A Schedule of Preaching Preparation
How might you progress from the Scripture text to a sermon?
I’ve recently been reading through David Jackman’s short book on preparing what he calls “Bible Talks” (From Text To Teaching). He chose to use the vague and admittedly less-than-optimal phrase “Bible Talks” so as to encompass all manner of teaching and preaching the Bible. Jackman’s principles are certainly applicable to preaching.
Having been a full-time vocational pastor for nearly 13 years now, and for 10 of those years I’ve had the privilege and responsibility of being the main preacher for one local church, I have often considered the concept of scheduling. I’ve read many books on doing "deep work" or “thought work” or “creative work,” and I’ve benefitted from the practice of marking off time blocks (or chunks of time) on the weekly calendar for preaching preparation. I’ve also talked with many pastors about their methods for preparing to preach every week, and I regularly encourage and help laymen in my own church to preach.
In this article, I've taken some of Jackman's content and added some of my own to provide the interested reader with two principles I have implemented in my preaching schedule. These have served me well. Maybe they can also help you.
First, use the time you have.
Jackman writes, “Each preacher needs to determine the time they have available for preparation.”[1]
Some preachers are bi-vocational pastors, others are laymen with a full-time job other than pastoral ministry, and still others are full-time vocational pastors. Each of these preachers will have varying schedules with all sorts of needs pressed upon them. It is less important to set a specific amount of time for preparation than it is to prioritize the time you have.
Young and inexperienced preachers are prone to think that they must devote 20-30 hours to preparing a single sermon. Indeed, less experienced preachers will often need more time, but such a large amount is probably not necessary. In fact, less experienced preachers would usually do well to lower their emphasis on excellence and rhetoric and raise their emphasis on faithfulness (i.e., getting the message right) and clarity (i.e., getting the message across).
For more on this better emphasis, see David Helm's little book on Expositional Preaching.
Most everyone can find an hour or two on at least a couple of days each week to use for preparing a Bible Talk or sermon. Even if your responsibilities begin early in the day, then maybe you can use a lunch hour, some time after dinner, or a little of what you’ve got before bed. Whatever you have, write it down, type it out, make a plan, and structure your time intentionally.
Speaking of intentionality...
Second, structure your time intentionally.
Again, Jackman writes, “Each preacher needs… to develop a pattern or template for study that will become second nature with practice and the passage of time.”[1]
Once you know what time you have, allocate the steps you will take to get from the text of Scripture to the sermon you intend to preach. For the expositional preacher, the preparation will begin with reading and re-reading the passage of Scripture. The preparation will progress along the lines of exegesis -> exposition -> structuring the talk -> and finalizing the preaching notes.
Speaking of expositional preaching, I highly recommend it. It is the sort of preaching where the main point of the biblical text is the main point of the sermon. This does not necessarily mean verse-by-verse, but preaching sequentially through a book of the Bible can be a wonderful way to practice expositional preaching. Both the preacher and the audience will benefit from the way a particular book of the Bible uses its own genre, themes, and argument as the book unfolds.
Much more could be said on this subject, but this is only a side note. For the interested reader, you can watch or listen to this talk from Mark Dever in which he explains the meaning and importance of expositional preaching. You may also be interested in Dever's book, in which he explains expositional preaching as one of the marks of a healthy church.
Jackman also advocates for the expositional method of preaching, which necessitates a general structure of preparation. He designates 4 blocks of time, each lasting 2 to 3 hours, and distributed over the course of 4 days each week.
Jackman's schedule and task list:
Day 1: Exegesis of the passage. What does the text mean?
Day 2: Exposition of the passage. What does it signify?
Day 3: Structure and strategy of the talk. How does it apply?
Day 4: Production of talk notes.[2]
My own allocation of similar time blocks is as follows.
Day 1: Exegetical outline. How does the author lay out the story or the argument?
I copy and paste the biblical text onto a Word document and break down the text into its apparent sections. How does the story unfold? What is the climax? How does the argument progress? What is the point? Is there an imperative (i.e., “do this”)? Is there an indicative (i.e., “this is true”)?
By breaking down the passage, I can begin to see connections, how they connect, repeated themes and words, and the main idea being conveyed. I will also use several colors of pen to make notes on and around the text in order to make sense of it for myself. This is where I research cross-references, note biblical themes or context, and use commentaries or other tools to gain a better understanding of the text.
For tactile folks, you can print out your breakdown and write on the paper. I used to convert my Word document into a PDF, and then use a digital tablet with a digital pen. These days I use Apple’s Freeform in much the same way, but I like this tool better.
Here is an example of a passage I preached through recently:
Day 2: Homiletical outline. How do I plan to preach through this text, point by point?
My mind is quite linear, and I most often use my exegetical outline to form the points of my sermon. In my delivery of the sermon, I find it helpful to walk through the passage as it is written. This helps me keep on track with the biblical author, and it also helps my hearers to understand how to do this in their own Bible reading and study.
Regardless of your particular structure, the goal here is to ensure that your sermon outline is making a single argument. Ideally, your sermon will convey, explain, and apply the main idea of the biblical text. Your sermon outline should form the path or structure by which that goal is achieved.
Here is an example of my homiletical outline for the same text as above:
Days 3 & 4: Sermon notes or manuscript. What will I say when I preach this?
Many preachers (especially those who teach the discipline of preaching) have a strong conviction about what sort of notes (if any) a preacher should bring into the pulpit. Should you use a full manuscript, robust notes, minimal notes, or only the Bible? My own thought on this is: "It depends."
If you are prone to wander or given to rabbit trails, then I recommend that you use a full manuscript. Your audience will benefit from your discipline of staying on track, and a full manuscript will minimize your opportunities to think out loud when what you should be doing is preaching a coherent and focused sermon.
If you tend to present flat and rigid sermons, with little passion or conviction, then you might benefit from relying less on notes. Give adequate effort in preparation so that you know your text and your sermon well enough to deliver it without having to read the whole thing like a textbook. Your hearer will benefit from how you deliver your sermon, not only from the content of it.
Once you have identified your tendencies, choose a delivery method that will suit you and your audience well. Don’t worry so much about how some other preacher does it. Just do the best you can with the skills and personality God has given you.
And no matter what you bring with you into the pulpit, remember that the Holy Spirit is just as much at work in good preparation as He is in the delivery of a good sermon.
May God raise up and preserve good preachers, and may God grant faithfulness and diligence to those of us who give ourselves to the task of preaching.
[1] David Jackman, From Text to Teaching: A Guide to Preparing Bible Talks (Sydney, NSW: Matthias Media, 2021). 18.
[2] David Jackman, From Text to Teaching: A Guide to Preparing Bible Talks (Sydney, NSW: Matthias Media, 2021). 20.