UPDATED: We have added even more fall sermon series ideas and recommendations!
Fall is one of the busiest and important seasons for the church, whether that is with an influx of new visitors, or your
Fall is a festive time of year with a fun rhythm of holidays, festivals, football, and everything pumpkin. As a pastor, your rhythm should also include focused time brainstorming strong fall sermon series ideas. The fall season is the time of year churches see the highest attendance numbers, and first-time visitors are more inclined to try attending church, making the selection of your fall sermon series topics vital.
As you are considering your fall sermon series, it is vital to remember with higher attendance numbers, you will want to preach about topics that have a broad appeal, such as community, parenting, regret, or pain. Fall isn’t the time to do a very insular message with a lot of insider language. When choosing your fall sermon series, you want to select topics that won’t make “outsiders” feel like they are “outsiders.”
With more people giving your church a try for the first time, your fall sermon series is a prime opportunity to help your audience understand why the Bible and the church matter to their everyday lives. You likely won’t have many opportunities to make that impression stick, so make sure every week highlights why time invested in your church on a Sunday morning is a valuable investment.
To help you plan out the next few months in your preaching schedule, we have compiled a list of fall sermon series that are perfect to use from August to December.
Misquoted
This series delves into some popular misunderstandings about what the Bible has to say and what Christianity is all about.
This is a five-week sermon series exploring misunderstood and misquoted bible verses about topics such as christlikeness, covenants, suffering, and social justice.
Back At It
This two-week series is useful for churches when they are restarting ministry after a summer break, and for congregants who are in need of a reset in their faith walk. This series will look at the simple fact that in our busy lives full of commitments, Jesus needs to come first, no matter what.
Til Death Do Us Part
With much of our culture having various understandings of marriage, its benefits, and its value, this series will cover God’s intention for the marriage relationship and why it’s more than an expression of love but also one of sacrifice and purpose.
This four-week series will explore a biblical understanding of what it means to be married in today’s world.
Parent Guilt: Dealing with the Weight of Parenting
The Bible encourages believers to understand parenting as a picture of the gospel. Humans were created for connection. And even when the Christian parent feels shame for not getting it right every time, there is always grace-based hope for repairing the rupture.
Seasons: The Gospel Throughout Life’s Stages
We want to live so God can use us—but how? Is kingdom living the same in adolescence as it is in retirement? In this six-week series, we’ll see how the gospel informs the different stages of our lives: birth to death, adolescence to retirement, marriage and singleness in adulthood to parenthood. Through the lens of Luke’s Gospel, we’ll discover how Jesus leads us to fruitfulness and faithfulness at every age and stage.
When God Doesn’t: The Book of Habakkuk
In this four-week series, Habakkuk begins by complaining and questioning God, who seems silent and unconcerned for his people. In the end, Habakkuk’s complaint gives way to a beautiful trust in God that is not based upon the prophet’s circumstances.
Imperfect Disciples Changing the World
This series helps us see the many ways the disciples were like you and me: imperfect. Throughout the Gospels, we see them misunderstand Jesus, vie for power and position, doubt, fear, and fail in many other ways. And yet Jesus uses these disciples to spread his message and build his church. This is great news for us, because Jesus isn’t done using imperfect disciples! Even though we fail, he can still use us to spread his message and build his church today.
The Unsaved Christian
(based on the book by Dean Inserra)
This four-week series, based on the book The Unsaved Christian by Dean Inserra, will help Christians cultivate a deeper understanding of cultural Christianity. It will also challenge listeners to dig deep into their commitment to Christ, and verify whether they truly are Christians. It will also help believers understand how to witness to cultural Christians.
Based on The Unsaved Christian: Reaching Cultural Christianity with the Gospel by Dean Inserra, Moody Publishers, 2019. Used by permission. https://www.moodypublishers.com/books/current-issues/the-unsaved-christian/
Keeping Score: What We Lose When We Keep Count
This series challenges us to stop keeping a tally of who owes us, what we think God owes us, and what we deserve. Instead, it invites us to choose to lose count: to lose count of offenses against us and forgive as Christ called us to; to lose count of what our “right hand” has given, and to freely hold up open hands that gladly give and receive; to lose count of our righteousness and acts of right living, to freely walk in the sanctifying grace of Christ; and to lose count of our failures and rest secure in God’s grace and sovereignty.
Let’s Talk About It: Stigmas in the Church
God offers believers healing and hope instead of condemnation as they struggle with mental health, physical health, singleness and infertility, and aging.
This four-week series tackles a different social stigma each week.
Give Thanks: Gratitude In All Circumstances
This three-week Thanksgiving series addresses how we can develop a heart of gratitude to God, which in turn leads to generous giving. Thankfulness is not an occasional act but a lifestyle of intentional and spontaneous appreciation that leads us into the presence of God, empowers us to be grateful in all circumstances, and generates an overflow of generosity.
All In: Heart, Soul, Mind and Strength
This five-week series examines Mark 12:30 and the command to love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Thank Full: Hearts of Gratitude
We spend so much of our time chasing after careers, people, or possessions that never satisfy us in the end. When is enough, enough? This four-week series examines the biblical concept of contentment and how we can find it in Christ.
The Fear of God
This four-week series examines what it means to “fear” God. Through understanding the difference between our cultural definition of fear and the biblical meaning, we can understand that the “fear of God” is central to the Christian life.
Bringing It To the Table
The holiday season is a time for celebrating with family and friends, but it is also a time that can cause anxiety and dread as we prepare for conversations about divisive issues. This four-week series will explore the way Scripture addresses conflict, divisive issues, and the hope of the gospel to bring reconciliation and healing to tense or broken relationships. Rather than avoiding difficult topics entirely or fueling the flames of controversy, Christians have the option of faithful engagement.
Thanks and Giving
This three-week Thanksgiving series addresses how we can develop a heart of gratitude to God, which in turn leads to generous giving.
The Greatest Month of Generosity Ever
This four-week series examines the biblical understanding of generosity. By looking at the character of God, the good Samaritan, the widow’s offering, and Paul’s encouragement to give generously, we will see that God wants us to be generous in all areas of our life.
Advent: The Unexpected King
Throughout the Bible, births often herald great hope and expectations and are the result of great faith in God. Many births are a foreshadowing of the greatest birth of all, the birth of Jesus Christ.
In Good Company
This four-week Advent series looks at the struggle we can face when we wait. As we consider the ways Simeon, Elizabeth, and Mary dealt with loss, fear, disappointment, and waiting on God, we will see the strength and hope God gives to those who wait.
Christmas Playlist
This four-week series tells the Christmas story through a topical lens. Jesus’s birth was the catalyst for the believer to find hope in difficult times, true belonging, peace, and eternal heart change through a right relationship with God. Each week, a popular Christmas song will be used as an illustration of the passage and the sermon’s big idea.
Final Thoughts On Sermon Series for the Fall
Finally, as you plan your fall sermon series, it is essential not to lose sight of Christmas. While you are in the planning mode, do yourself a huge favor and keep planning right through the end of the year, as it will only add to the hectic nature of the season if you delay planning your Christmas sermon series.
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