Sermon Sources and Content

The first year of weekly preaching within a congregation drives home one unmistakable point: Sunday always comes. Ready or not, every seventh day the preacher will stand and attempt to answer the congregation’s question, "Is there any word from God?" The relentless regularity of preaching pushes the minister deep into the soil of Christian faith. The preacher will either emerge on a weekly basis with an honest semblance of a sermon or will slowly become buried by the weight of the task. Perhaps most pressing for the preacher is the question—what to preach?

We can sort the source and content of the sermon among several categories. These include scripture, theology, the congregation's life, the preacher's life, and the world. While each of these influences the other, a sermon typically begins and revolves around one or the other of these home bases. Many preachers will return every week to the same source—scripture, for example—because of theological convictions, denominational tradition, or habit. Some preachers, however, prefer a variety of starting points for preaching, convinced that God’s revelation is not limited to any one location, book, or event. Either way, early on the preacher has to clarify where a sermon begins and what the sermon is about.

(Each option in the menu on the horizontal bar above supplies a link to a page that discusses one of these content sources. While we prefer that you read all of the pages, there may be a particular option, such as "Theology and Preaching," that interests you most. Feel free to click on that option first.)