Why You Need a Sermon Calendar, and How to Make One

Listen, if you want to be an effective preacher, you need a sermon calendar.

You might get away with winging it for a while, but eventually, you will either burn out or fail to reach your God-given potential.

If you still need convincing, here are four reasons you need an annual preaching calendar, and how to make one.

4 Reasons You Need An Annual Sermon Calendar

1. Less Stress

When you have an entire year of sermons planned out, you have far less anxiety than pastors who preach week to week.

You have a plan. You know where you are going.

It’s one less ministry demand that you have to think about.

This point alone makes a sermon calendar worth it.

2. Better Sermons

Would you rather eat a microwaved, frozen dinner, or a fresh, home-cooked meal?

Preaching week-to-week without a plan is like reheating old food. It will do the job in a pinch, but it’s not the best.

When you plan your sermon topics and scripture in advance, it is like cooking a fresh hot meal: flavors have time to marinate and develop.

When you have your sermon calendar planned, you will know exactly what you are going to be preaching all year.

So your ideas have time to marinate.

• You have time to read books on your topics.
• You have time to collect stories and quotes.
• You can save it all in a file, so you have all the right ingredients ready when you need them.

Like great meals, great sermons take time.

3. More Time

Imagine sitting down to write a sermon, but instead of staring at a blank page and blinking cursor, you have a folder packed with more ideas, illustrations, research, and content than you could use.

This isn’t a pipe dream. This is the reality when you plan your messages in advance and collect material all year long (as mentioned above).

Advanced planning saves you time because you are not starting from scratch every week.

• Creative ideas have already come to you.
• The thought jumped off the page in your daily time in the Word a few weeks ago is right there.
• The perfect story of that funny thing that happened in the grocery store a month ago is right there.

The further you get ahead in sermon prep, the more efficient you are with your time.

4. Better Teamwork

Your staff and volunteers will thank you.

Like most pastors, you probably have people helping with the worship, graphic design, sound, lighting, video, and more.

You can’t do it all yourself, nor should you.

People are busy. So if you are handing them last-minute details for your service, you will get last-minute quality.

Handing your team a roadmap of the year will help them prepare.

So give your team the freedom to do better work.

Set them up for success.

Your entire church will benefit because you have a plan they can follow.

It all starts with a sermon calendar.

How To Make A Sermon Calendar

To get a copy of my sermon calendar from the video, go here.

Key Points:

• Pray. Ask God for inspiration.
• Brainstorm. Get help. Don’t come to the table without ideas.
• Get away. Eliminate all distractions.
• Create a Sermon Calendar (or use my template)
• Start with Holidays. How will they affect your church?
• Are there any special events in your community that might have an impact?
• What impact different seasons have on your community?
• How many sermons will you preach? Block off vacations days, retreats, and time for other people to preach now.
• Plan your series. You can use working titles, but you need to lock in your general topic, the number of messages, and primary Scripture passages.

If you would like more help on getting ahead on sermon preparation, I cover sermon calendars and more in my book Preaching Nuts & Bolts.