Download the Sermon outline template—A guide to writing effective sermons
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If a pastor’s only responsibility in a given week was to prepare a 30 to 45-minute sermon, that would be a pretty easy week! But the reality is that most pastors have many more responsibilities that demand care and attention, and the weekly sermon can often receive the remaining scraps of a time a pastor has left over.
As a pastor, have you ever prepped a “Saturday night special,” (a.k.a. writing a sermon while your family has fun or while you have the TV on in the background)? This is more common than many would care to admit!
Not every church leader went to seminary or even has a consistent sermon-writing process. But pastors need to know—the weekly sermon is much easier to prepare and write when you have a plan and a system. It blesses both the pastor and the parishioner when a plan is in place for sermon prep and writing. Everyone wins!
Pastor, if you find yourself struggling to efficiently prepare a sermon each week, a sermon outline template will be your new best friend. Having a process for creating an outline for a sermon allows you to deliver messages with better:
In this article, we are going to explore how to make a sermon outline and execute their sermon preparation and writing. But let’s be clear about something before we get into the nuts and bolts of sermon prep: all sermon preparation needs to be bathed in prayer.
No amount of planning or sermon prep outlines can replace seeking the heart of God and hearing what the Spirit may offer God’s people. However, sermon templates can help steward God’s word faithfully and with maximum care.
Everyone writes sermons differently, and that’s a good thing! Below is a sermon outline template that may not exactly fit the way you do sermon preparation and sermon writing, so feel free to adapt it to fit your needs. The point is this: however you write your weekly sermons, having a plan or outline of some kind will make the process more efficient and likely more effective for you.
Let’s take a look at six essential steps every good preaching outline template should have, including:
When it comes to writing an effective sermon introduction, you could say there are two primary goals: 1) hook your listeners, and 2) introduce them to the passage you’ll be preaching throughout your message.
Make it memorable & meaningful
A lot of people show up to church on Sunday morning tired, half-asleep, or otherwise not in the best state to listen to someone talk to them from a stage for 30 minutes or more.
This is why it is important for a preacher to begin a sermon with some kind of hook—an opening illustration, story, or other type of rhetorical device that may grab the attention of some less-than-eager listeners. This doesn’t need to be an elaborate story or take up a bunch of time, but a brief attention-grabber at the beginning of a sermon can go a long way toward keeping people engaged.
Introduce them to the biblical passages
After hooking the audience with an engaging opening illustration or story, it is important for the preacher to provide a brief explanation of the Bible passage that will be explored in the sermon.
This serves as a foundation for the rest of the sermon and gives the preacher the opportunity to bring any newcomers or people who have missed a week’s sermon up-to-speed with the passage at hand. This also, like the hook, doesn’t need to be long. A brief explanation of the biblical passage and what was preached before this week’s sermon would suffice.
After grabbing your listeners’ attention and appropriately setting the stage for the Scripture you’re going to preach, it’s time to dig into God’s Word.
Exegesis & scripture analysis
The heart, or the meat, of most sermons is this portion right here: exegeting and explaining what the Bible says. What does the Bible passage mean? What is God telling his people in the verses?
Share your observations with the congregation. Dig into some of the original language if it’s appropriate. This is all about explaining the biblical text and helping the congregation grasp what God is saying in it.
Theological insights
Now that you’ve shared your observations and some nuggets of truth in the text for the day, dig into some of the bigger theological themes at play in the passage you’re preaching. Zoom out, if you will.
What big-picture truths do we learn about God in this passage? Share how you interpret the observations you’ve made and what you think they tell us about God, his works, and his character.
Now that you’ve spent the heart of your sermon explaining the biblical text and helping listeners understand what it tells them about God, it is time to help your hearers connect that head knowledge to their heart. It’s time to apply this Scripture to everyday life.
Bridge the gap
This portion of a sermon can be the most challenging for some preachers. Explaining the Scripture may be simple enough. Applying the Scripture seems straightforward. But what about making that transition from the text to listeners’ lives? That can be challenging.
This is the point when a preacher may refer back to the opening hook or illustration and use it as a bridge to application. Or you may find other ways to help the congregation transition from the Bible to their lives.
List life application points
When it comes down to it, helping people understand what the Bible means probably won’t change how people live if you don’t also help them understand how biblical truths apply to everyday life.
Someone once said, “The longest journey is the 18 inches from your head to your heart,” and this helps us understand why it can be difficult for some to take biblical truths they learn and actually apply those truths to their lives. Help this process as a preacher by listing ways the Bible passage you’ve preached may lead people to alter their ways of living.
Challenge them to change
Finally, after listing a handful of ways the congregation may apply a particular Bible passage, the pastor would be wise to provide one singular way the congregation may apply this passage to their lives, as a sort of challenge.
The pastor could say something like, “If you change anything about your life because of this message and this Scripture, do this:” and then share the one challenge action.
Now that we’ve reviewed a general trajectory of how a sermon may flow, let’s explore some different tools a preacher may use to communicate the truths of Scripture or how the biblical texts may be applied to life.
Illustrations & visual aids
Illustrations and visual aids are very helpful for the introductory hook we talked about at the top of the article. Sharing true stories, humorous situations, or recent events can add context to your sermon. These tools help the congregation learn how the biblical text may be relevant to their life in practical or even humorous ways.
Metaphors & analogies
A good way to help people understand complex concepts, especially theological ones, is to use analogies, metaphors, and other such figures of speech. Just be sure that whatever metaphor you use doesn’t inaccurately shape the theological point you’re trying to make—every metaphor breaks down eventually!
It can be incredibly impactful for a pastor to tell personal stories and share examples from their life when preaching and applying a biblical text. Opening up about personal details requires humility and reflects a sense of trust with your audience. However, preachers must be sure to ask children, spouses, or other loved ones for permission when sharing stories that include them. Far too many pastors’ families have been surprised when they are used for an illustration or testimony, and it can do more harm than good!
Pastor's connection
An effective way for a pastor to build rapport with the congregation is to share their own life experiences in relation to whatever Bible passage they’re preaching. Just be sure to not make the sermon all about you if you choose to use this tool while you’re preaching. Remember to tell a brief story and then tie it back to the text and the meaning of the text.
Pastor’s application
Another way for a pastor to build rapport with the congregation is for the pastor to provide details on how this passage has impacted their personal life, and how they’ve applied it to their daily walk with Christ. Doing this can help the congregation think of ways the passage may pertain to the everyday lives they lead and it can be an encouragement to them.
A pastor can conclude a sermon in many different ways—including simply ending with the challenge mentioned above. But if you’d like, you can always end with a traditional conclusion, summarizing the main points you made throughout the sermon and highlighting key passages throughout. The point is this: you need to know how you’re going to land the plane—however you choose to do it—or you’ll run right off the end of the runway.
After preparing and delivering a powerful sermon or series, why not share it with people beyond your church walls? Over 17,000 churches and organizations partner with Subsplash to share the good news of the gospel with millions of people on every continent around the world.
Whether it’s live streaming, podcasting, or simply sharing your sermon library, Subsplash makes it simple to help more people find, listen, and watch your sermons.
To discover more, [.blog-contact-cta]schedule a free demo with one of our Ministry Consultants today! [.blog-contact-cta]
