Planning a year-long sermon calendar can feel overwhelming, but it’s a key step in nurturing a cohesive, well-rounded teaching strategy. By dividing the year into seasons and paying attention to the natural rhythms of your congregation, you can create series that resonate throughout every stage of the year. Below is a month-by-month breakdown inspired by the recent Ministry Pass Sermon Calendar Planning event, complete with seasonal considerations and suggested sermon ideas to streamline your planning.

January – February: Renewal and Refocus

• Theme: New beginnings, spiritual renewal, and goal-setting.

• Why: The new year is a time when people are open to change and personal growth. It’s a natural season for reflection and spiritual disciplines.

• Suggested Series:

• New Can’t Fix You – Highlighting how transformation comes through Christ, not resolutions.

This four-week New Year sermon series invites us to consider what Scripture teaches us about true change and transformation and how that differs from the hype and gimmicks that come with a new year. We will look at ways our culture has replaced what is proven and trustworthy with new methods and decide whether the new is as good as the old. Rather than placing our trust in quick fixes, we will discover God’s wisdom for change and transformation.

• How to Read the Bible – Encouraging habits of scripture reading and spiritual growth.

This four-week sermon series encourages congregants to explore God’s Word and equips them with basic hermeneutical principles that will help them engage with Scripture and correctly interpret its texts. In this series, we will cover topics such as Jesus as the Word of God, the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament, Scripture as God-breathed, and the Bible as a book that is living and active.

• The Next Right Thing – Following God step by step, especially in seasons of uncertainty.

This four-week series for adults highlights stories of biblical figures who walked into the unknown—Abraham, Joseph, Philip, and Joseph and Mary—to teach and encourage us how to follow God’s will in the unknown seasons of our own lives.

March – April: Preparation and Celebration (Lent to Easter)

• Theme: Preparing hearts for Easter, repentance, and celebrating the resurrection.

• Why: Lent and Easter are central to the Christian calendar, offering a powerful opportunity to engage congregants and visitors alike. Here’s a helpful article for connecting with non-christians during the Sunday Service.

• Suggested Series:

• Hearts of Stone – Preparing hearts for Easter by exploring themes of repentance and transformation (based on Ezekiel).

This six-week Lent series borrows its title from Ezekiel 36 and the picture given there of “the heart of stone” (v. 26). The series looks at ways our hearts are hardened or can be hardened and God’s invitation to transform our callous hearts into “hearts of flesh.” This sermon series is meant to edify your church body by entreating stagnant Christians to seek and find spiritual renewal in Christ.

• Dust to Dust – A Lenten focus on human mortality and new life in Christ.

This six-week series examines the season of Lent and the reality of being human and needing God. Through repentance, fasting, and lament, we can realize our mortality, finitude, and need for God’s strength. We can humble ourselves, receiving God’s grace and knowing that God is changing us to be more like his Son.

• Look Again – Focusing on the resurrection and the empty tomb as a source of hope and renewal.

This Easter sermon takes John’s account of the disciples who went to see the empty tomb and draws from one disciple’s experience of looking and then looking again at the empty tomb. This sermon invites us to look hard at the fact of Jesus’s resurrection, its invitation, and its implications.

May – June: Discipleship and Growth

• Theme: Post-Easter discipleship and preparation for summer.

• Why: This is a transitional period when people are eager to grow in their faith after Easter.

• Suggested Series:

• Like Jesus – Encouraging believers to follow the example of Christ in their daily lives.

This series looks at the life and ministry of Jesus and encourages us to love, lead, serve, pray, and more like Jesus as we follow him today.

• The Greatest Command – A short series focusing on loving God and others.

This two-week series looks at the greatest commandments: to love our God and to love our neighbors. Jesus took the Ten Commandments and narrowed them down to these two, saying we could hang all the Law and Prophets upon them. How should we allow them to inform the direction of our relationships with our Creator and his favorite creations, human beings?

• Summer in the Psalms – A flexible series to engage with the Psalms, perfect for the early summer months.

The psalms are a collection of worship songs used by believers for thousands of years. This six-week series looks at the Psalms of Ascent to learn what they can teach us about God and community.

July – August: Community and Outreach

• Theme: Connecting and equipping the church for outreach.

• Why: Summer is a slower season but provides opportunities to refocus and prepare for the busy fall.

• Suggested Series:

• How to Tell People About Jesus – Practical guidance on evangelism and sharing faith.

This series helps us understand why we should evangelize, and it also gives us practical applications that show us how we can evangelize.

