Innovative Ministry
Pulpit Discipleship: Organizing Your Annual Preaching Calendar For Maximum Effectiveness
As a small church pastor, I have to keep these two tasks in balance – preaching to the congregation, and spending time with members.

Preaching is one of the most important responsibilities of the pastor in a small church context.

It’s important, not just because it is the most visible function of a pastor, but because it is one of the primary tools for discipleship.

As pastors, our primary job is making disciples (Ephesians 4:11-12). And in the Great Commission, Jesus told us that “teaching them” is one way to do that. So the time we have behind the pulpit is the most consistent tool we have to inform, inspire, and equip disciples.

An annual preaching calendar helps me to prepare a consistent spiritual diet for our congregation.

Like many pastors, I have found that an annual preaching calendar helps me to prepare a consistent spiritual diet for our congregation. In order to present a well-balanced approach to discipleship from the pulpit, I assign my sermons series for the year into one of four categories:

  1. Theological (who God is)
  2. Doctrinal (what we believe)
  3. Practical (Christian living)
  4. Cultural (what is happening around us that is on everyone’s mind)

Each year, I try to do 2-3 series from each of these categories.

Applying these filters allows me to keep track of what I’m communicating and how I’m discipling from the pulpit.

(Today’s article is written by a fellow small church pastor, Jeff Hamilton of Hills Church, Laguna Niguel CA (hillschurchoc.com). When he told me how he organizes his preaching schedule, I thought it might benefit others. - Karl Vaters)

Organizing For Effectiveness

Having considered these factors, I begin to plug the sermon series ideas into the calendar (I use a spreadsheet).

Then I assign each sermon or series a category: theological, doctrinal, practical, or cultural. This helps me see if I have similarly-purposed series grouped too closely together.

This list then goes to my ministry team for their review and comment. Our church uses the “big idea” approach, so small groups and children’s ministry are able to track along with the weekend messages. Meeting with our all-volunteer ministry team to see where we are headed a couple weeks or months down the road helps us to stay on the same page.

Lastly, I spend one day a year (usually in November or December) with three other pastors to review our preaching calendar plan. Each pastor gets two hours to present and receive feedback. Since none of us have big staffs, we are able to help shape some of the ideas for each other and learn from each other.

How To Determine Your Categories

Many series will fall into more than one category, depending on how you approach it.

For example, a series on worship could be theological, (focused on worshipping God for who He is), doctrinal (explaining the different approaches to worship), or practical (helping people to understand that worship is the way we live our lives, not simply an element of our Sunday liturgy).

It is amazing that as I’m feeding my own soul, how God’s Spirit often uses a co-laborer to help me see something in a new way.

l keep a note file of ideas for messages, using a tool that I can sync between my phone and my computer. The ideas come from my personal devotions, or inspired by what I’m reading, and even from listening to other pastors. (It is amazing that as I’m feeding my own soul, how God’s Spirit often uses a co-laborer to help me see something in a new way or to prompt a thought that deserves additional contemplation).

I collect these ideas whenever they come and file them away. Then in late October or November, I pull those ideas out along with unused ones from past years.

The next step is to look at those ideas and inspirations, and “pray them through,” asking God which ones are most relevant for the upcoming year. Once I start to narrow down the list, I begin to apply the categories as a filter.

Once the sermon list begins to shape up for the year, I then look at the calendar for practical instruction. For example, could I use tax time and April 15 to teach a series on stewardship?

In my context, we have found that the Thanksgiving season is the best time for us to talk about living life missionally in gratitude to God. I also think about other calendar related items. Is this an election year? Is there an anniversary of an event that needs to be acknowledged?

The Discipling Pastor

The most effective discipleship in a small church happens relationally.

As a small church pastor, I have to keep these two tasks in balance – preaching to the congregation, and spending time with members.

By categorizing my sermons, I’m able to do both better. Because I’ve become more intentional about discipling the congregation from the pulpit, I’m able to make more of the time I spend one-on-one.

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The views of the blogger do not necessarily reflect those of Christianity Today.

February 01, 2019 at 2:00 AM

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