How to Plan a Year of Sermon Series without the Lectionary
Creative inspiration for pastors and church leaders
By David R. Collins
One of the best things a church can do to grow is to put the lectionary on the shelf and move to series based preaching. But the idea of making the shift can be daunting. Partly because many believe that Jesus himself established the lectionary right after he wrote the King James Bible (when actually it was the Apostle Paul!) but mostly because they rightly worry that they will get stuck, or get repetitive, or miss important themes of scripture. Another concern is that advanced worship planning might get messed up by a preacher who doesn’t know what next month will bring.
So here’s how my brilliant co-pastor, the Rev. Megan Moody Collins, and I set our preaching calendar for the year.
Step One: Big Dates
First, we look up the date of Easter. Next year it will be on April 16, 2017. Then, we look up the date that school starts back in the fall in our area. Here in Florida, school goes back into session in mid-August. The two biggest sermon series for the year will be based on these dates. The big Fall series will begin one month after school goes back into session. Easter will be the beginning of the other. (I know, I know, Easter should be the completion of the Lenten journey if you’re following the lectionary. But this blog is about church growth. And you are going to have visitors on Easter. Give them something to come back for!)
Step Two: Topics
This one depends largely on your church’s context, what the community is going through, and what you just preached on. But let’s say that you just decided that 2017 is going to be the year of no lectionary. What would you do?
Well, here’s what we did last year, to get an idea.
Starting the first Sunday in January, we started “The New Testament Challenge”, in which we read the whole New Testament together using a reading plan that we created, and talked about it in our small groups. As mentioned above, we live in Florida, so starting a big series in the middle of winter is no problem. But if you live where it’s cold, you might want to wait for the middle of February, when people don’t care how cold it is…they are leaving the house and going to church!
That series brought us right to Easter (especially since we saved Matthew, Mark and Luke for last so the endings of them fell on Holy Week!)
On Easter Sunday, we began “Hope Roars”. We looked at the kind of hope that meets us in the darkest places in our lives and isn’t afraid of our pain. Over four weeks, we unpacked Romans 8, and the whole series was inspired by the poem “Roar” by Dov Siporin.
After that we did a lighter series called “On a Mission from God”. We have two great men who, in the right outfits, look a lot like Jake and Elwood from The Blues Brothers. They helped us tie into a mission week of community service involving the whole congregation.
Then we did a series on “Life Together” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
After that, we abandoned what we had planned, because things seemed to fall apart here in Central Florida and around the world, and we did a series called “Calm in the Storm” on Psalm 46.
I’m so glad someone brought in that busted violin!
Next, a series called “Redeemed” had people in the church bring in broken and empty objects which we used to create a cross as a symbol of how God has redeemed the brokenness in our lives. It was also a strategic time to remind people how important it was to invite their friends and neighbors for our big fall sermon series…
“Simple Ingenious Christianity” which involved small groups reading from a selection of books from the left, right or irreverent center (Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time by Borg, Simply Christian by NT Wright, and Unapologetic by Francis Spufford respectively) and in the sermons we shared James Choung’s “Big Story” method of explaining the gospel, which tied it all together beautifully.
Right now, we’re in the middle of a series called “Common Ground: The One Who Unites Us Is Greater Than What Divides Us” to try and undo some of the damage of this election season and help us become the salt and light we’re meant to be.
Then, it’s Advent and Christmas. Next year, we’re going to cover the Twelve Steps, Baptism, Philippians, Testimony, and the Story of the Old Testament.
(If you’d like to hear the sermon series mentioned above, check out our YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/maitlandpres )
Step Three: Making It Work
This is one of the highlights of our year. (We’re that cool.) After we’ve decided what our sermon series will be, we get out our pens and paper, rulers and tape, colored paper and scissors.
We make a calendar for the Sundays of the year. We cut out stars and tape them on our Big Sundays. We write on the calendar with a big black Sharpie when our vacations will be. Then we cut out strips of different colors of paper so they can drape over multiple weeks. We have the best, most compelling series begin on Easter and Fall Date. Sometimes a series will lead up to another one in a smart way. There are always special, one-shot, Sundays to work in.
Here’s what the finished product looked like. Fancy, no?
Every year is different, mostly because of the arbitrary date of Easter. (Thanks a lot, Council of Nicaea!) But it is absolutely worth it. It equips our members to communicate what’s happening in church, pushes us to think and plan for years of ministry, and helps the church to swell.
What do you think? If you’re currently doing the lectionary, what would this be like for you? If you’ve moved to series preaching, how’s it going?
Comments and questions welcome on Facebook and Twitter!
David R. Collins is the co-pastor of Maitland Presbyterian Church near Orlando, Florida.