• Refocus – Helping congregants realign their priorities with God’s purpose.

This four-week series examines the ideas of focus, attention, and how God wants us to keep our eyes on Jesus and his kingdom. The concepts of “seeing” and “fixing our eyes” show us that, like athletes, Christians should develop the habit of focusing their attention on Jesus and combating distractions that would keep their eyes, minds, and life focused on other things.

September – October: Engagement and Apologetics

• Theme: Welcoming returning attendees and addressing deeper faith questions.

• Why: Fall is a time when attendance picks up, and people are ready for deeper engagement.

• Suggested Series:

• Old Testament God – Addressing the unity of God’s character in both Testaments.

Many people wonder if the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New Testament. This series helps us see how God’s loving character is revealed in both testaments of the Bible.

• Why Jesus? – Tackling doubts and apologetics to appeal to seekers and the unchurched.

This is a four-week apologetics series for youth. Students are constantly challenged in their faith by messages in culture that leave them wrestling with their own questions about Jesus and the validity of their faith. This series equips them for some of those hard questions and helps them begin to build a strong theological foundation for their faith.

• Missed Calls – Exploring how God calls us and how to respond when we feel we’ve missed opportunities.

This four-week series examines the tough reality of missing calls and opportunities in life. As Christians, we might miss out on important calls for a variety of reasons: overlooking opportunities to help others, grasping on to our own desires instead of God’s plan, focusing too much on our own expectations, and just not seizing the moments God brings our way. But God can redeem even missed calls.

November: Gratitude and Generosity

• Theme: Thankfulness and stewardship.

• Why: Thanksgiving offers a natural time to focus on gratitude and giving as an act of worship.

• Suggested Series:

• Open Hands – Living as generous people of God.

It can be hard to let go. Sometimes we hold on to grudges, and sometimes we hold on to things, like money. This four-week series draws on biblical stories to encourage the people of God to live generously. How can we be people known for being openhanded and willing to give away our time, talents, and treasures to help others and glorify God?

• Thanks in All Things – A two-week series focusing on gratitude in all circumstances.

This four-week series begins with a premise rooted in 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18, which instructs us to rejoice, pray, and be thankful in every circumstance. That is a challenging command! Can we really rejoice always? Look around. Life is full of messy and difficult situations, over many of which we have little control. This series examines how to find strength in the Lord, practice gratitude, embrace lament, and find support in our community to endure whatever life throws at us with a joyful heart.

December: Advent and Christmas

• Theme: Celebrating the birth of Christ and preparing for His second coming.

• Why: Advent is a time for reflection, joy, and focusing on the hope and promise of Christ’s coming. The Advent season offers a unique time for visitors to attend church, so it may be helpful to think through how you preach this season.

• Suggested Series:

• Promises Kept – Highlighting the Old Testament prophecies fulfilled in Christ.

This four-week series for the Christmas season examines the importance of God keeping his promises, revealed in Jesus. Through looking at the Old Testament, we see that Jesus fulfills God’s promise of being with his people, showing his rule over the earth, and giving peace to the world.

• The Arrival – Celebrating the arrival of Jesus and anticipating His return.

Advent is a Latin word meaning arrival. During Advent, we anticipate the arrival of Jesus, the Son of God, into this world. This four-week series looks at the particulars of Jesus’s arrival to better prepare our hearts for the celebration of his birth.

• Advent: Hope Revived – Renewing hope in dark seasons.

This 4 week sermon series focuses on the theme of hope during the Advent season. Looking at passages from Isaiah, the seasons of waiting for Joseph as well as Simeon and Anna, and wrapping up with the hope we have in Jesus. Without the resurrection, hope becomes a pointless goal or pursuit. Any hope we have is firmly embedded in the work of Jesus.

Key Considerations for Planning a Preaching Calendar

1. Congregational Rhythms: Think about your congregation’s mindset and needs during each season (e.g., new goals in January, spiritual preparation for Easter, family focus in the fall).

2. Balance: Include a mix of topical and expository series, addressing practical life issues and diving deep into Scripture.

3. Flexibility: Use tools like Ministry Pass’ Series Planner to easily adjust your calendar throughout the year as needed.

4. Team Involvement: Share your calendar with your team for input and collaboration. Planning ahead builds trust and cohesion.

By using a structured process to plan your sermon calendar, you not only save time but also ensure that your preaching aligns with the spiritual needs of your church throughout the year. Let me know if you’d like a deeper dive into any specific season!