Developing a Long Range Preaching Plan
Practices and Templates for Sustainable Preaching and Teaching
Few things are more daunting for content creators than a blank page. It’s hard to summon creative energy without a spark. For preachers out there, it may be helpful to think about laying down train tracks for upcoming series that you can adjust as you get closer to it.
I’m in the middle of a study break which I take every summer. Part of my goal is to prayerfully map out sermon series for the next 18-24 months. The goal is to lighten the load of sermon prep during my normal workflow in the year. (I’ve written more on how long-range planning helps here.)
Mapping our preaching plan is done out of a lot of prayer and conversation with our teaching team. We’re trying to discern what the Lord wants to say to us as a church for the season that we’re in over the course of the next year or so. That’s why the plan for series over the next 6-9 months is pretty solid, while the plan for the following 6-9 months is a draft to revisit with prayerful, communal discernment.
Categories for Sermon Series
As we plan, we aim for a series to fit in at least one of three categories:
Text: A series anchored in a book of the Bible (like Galatians) or a key text (like the Sermon on the Mount)
Topic/Theology: Theological reflection on a topic (like, What does it mean to be human? How should we think about money? or How can we respond to common objections to Christianity?)
Practice: Guidance on Biblical practices for formation (like prayer, fasting, communion, fellowship, and more)
Many series actually fit in two of these categories. Generally speaking, about half our series are text-based. The other half are split between Topic/Theology and Practice
Below is the preaching plan we’re wrapping up this summer. I’ve drafted a preaching plan for the next 18 months (Fall 2024-December 2025), and have a strong, creative idea for a monster 52-week series that will go through all of 2026.
We also put together a fairly simple series brief for each series to help our teaching team to be on the same page about our approach. It features key resources, key quotes, and some guiding principles for sermon writing in the series. You can find an example at the bottom of this post.
Preaching Plan Fall 2023- Summer 2024
August 6-Sept. 3 (5 weeks): “Frames”
How We View Worship
How We View the Bible
How We View Spiritual Gifts
How We View Community
How We View Our Work
September 10: Fall Kickoff/State of the Church
September 17-Nov. 19 (10 weeks): “Encounters: The Gospel of John"
Nathaniel (John 1:47-51): The Pure
Nicodemus (John 3:1-21): The Religious
Samaritan Woman (John 4:7-26): The Discarded
The Desperate Woman in Adultery (John 8:2-11): The Used
The Man at the Pool (John 5:1-16):
Mary and Martha (John 11): The Grieving
Lazarus (John 11): The Dead
Mary of Bethany (John 12): The Worshipper
Pilate (John 18:33-19:12): The Powers
Mary Magdalene and Peter (John 20:14-17; John 21:15-22): The Faithful and the Failure
November 26: Stand Alone
December 3-December 17 (3 weeks): — "Jesus Is…"
Mary's Voice
Herod's Absence
Anna's Joy
Behold: Emmanuel
December 24: Christmas Eve
December 31: Stand Alone
January 7: Intentional Year
January 14-February 4 (4 weeks): Being Human
Creation, Incarnation, Resurrection
The Image of God
Meaning, Identity, and Sexuality
Worshipping Beings
February 11: Stand Alone (Guest)
February 18-March 23 (6 weeks): The Stories Jesus Told
Won't You Be My Neighbor? (Luke 10:25-37)
You've Got a Friend in Me (Luke 11:5-13)
Hoarders (Luke 12:13-21)
Good Things Come to Those Who Wait (Luke 13:6-9)
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? (Luke 14:7-24)
Buried Potential (Luke 19:11-27)
March 31: Easter (Luke 15)
April 7-June 30 (12 weeks) : “Vocabulary of Faith” or Words of Life or
Gospel
Salvation
Grace
Righteousness
Forgiveness
Life
Fellowship
Holiness
Peace
Faith
Hope
Love
July 21-September 1, 2024 (7 weeks): “Practical Wisdom: Life Lessons from Proverbs”
How do I become wise?
How do I build meaningful relationships? (Wise, fool, wicked; marriage; parent-child)
How do I use words well?
How do I work well?
How do I manage wealth?
How do I get a good name?
How do I grow wiser as I grow older?
Here’s a series brief for our summer series on key themes of Proverbs:
Hope this is helpful for all you preachers out there!
Always helpful. Are you open to suggestions for the subtitle for your series in John? The Man at the Pool (John 5:1-16):
"The Waiting"
"The Wanting"
"The Controversial"
<><
Blessings!
Hey Dr. Glenn, I have such a difficult time planning more than 3-4 months in advance because I have some internal hiccup about needing to discern the Lord "in season." I've found sometimes that when I lay plans out far, I usually disqualify the outer reaches of my plan as they approach. Am I alone in that or is that something you've observed as well? Could you speak to what discernment looks like re: "Mapping our preaching plan is done out of a lot of prayer and conversation with our teaching team?"
Thank you for sharing this! I was a Desperation Conference attendee back in the day, called into ministry. Very grateful for your part in that!