We know the blessing and challenge of preaching, and the time it takes week in and week out to improve your craft. And so we’ve put together a collection of resources for preaching to help you in this endeavor. Whether you are a seasoned preacher who needs some new and fresh insights, or you are a church planting priest who is trying to figure out how to how to manage sermon prep in the midst of starting a church, we hope these resources will be helpful for you!
An Interview with the Rev. Kevin Miller on Preaching
Preaching is a big part of ordained ministry. In their ordination, Anglican priests are instructed by a bishop to “preach the Word of God and to administer the Holy Sacraments.” In many parishes, it’s taken for granted that the rector will preach almost every Sunday.
But that’s not how it is at Church of the Savior, a C4SO parish in Wheaton, Illinois. The Rev. Kevin Miller, rector at Church of the Savior in Wheaton, IL and co-founder of PreachingToday.com and CTPastors.com, intentionally trains people at Church of the Savior to preach, and then gives them opportunities to do so during their Sunday worship services. He took some time to share about this with us recently.
Clergy Conference Session and Panel on Preaching
The Very Rev. Canon Paul Donison on the “Potential and Pitfalls of Anglican Preaching,” from the C4SO Clergy Conference 2018.
Q&A time on preaching, preparation, and more with the Very Rev. Canon Paul Donison, the Rev. Ger Jones, the Rev. Ashley Mathews, Bishop Todd Hunter, and the Rev. Canon Kimberley Pfeiler, from the C4SO Clergy Conference 2018.
The RSVP Preaching Summit
The Preaching Life of a Rector – Dec 3-6, 2018 at The Cove
The Rector’s Summit for Vision and Planning (RSVP) is hosting its first ever event focused on the preaching life. The upcoming gathering will focus on providing a safe and generative environment for priests to come and discuss the challenges of preaching and support one another’s growth in this vital aspect of ministry. To this end, they have invited the Rev. Kevin Miller to guide the conversation. This is intended to be a small gathering, but if you are interested in attending, register here.
Webinar + Workshop from Gravity Leadership on Preaching for Discipleship, Mission, and Transformation
Two incredible resources from our own Rev. Ben Sternke and Rev. Matt Tebbe of Gravity Leadership / The Table.
How to Preach For Discipleship and Mission (Free webinar)
Preaching For Transformation Workshop Replay (FREE for a limited time for C4SO)
Articles on Preaching
- The role of the preacher as a “walking sacrament” in the age of TED talks: the Rev. Jack King on Preaching Like a TED Talk?
- Speaking of TED Talks, there is the type of preaching that supports discipleship in your church, and there is preaching that doesn’t, the Revs. Matt Tebbe and Ben Sternke suggest the former: 4 Kinds of Sermons That Will Cripple Discipleship
- There’s no question that we live in a “distracted age.” The Rev. Matt Woodley suggests four practices to practice “depth” in our preaching: Deep Preaching in a Distracted Age
- “The life of a pastor must be deeply incarnational.” This is one of many important insights in “3 Essentials for Pastoral Preaching” by Pastor Rich Villodas.
- Preaching requires faithful attention to the “creative constraints” that we face and why they can be detrimental to our work, according to the Rev. Kolby Kerr: Four Creative Constraints of the Preaching Life
- “The scope of our art [of preaching] is to provide the soul with wings.” (Gregory Nazianzen) Read this quote and others from the Church Fathers and other saints:The Church Fathers (and Others) On Preaching
- Pastor Brandon Barrett makes the case for the critical signficance of the children’s sermon in our churches: In Defense of the Children’s Sermon
- And of course, we need some humor here, because we all have these stories: Ed Stetzer sharing #StuffChurchpeopleSay: The Funniest Sermon Responses
Helpful Resources for Your Weekly Sermon Prep
We’ve put together a shortlist of sermon prep resources that may help you from week to week.
Preaching Commentary, Exegesis Materials, Illustration Ideas, Lectionary Reflections, and other sermon prep resources:
- Preaching and Worship
- Textweek
- Working Preacher
- Preaching Today
- Calvin Center for Excellence in Preaching
- Extensive List of Commentaries, Surveys and References for Biblical Study From CEP
Podcasts on Preaching
Whether talking Sunday lectionary, or preaching more generally, these podcasts will give you plenty to consider as you are planning each week.
- SermonSmith
- Monday Morning Preacher
- Preaching Points from Gordon-Conwell Center for Preaching
- Crackers & Grape Juice
- Synaxis
Do you have other preaching resources you’d like to share? Send them to communications@c4so.org.