Change is Possible—with the Right Blueprint
I have good news, bad news, and more good news.
The good news is that if your preaching life isn't working for you, it can work for you.
Sermon prep might not be working for you because it's encroaching on your time off, finding a worthwhile message is difficult, your confidence feels shaky, or you've preached for such a long time that you're bored by it.
The bad news is that it takes commitment and effort to change, and you’re the only one who can make it happen.
In other words Rome wasn't built in a day.
Nor is it torn down in a day.
Nor will it be rebuilt in a day!
The other good news is that there’s a blueprint already designed for your renovated “Rome,” ready to be customized to your specifications!
Watch this two-minute video by the Rev’d Ann Deibert, who shares the transformation she experienced in her sermon prep, then read below for tips on how you can do it, too. You may recognize yourself in the struggles she defines at the start:
“I've been preaching for a long time, and for many years, it was a struggle. I struggled with what to say and so I put off writing until the end of the week and then stayed up late on Saturday night and into early Sunday morning, which is physically exhausting. It didn't give me any time to step back and reflect on what I'd written, and it was frustrating for the people in my life who wished I wasn't so stressed and wanted to have more time with me, as I wanted to have more time with them...”
See what changed for Ann:
You can experience what Ann did, too!
We always recommend the Mentorship (applications opening June 1st!), but with the right blueprint, you can transform your preaching life on your own, too. It will just take a bit more intention.
Here’s your customizable “blueprint”for creating change in your preaching life
#1: gather Your Support
You may have a lot of entrenched bad habits or negative self-talk around sermon prep and preaching.
That’s the old Rome that doesn’t serve those who live there now!
Tearing Rome down and undoing those habits is hard work—discouraging at times, confusing at others.
Without support, you may be tempted to give up in the messy middle before your new, better habits are truly integrated with your preaching, backstory, and life.
First on the list, then, is gathering committed support from colleagues, family, a coach, or spiritual director to help cheer you on and or even lend a hand or ear as you haul away the rubble and build something better suited to your needs now.
#2: Identify Your Goals
Get specific: what needs to change?
Make a list of what isn't working and why it's not working.
Next, feel the ideal. We need to feel the physical feelings and emotions as if our ideal sermon prep and preaching were already routine. As you envision your new, ideal reality, draw upon the times you feel lowered stress, peacefulness, congruence with your spirit, enlivened in your call. That’s what you want to cultivate more of.
For example, what do you feel in your body and what emotions arise if—
your sermons were completed before the weekend
you spent time nurturing yourself
you spent time with loved ones
you increased or got back your preaching "mojo"
Trust the Spirit has just shown you the vision of your rebuilt Rome, and it is glorious!
Capture the vision and the feelings. Writing, drawing, or dictating what we saw and felt in our sacred imaginations gives us the hope and vision to move ahead.
#3: Make Time & Make a Plan
When and how will you execute a plan to get from your current reality to your new ideal? What obstacles do you anticipate, and how will you handle them?
For example, if getting sermons done before the weekend is a priority, you’ll want to start with a deep look into your schedule.
Identify what would have to be taken off your calendar in order to give sermon prep dedicated time slots.
Once identified, how are you going to offload this responsibility?
Already you may have encountered your first obstacle! Many who read that will have reflexively jumped to It can't be done!
Why can't it be done?
Because "It's always been done this way?" (aka., I've always done it this way— even while I resented it!)
Or, because past attempts at wrangling your schedules failed, or you had reached the limits of maximizing our efficiency?
Doesn't this sound like what many of us hear from and find frustrating about our congregations? That nothing can change?
This is when we need our support teams to help us turn down the volume on gremlins of scarcity who steal our joy and hope, and turn up the volume of the Spirit who laughs away the gremlins and always shows us the way when it leads to God.
Identify your first step. Make it something easy and fun. Let the momentum from your first step propel your next.
Build upon successes, discard experiments that didn’t work, and keep iterating until your vision of a new Rome is your reality.
#4: Encounter Scripture as a Child of God First
Building a new way of being in your preaching life includes discovering new things about God that light up your soul and give you strength and courage to replace the next block of stone.
As you read your preaching texts and approach sermon prep as a curious child of God who anticipates being surprised and filled with wonder and awe about God, you lift your eyes to the hills and find your help has already come.
When we read with wonder, sermon prep isn’t a chore.
It’s not a task.
It’s not something to hurry over so we can get onto the next thing.
It is joy! It’s delight! Discovery!
That's what's in store for us!
When we get excited about what we learn and how it's changing us, we get excited about sharing it with others through our sermons.
Preaching, then, is transformed to be a gift offered to us, sermon after sermon.
Preaching becomes a privilege.
We can see the difference it makes to our preaching mojo when we approach sermon prep as a sacred, spiritual encounter with the living God.
#5: Seek Feedback & Fellow Sojourners
It’s difficult to make change in a vacuum.
We thrive when surrounded by like-minded people working toward similar goals.
They inspire us. We encourage them. We can share tips and swap stories of how we’ve overcome obstacles in a fellowship of growth.
Perhaps you want feedback on your preaching. Or your sermon prep boundaries. Or you just need a new exegetical resource to inspire your prep.
While your support team exists to cheer you along through the construction of your new preaching life, fellow sojourners are swinging their own hammers alongside you. They’re learning valuable lessons along the way, just like you are.
Don’t underestimate the power of engaging this kind of community both to offer and receive support as you tear down the old and rebuild the new.
We know you can Follow This Blueprint on your own.
But you don’t have to.
Our 10-month mentorship program is designed to support preachers in building a preaching life they love—that will carry them joyfully through years of ministry. We offer the support, tools, and community you need to deconstruct what isn’t serving you and build something life-giving and lasting.