5 Preaching Topics to Consider for 2022 Sermon Series Planning

It's that time of year again. The time of year for doing yearly sermon series planning. It's when we spend extended time in prayer and discussion (hopefully with a team and not just by our lonesome) on what we believe God wants to say to the congregation we lead.

In this article, I want to offer you 5 preaching topics to consider for your 2022 sermon series planning. And that wording is very intentional. I just want to encourage you to consider these topics. You know your people and your community better than I do. 

5 Preaching Topics to Consider for 2022 Sermon Series Planning

1. Jesus

I truly hope that you didn't just scroll right past this one with a duh, Brandon. Of course.

Here's what I mean: we need to preach Jesus' sacrifice, Jesus' victorious resurrection, and Jesus' royal ascension. We also need to preach about how he lived, how he fought, what he taught, what he calls us to as his followers. 

In the traffic jam of ideas on the informational interstate many people are on every day (the internet, social media, podcasts, YouTube, etc.), people need to see the real Jesus afresh. 

Because of this conviction, I'm mapping out the book of Matthew to walk through slowly (I'll likely share the approach I'm taking in another piece of content). It's going to take quite a while to do so and the church I lead isn't used to walking through a book that big. So, it will be a stretch for them. It will be a stretch for me as well. But I believe it's going to be a valuable stretch.

But I'm not saying that's the only way to accomplish this. You could:

• Preach through some parables
• Preach through a selection of accounts
• Preach on a specific set of teachings of Jesus paired with him living his teachings out

You get the idea.

2. Renewal of the mind

Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God. - Romans 12:2

I believe this topic is vitally important. I believe this because I know how vital it has been for me. And since preaching on the topic, I got to hear how impactful it was for those in the church I lead.

For years, this verse has stuck out to me because I've lived it. From coming to Jesus at the age of 20 and experiencing a big renewal of my thought patterns and worldview, I knew that it was true. But as I continued to walk with God, I realized that there were deeper things in me that still needed to be renewed.

Things like:

• Lies I've believed that have their source in pain and trauma
• Strongholds that I fight against
• How I view the world (not always through the lens of God's constant work)

The mind is a powerful thing that we must let Christ renew. But it takes intentionality because it's a joint endeavor. So this year, I preached a series entitled, Battlezone: Fighting to Let Christ Renew Your Mind.

This was the premise: Sometimes life can feel out of control. It can feel like there is a battle raging inside our minds. And it feels that way because that is exactly what is happening. But God offers us hope and a path forward. He tells us that we can be transformed by the renewing of our minds. But we must understand: it will be a fight to let Him. A fight within our very selves. The battle can be won and, in this series, we’re going to learn how.

A helpful resource, among many others, that I used to frame the series was  Craig Groeschel's book, Winning the War in Your Mind. 

3. What to do with our emotions

It's been an emotional couple of years for so many people. And what has been abundantly clear is many of us aren't emotionally mature. 

You and I know this because there have been many times in which that emotional immaturity has attacked us. 

Add to that the fact that the church hasn't done a great job discipling people in their emotions for quite awhile and you have a messy combination.

As Pete Scazzero has said in his book, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, "You cannot be spiritually mature if you are emotionally immature." We need to disciple our people in their emotions.

So if you want to start digging into this topic for yourself before you try and teach your people on it (the best approach), here are some books to consider grabbing:

• Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
• The Emotionally Healthy Leader
• A Failure of Nerve
• Managing Leadership Anxiety
• The Thing Beneath the Thing
• Untangling Emotions

If you'd like to see how I preached this message, you can view it here: Emotions. We used the graphics package from Life.Church's (accessible on open.life.church) series along with the titles of the messages. Everything else was prepared from scratch.

4. Grief

For the last 20 months, people all over the world have lost a lot. Whether it be a loved one, a relationship, a way of life, a level of trust, a job, or a house, loss has been very common.

And I would argue that on a base level, just because of the pandemic, people are grieving and they may not even know it.

Last summer, in the midst of all that was happening in the American society and on the heels of receiving yet another angry church member's complaint, it hit me: we're all grieving right now.

The problem was we were grieving and it seemed as though most of us didn't know it.

Because when someone is grieving and they're not aware of it, that rarely leads to good things.

You see, grief is a very complex human experience. But, it's a natural experience. It's a natural response to loss. And because it's rare that you meet someone who has learned how to grieve well, what you oftentimes see are people who are 30, 50, 70 years old coping with their grief like they are still 4 years old.

So all that to say, I believe this is a subject you should consider preaching on in 2022. I'm in the middle of a series right now called, Stages: Good Grief that you can follow along and see how I am taking it.

5. Major cultural questions/concerns

Every generation has a collection of questions they ask more often than other generations. And this is why doing theology is an on-going endeavor. 

And this current generation isn't slowing down on the questions they're asking. With the internet being as developed as it is, the amount of questions and perspectives on an assortment of topics is sometimes deafening.

My concern in all of this is that if we're not addressing these questions, then people will find answers to their questions in all kinds of places except in the church. And that's a problem.

We do a good job of bringing up questions that many aren't asking and showing how important it is to ask these questions. But we're not the greatest at having the courage to answer the questions people are asking.  

So, I would encourage you to consider digging into some difficult topics. Here's what my plan is for 2022: I'm going to preach a series (title TBD) on the following topics:

• Politics
• Deconstruction
• Race
• Sexuality
• Gender
• Science

Some topics, I'll spend multiple weeks working through and others, I'll spend a single week on. Call me a glutton for punishment but I believe these are topics we should be talking about. 

My only regret is not spending this much time on these things sooner. 

What are you preaching on in 2022?

As you can see, these are topics I have recently preached on or plan to in 2022. I'm curious what you're preaching on in 2022. Leave a comment below and let me know the series you're looking forward to the most.

Want to grow in your preaching?

There are 3 things every pastor needs if they want to exponentially improve in their preaching:

1. On-going training
2. On-going coaching
3. On-going community

The problem is, it's rare for a pastor to have all three. And that is why Lane Sebring (from PreachingDonkey.com) and I teamed up earlier this year to create the Advanced Coaching Community for pastors just like you.

And right now, the doors are open for more pastors to join.

In the Advanced Coaching Community, you get:

• On-going training through monthly masterclasses
• On-going coaching through monthly Live Q&A Zoom calls
• On-going community with pastors like you--24/7 access

This is what Ewen Ebsworth, one of the awesome members of the coaching community had to say about his experience:

"As a lay preacher, I have found the training and support of the Advanced Coaching Community a tremendous blessing! I feel more confident in my sermon preparation as well as more excited to preach from what I learn in the monthly masterclasses. I have also been very impressed by the time and preparation Lane and Brandon have put into their answers whenever I have asked questions in the Q&As. As instructors and coaches, Lane and Brandon are very approachable and active in the community."

I believe Lane and I are building something extremely valuable and extraordinarily helpful for pastors and we would love to have you a part of it.

Our mission is to help pastors advance in their preaching and leadership. So if you're a pastor who wants to do that, click here to learn more about the Advanced Coaching Community and join today.