Do you have a preaching calendar for your church? If not, how are you giving your team the advanced notice they need to prepare for your messages creatively? Planning your message series does not just reduce your team's stress and improve your ability to put together your sermons. It is also a way to strategically plan for how your Sunday messages will disciple your church.
You may call it a preaching plan, message calendar, or sermon strategy. Whatever you call it, a series calendar is when you lay out the general topics you will cover in your Sunday morning messages throughout the year.
Planning your messages is vital for your sermons to stick for several reasons.
Discipleship — It is your job, as the shepherd of your church, to make sure the sheep receive a healthy diet from God's word on Sunday morning. Planning your messages ensures you lead your flock through different pastures of biblical content that will give your congregation a well-rounded spiritual diet.
Essentials — A series calendar will help you to cover the essentials that are important to your church every year without repeating unnecessary topics. Looking ahead on a calendar will allow you to see the best time to cover the most critical issues to your ministry.
Repetition — "Pastor, we've heard that story before." No one wants to hear that after sharing a sermon! A message calendar will give you the opportunity to collect new stories, illustrations, and humor for your messages without repeating the same content from another message.
Creativity — Knowing what you will cover in advance will give your team a creative runway to do their best work.
When creating a series calendar, you need to understand the general overview of the year, people's habits, and what you want to accomplish through your ministry in each season. Here is a quick summary of the flow of a typical church year.
Beginning of the Year — People establish routines for the new year and new school semester. Think about how many people are joining a gym and dieting during this time. They are looking to focus on their priorities which may be why church attendance increases after the holidays.
Spring — Easter and Mother's Day are two of the most well-attended Sundays of the year. What is your plan to invite them and convince them to return the following week?
Summer — One of the lowest attended seasons for churches. Plan messages for your most consistent group of attendees.
Fall — The first couple of months of Fall is when people return to their church attendance habits. School is starting back, and colleges returning to session creates an opportunity for you to speak to people who are adding church to their schedule for the rest of the year.
Holidays — This can be a time when people are not in church as much, except for Christmas. Important things are happening during this time that you can use to celebrate Christ and emphasize the importance of faith in your members' lives.
You want to use the momentum already present in people's calendars instead of working against it. Here is how you can do that.
Give Yourself Breaks — Look for the weeks that have been the lowest attended, and give yourself a break at those times. Setting a calendar will also help you see when you have a long series of preaching back-to-back weeks. Planning for you to take a break is not selling your congregation short. It is a way to refresh and ensure you give them your best self each week.
Plan for Open Weeks — Do not expect to have a message series every week. Allow yourself to have a "one-off" message. An open week can also be when you invite a guest to bring a unique message to your church.
Be Flexible — A series calendar provides a great structure that allows you to plan, but it should not become so rigid that it does not allow you to mix things up when needed. Be ready to move series back or add something new if God leads you in that direction.
For more free resources to help you plan your preaching and build your church, visit buildthe.church.
Josh is a ministry leader, communicator, and creative who helps train and coach church planters at the Association of Related Churches (ARC). He has written Believe Again: Finding Faith After Losing Religion and has contributed to many ministry publications, including Relevant Magazine. Stay connected with Josh at buildthe.church and on social media at @JoshRoberie.
