State of the Church Sermon
Preaching a ‘State of the Church’ Sermon
The New Year is always a time for new ideas, new directions, and fresh energy to reach a goal. People are making ‘New Year’s Resolutions” and are open to change. The President addresses Congress on the State of the Union. It is the best time of the year to project fresh vision and celebrate the victories of the previous year.
There are some practical suggestions in sermon preparation.
1. Be Positive – Present the challenges facing the church in realistic terms, but be positive that the church can face their ’Goliaths’ as King David did. God takes ‘5’ stones, ‘5’ loaves and fishes and works miracles.
2. Be Biblical – Ask the Holy Spirit for a passage of Scripture that is specific to your church situation and the work God is doing in your heart. The goals and vision should have scriptural support and the wording reflect those specific verses.
3. Be Historical – Review and celebrate the story of your church in the founding, the reason for existence, and the review of the core values. Show how the vision for the New Year connects with the core values.
4. Be Missional – Focus on people, not the programs. How will the future be defined by changed lives through the Missional outreach? This includes social outreach ministries, evangelism, and church multiplication.
5. Be Practical – How will ‘we’ get there? Review what progress has been made toward previous goals with specific testimonials.
6. Be Creative – Place ‘windows’ in your sermon of illustrations, someone to give a personal testimony or being interviewed by the pastor, object lessons, or a short video presentation.
This also a good time to present a redesigned brochure containing your vision, mission statement, and core values. It is important your church leadership and board members have been in dialogue with the pastor about the content of the ‘State of the Church’ sermon. Church leadership should never be ambushed with vision and ideas that have not been discussed with them and they have had the opportunity to gain ownership. Pastors should remember the laity is not there to promote and carry out the personal vision and agenda of the pastor. There must be a joint ownership of the local church ministry.
This message should be recorded and consideration made of including it as a CD in the visitor’s packet throughout the year. If the pastor writes this message in full manuscript form then it can be printed for distribution.
I strongly suggest the pastor block off a full day to be alone in prayer and Bible reading as you begins to work on this sermon. Ask God to cleanse your heart and mind from self interest so that the only the finger prints of God are on the ministry of the local church.
-Ed Williamson
