Preaching with a Plan: Sermon Strategies for Growing Mature Believers
Overview
If you want to develop mature believers in your church, you need a plan.
The spiritual lives of your church members are driven largely by what you choose to preach about on Sunday morning. If your messages are scattered, unrelated to one another, or haphazardly prepared, it can be difficult for people to make connections to aid their spiritual growth.
Preaching with a Plan shows you a step-by-step process on how to develop a cohesive preaching plan to guide your choice of Scripture, topics, and concepts to use in worship services. It answers these critical questions:
- Who plans preaching?
- Why should I plan my preaching?
- What kinds of preaching plans are available?
- How do I put together a preaching plan?
Moving quickly from theory to practice, Preaching with a Plan will help you develop an entire year’s worth of sermons designed to educate, enrich, and nurture mature believers in your congregation.
The Logos edition of this work on preaching is fully searchable and easily accessible. Scripture passages link directly to your English translations and to the original language texts, and important theological concepts link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and the wealth of resources in your digital library.
- Emphasizes the importance of sermon preparation
- Explains how to create a preaching plan that emphasizes preparedness and connected ideas
- All I Want Is a Practical Theology of Preaching
- Of Plans and People
- Of Preachers and Plans
- Planning Sermons and Making Disciples
- Planning Purposeful Preaching
- The Best-Laid Plans for Discipleship
Top Highlights
“Augustine said that the purpose of preaching was to explain, edify, and persuade.1 One” (Page 16)
“For the purposes of discipleship, the types of sermons in which we are most interested are catechetical, doctrinal, and didactic. Doctrinal and didactic sermons can be classified under catechetical preaching, which is directed toward those who are already converted—who have stepped over the threshold of belief and are now disciples, learners of Christ.” (Page 21)
“Discipleship through our sermons is what we’re after. Discipleship, then, is developing mature, well-rounded Christians who not only are fed through preaching and the wider ministry of the church but also are able to feed others and themselves well.” (Page 14)
“Preaching is a means of discipleship, a shaping of men and women into the people God wants them to be—growing, deep believers able to face the world in which they live because they have been nurtured to do so by the Word.” (Page 17)
“We engage the long view of maturity by working through the following: First, we assess prayerfully the congregation’s spiritual age. Second, we discern the needs of this particular group of believers. Third, with counsel of church leadership, we develop an overall ministry goal and subgoals that shape the preaching plan and give it purpose. This is what we will tackle in the next chapter: being purposeful in our planning as we preach to disciples.” (Page 93)
Some preachers preach because it’s 11:00 a.m. on Sunday and they have to say something. Others preach because they have something to say. Scott Gibson argues that the Sunday morning sermon can be the most important event in the life of a church, and he describes in detail what it takes for us to make the most of it.
—Haddon Robinson, Harold John Ockenga Professor of Preaching, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
With great wisdom Scott Gibson observes that how and what pastors plan for sermons over the months and years of their ministry is a vital aspect of discipling their congregations. And with equal wisdom, he provides practical thought and pastoral advice for ‘discipleship-driven planning for preaching.’ This is a wonderful book to reinvigorate pastors who may be tired or discouraged from climbing the weekly mountain of sermon preparation.
—Bryan Chapell, chancellor, Covenant Theological Seminary
- Title: Preaching with a Plan: Sermon Strategies for Growing Mature Believers
- Author: Scott M. Gibson
- Publisher: Baker
- Print Publication Date: 2012
- Logos Release Date: 2013
- Pages: 144
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subjects: Preaching; Discipling (Christianity)
- ISBNs: 9781441255839, 9780801091599, 1441255834, 0801091594
- Resource ID: LLS:PREACHPLAN
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T02:22:26Z