Sermon Outlines: The Value of a Plan

Just as a builder would hesitate to erect a house without a carefully worked-out plan, so a writer should never begin a sermon before outlining fully. In planning a building, an architect considers how large a house his client desires, how many rooms he must provide, how the space available may best be apportioned among the rooms, and what relation the rooms are to bear to one another. In outlining a sermon, likewise, a writer needs to determine how long it must be, what materials should be included, how much space should be devoted to each part, and how the parts should be arranged. Time spent in this planning will allow the process to be a smooth and quick process, therefore it is time well spent.

Outlining the subject fully involves thinking out the sermon from beginning to end. The value of each item of the material gathered must be carefully weighed; its relation to the whole subject and to every part must be considered. The arrangement of the parts is of even greater importance, because much of the effectiveness of the presentation will depend upon a logical development of the thought. In the last analysis, writing sermon outlines requires clear thinking, and at no stage in the preparation of a sermon is clear thinking more necessary than in the planning of it.

Beginners sometimes insist that it is easier to write without an outline than with one. It undoubtedly does take less time to just jot a few notes down than it does to think out all of the details and then write it. In nine cases out of ten, however, when a writer attempts to work out an sermon this way the result is far from a clear, logical, well-organized presentation of the sermon. The common discouragement to make an outline is usually based on the difficulty that most persons experience in deliberately thinking about a subject in all its various aspects, and in getting down in logical order the results of such thought. Unwillingness to create sermon outlines generally means unwillingness to think. You must change your frame of mind in order to succeed in moving forward with your outline.

Envision yourself writing the last line of your sermon and being happy with what you have written. I guess in essence begin at the end. You can be successful using sermon outlines.

Author: Monique A. Edwards