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Seven Benefits of a Preaching Calendar

Seven Benefits of a Preaching Calendar

Some need little preparation for preaching and can do it anytime on any topic. Others spend hours each week crafting their messages to ensure they get across the point God has given them. Regardless of our routines, all of us fall into ruts. We can get caught in the weekly grind of coming up with God’s Word for our next Sunday sermon.

We wind up preaching different versions of our favorite message over and over.  We may love it, but congregants need more than our favorite message. Look at it like this: just because dad likes to eat chicken every night, doesn’t mean his kids do too. However, if God’s given you a favorite message, share it often, but remember people need a balanced diet for their spiritual health.

Here are seven benefits of a preaching calendar.

1) Balanced Topics. You’ll cover more topics and provide your people a balanced spiritual diet. Ask God to show you what topics He’d like you to cover during the year. Christians need to hear God’s word concerning their family, personal evangelism, marriage, repentance and freedom from addition. Remember to cover each topic in the blood and always point people to the cross.

2) Better Stories. People who’ve been around a while have heard your favorite stories and know your favorite scriptures. Get into different parts of the Bible and different parts of your testimony. Better planning allows us to cover more scripture and share more of our God story.

3) More Testimonies. You may be able to share at a moment’s notice, but everyone can’t. Knowing where you’re going allows you to invite others into your sermons. If you’re planning a a series on marriage or addictions, you can find people to share testimonies. You’ll be able to give them enough time to prepare their message and get ready spiritually. You can also give other key leaders in your congregation an opportunity to share their favorite messages.

4) Seasonal Leverage. Church attendance ebbs and flows with the seasons, and preaching calendars help  keep engage people by recognizing these national and local community rhythms. Longer series work well in the Spring and and Fall as school keeps families grounded while shorter series ones work in the Summer when people are out on vacation at different times.

5) Creative Media. Media takes time to develop. Calendars enable your media team to plan better accents for your message. More time allows them to prepare more powerful slides, and make more better videos. Your music team can choose songs that support your theme or message.

6) More Power. You’ll have more time to soak your sermons in prayer. You’ll find yourself praying for your messages far in advance, you’ll have more time to listen for the voice of God. You’ll hear with greater clarity and share your message more effectively.

7) Effective Promotions: You’ll have time to promote your messages. People are looking for help for their marriages and families. They are looking for ways to be free from addiction. Promoting your messages will give them a chance to know what God is doing in your ministry.

Try developing a preaching calendar. Remember that God speaks during planing stages as much as He does any other.

Do you already implement a calendar? If so, please share how it works for you!

1 thought on “Seven Benefits of a Preaching Calendar”

  1. Avatar for John Baxter

    If the pastor is rightly preaching expository sermons through books of the Bible, none of this will be an issue. He won’t be chasing topics, nor will he be worrying about what stories he has used. The season won’t be a concern and he won’t need creative media. Number 6 won’t matter, because, you’ll always know what you are preaching in advance anyway — a good pastor is constantly in sermon preparation, and always in prayer, and you shouldn’t have to “promote” sermons. It’s a sermon, not a talk at a conference.
    Expository preaching gives focus to biblical doctrine (if you are preaching the whole word of God, you will preach on all doctrine). Expository preaching gives authority to the message without the preacher trying to be cutting edge or fill sermons with stories. These types of sermons lose authority. The authority of a sermon doesn’t come from some antecdote or illustration, it comes from the the Word of God. Preaching expository sermons magnifies God’s word, and is God-centered and not man-centered. If you start with God’s Word instead of some popular idea or perceived need, the preacher will expose the nature and truth of the Triune God to people. THAT is what they need. If you are preaching expository sermons you’ll never be lacking in material. Preaching expository sermons, and walking your people through a text will help THEM study God’s word better on their own.

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