles of series do you tend toward naturally?” Do you tend to preach a lot from the Epistles while not a lot from the Old Testament? Do you rely heavily on topical preaching while avoiding multi-week expository-style messages that walk the congregation through a book of the Bible?

We ALL have tendencies. And those tendencies are not negative in and of themselves. However, if left unchecked, we may never veer outside of our comfortable tendencies and topics, which ultimately limits our growth as preachers and the congregation’s spiritual growth. Consider how you have structured your messages in the past and look to push your own natural tendencies.

3) Consider the calendar

Did you know that Christmas will be on December 25th of this year? Regardless of when you are reading this post, that statement will be true. Are you planning to do a Christmas series, a stand-alone Christmas message, or something altogether different? What about other days on the calendar like Mother’s Day or Father’s Day, does your church have traditions that need to be considered on those days? What about the church calendar? Is there a Spring Festival or annual Homecoming that should be planned for? I am not saying you should or should not make a special message for any one of those days. However, you should consider those events as you plan out your preaching.

Note: I have provided a Sermon Calendar Template here. While I have adjusted the template over time, I have used some version of this for years. This will help you get a plan of the overall series, texts, and ideas you plan to preach.

4) Consider the needs of the church

As the preacher, you are charged with communicating truth from God’s Word to God’s people. Sometimes those will be words of comfort, speaking of God’s grace, love and compassion. Sometimes those will be words of admonishment, correcting improper beliefs and actions about topics like bitterness, priorities, or spiritual development in general.

If you recognize legalism in your church, a walk through the book of Galatians will provide an opportunity to address this issue in context without it coming across as an intentional attack. If you see infighting and competition among your people, walk through 1st Corinthians. Note how often these Corinthians got it wrong and how we can learn from this letter. If you see resistance to evangelism, preach a four-week series on Jonah demonstrating how the book is more than about a man swallowed by a fish.

Considering the needs of your local church can help you prioritize what is most important to preach. Here I have provided a variety of questions to help you consider the needs of your local church when it comes to preaching.

NOTE: Please do not use your preaching to grind personal axes. The message of Christ and Him crucified is much bigger than our personal conflicts. Yes, the church may need to hear a message on righteousness, forgiveness, or financial giving. However, always keep it in the context of communicating truth from God’s inspired Word and never about a personal vendetta.

5) Consider your plan written in pencil, not in stone or chalk.

If you write a letter in pencil it can be erased. And while it might smudge, it is unlikely just to disappear with a gentle swipe of the hand. As you formulate a preaching plan for the coming months, you should see the result as a firm, but not inflexible plan.

On September 11, 2001, I was sitting in a chapel service at Kentucky Christian College (now Kentucky Christian University). As the chapel service began, we were informed that planes had been flown into the World Trade Center towers. I have no memory of what the speaker that day preached. I also recognize the challenge of changing a prepared message at a moment’s notice. However, this experience demonstrated to me just how important it is to be firm, but not inflexible.

The sermon plan you produce should be able to be handed out to the leaders for review. Plans for songs, companion Bible studies, and more should be able to be developed based on what you hand out. No, you don’t need a national tragedy in order to make a change. Yet, those changes should be the exception rather than the rule.

So there you have it, five considerations for your sermon planning time. What would you add to this list?