5 Ideas for Sunday Night Sermons

December 15, 2010 in Church Life with 6 Comments

Yes, I’m one of “those” preachers. I plan my sermons well in advance. While we must deviate from our plans at times, I have all my 2011 Sunday morning titles and texts planned (and have for about six weeks). I did this for 2010, too, and it was wonderful. I changed the plan a couple of times, but that was okay, because I still knew the direction I wanted to go.

But, what about Sunday nights? Those “PM sermons” are often unplanned and can still leave us thinking about what to preach from week to week. I plan a few of them well ahead of time, but I like to keep Sunday nights free for more flexible scheduling.

Here are some things I have done, or have in my plans to do in the future on Sunday nights.

1. Q&A Night. We started this at Lebanon Road this year, and it has been well received. We have members submit questions in boxes and then answer 1 or 2 each time. We have these every other month.

2. “Children’s Emphasis” Night. We also started this in 2010. Many have done things like this in the past, but it still works! I preach about 10 minutes for our children, who all sit down front with me. Usually, I involve them with questions, and I try to have a song that goes with the Bible story, too. Then, I preach about 10 or 15 minutes to the entire assembly, and base my sermon on the story we have discussed with the kids. While I have a lot of work to do on these, they have also been very well received. We do these every other month, as well.

3. Old Testament Book of the Week. Todd Clippard mentioned this to me. There are 39 books in the Old Testament. By the time you figure in VBS, Gospel Meeting(s), times you are away, and other special Sunday night services, that’s about how many Sunday nights you preach each year. Why not preach one sermon from each book of the Old Testament. It’s a good way to preach from some books that are often neglected.

4. Sermon in Song and Scripture. An idea I got from Andy Kizer, we did a couple of these when I lived in Haleyville. The sermon is exactly what it sounds like. There is no “real” preaching, but the entire time is spent singing and reading God’s Word on a specific topic. These are especially useful when the church calendar is filled, or near holiday times.

5. Singing Emphasis Nights. Many congregations still have a Sunday night where they spend more of the time singing (at Lebanon Road, ours is on Wednesday night), but why not have a series (or, at least, a regular part of your preaching) on the songs that we sing. Base a sermon on a song. My dad does this at Central, and it helps make the singing nights even more special.

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There are so many more I could mention, but I want to hear from you. What are some things you have preached on specifically on Sunday nights, or have heard preached on, that were especially meaningful? Leave a comment with your list.

—-and, please, DON’T constantly preach on worship attendance on Sunday night!!!

About Adam Faughn: Adam Faughn preaches for the Lebanon Road Church of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee. He is happily married to Leah, and they have two children: Mary Carol and Turner. Adam enjoys writing, reading, and sports, and hopes to help as many people as possible go to heaven.

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  • http://joeysparks.net Joey Sparks

    These are more abstract than the specifics you posted, but are two ‘approaches’ to Sunday night preaching…

    One preacher I grew up listening to took the approach of making Sunday night as practical as possible. He said several times, “People are about to go to work for the week. What can I preach that will help them this week?”

    Another preacher I respect took the approach that Sunday PM crowds tend to be more accepting of “deeper things” than a diverse Sun AM crowd would be. So he would typically do subjects that involve deep textual studies, difficult issues, etc.

    I find both approaches intriguing and think there’s a time & a place for both. I tend to be maxed out mentally by Sunday evenings, but even still, appreciated the opportunity to study “weightier” matters.

  • Adam Faughn

    Joey,

    I often do deeper studies on Sunday nights, too. While I probably preach about 2/3 to 3/4 of the time in textual study, I usually go far deeper on Sunday nights. Most of the time, if I do a Greek/Hebrew word study in a sermon, it will be on Sunday night, for example.

    Thanks for commenting. Now people know that you do study more than college football and that “other sport” (make that, REAL sport) college hoops (you know, where we actually have a playoff?).

    Seriously, thanks for your friendship, brother!

    Adam

  • Jim Faughn

    The idea I got for my sermon for this Sunday night came from a preacher I highly respect — YOU!!

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  • http://pleasantgrove-ky.blogspot.com Ben Wiles

    My feeling is that the Sunday night crowd isn’t there for you, or for themselves, but for each other. These are the folks who have the deepest emotional investment in the congregation itself. So when I’m putting together a Sunday night sermon series, I try to focus on the idea of “community” — service, encouragement, evangelism, etc. Basically I want to play to what I perceive as their motivation for showing up.

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