By Brandon Hiltibidal
Sermon preparation is an elaborate business. From the countless hours spent studying and drafting the sermon to the way they arrange their notes on the podium just so, pastors want to know they have done everything they can to ensure that God’s truth is presented well.
But how many give similar effort to helping their people prepare for and process the sermon after it has been taught? The truth is it matters little how well your sermon goes if you don’t give your people a chance to properly work it out. Fortunately, doing this isn’t as complicated as preparing for your sermon; in fact, it can be quite a bit easier.
Here are three ways you can increase the impact of your sermons during the week:
- Social Media Setup: use Twitter and Facebook to set expectations, pose significant questions to be answered during the sermon, and get everyone thinking in the right direction before Sunday.
- Worship Service Tie-ins: don’t just sandwich your sermon into the middle of the service; read the sermon’s text during a break in the music and pray as a congregation over specific takeaways.
- Sermon-based Discussion: create one-page discussion guides for your small groups that expand on the sermon and challenge groups to dig deeper together. Discipleship in Context, the custom curriculum team at Lifeway, can custom create these one-page discussion guides for you in as little as 24 hours.
No matter how you choose to do it, rallying your church around God’s Word during the week will pay dividends in the biblical maturity and biblical literacy of your congregation. What about your church? How do you get more impact from you sermons?
