The thesis of Stephen Rummage’s Planning Your Preaching is that an effective preaching ministry is built over the long-term rather than the short-term, that consistency over time is therefore of paramount importance, and that good planning is the key to consistency. His aim in this book, then, is to help pastors organize their various teaching ministries into one cohesive plan in order to enhance their long-term effectiveness.
He builds his system from 2 Tim 4:2 and argues that we’re to preach biblically, consistently, persuasively, and patiently. He then offers ten reasons why planning one’s preaching is a good thing, the most important of which is the first, namely, that “planning allows for greater [not lesser] leadership of the Holy Spirit” (23).
From this foundation, he moves on to articulate the biblical objectives of preaching, which he argues are building faith, equipping the saints for the work of ministry, and edifying the saints toward maturity in Christ. With these goals in mind he suggests several ways in which a preacher can get a good read on his congregation so that his planning will connect well with the will of God and the lives of the people.
Finally, Rummage devotes several chapters to planning for different occasions and styles of preaching, and concludes with some preacherly wisdom as to how to work the plan. “Good preaching requires hard preparation. It requires a lot of work and discipline. It might require rearranging the priorities of your weekly schedule” (213). Amen, these are wise words from a seasoned preacher.
The strongest aspect of Rummage’s book is the sharpness and correctness of his central thesis. He is right to say that “successful preaching is not about any single sermon but about many sermons” (11), and to argue on that basis that consistency in preaching is more important than occasional perfection. Furthermore, I do think he’s right to say that consistency is best nurtured in the life of a fore-thoughtful preacher, and I do think he was successful in showing that planning does not quench but rather gives release to the movement of the Holy Spirit in the life of the church.
Second, related to this first point, Rummage also provides a good balance between dependence on the Holy Spirit and old-fashioned hard work. He wisely remarks that “[n]othing is spiritual about failing to plan” (21), and yet he counsels his readers to follow the leading of the Lord rather than the plan if the two are ever in conflict (25). In this and other respects, I found him to be a sensitive man of God, a wise shepherd of the flock, and a seasoned preacher.
Third, while I’m not sure I would state the argument in just the same way, Rummage is right to exalt the “audience” in the eyes of preachers and lead us to think more carefully about them. In the final analysis, we simply cannot play our part in impacting the people with the truth of the Word if we don’t give as much thought to the people as we do to the Word.
Finally, Rummage’s treatment of this subject is thorough and he provides useful tools for a variety of preachers. Therefore, I would commend the book to any preacher at any stage of his ministry. He provides those who do not plan well with a method by which they can do so, and he offers those who do many helpful, collegial insights.
As for my personal reflections on his book, first, by the grace of God and the influence of my pastors and professors, I've always been thoughtful about my preaching ministry, and I've always devote regular time to thinking through various aspects of it. However, I have shied away from long-term comprehensive planning for two reasons. On the one hand, I often find methods of doing so to be somewhat like Saul’s armor—they seem to work well for others but they are cumbersome to me. This is not to suggest that I don’t have a kind of process by which I operate because I do; but it is to say that there’s a fair amount of “art” in my process and that I do not simply proceed by a list of preconceived steps.
On the other hand, the Lord has changed the course of my well-thought-out plans so many times that I’ve come to understand he would rather me leave the details to him. Believe me, I am a born planner but I learned pretty early on that God has fairly decent planning skills as well and that my job is to draw near to him, listen to his voice, and submit to his plans for my preaching. As with other aspects of the preaching process, I find that effective planning has much to do with personal intimacy with God.
Because of this, I wasn't all that excited to read this book but in the end I gleaned quite a lot from it. I found Rummage not to be too rigid or mechanical, but rather Spirit-led, wise, and collegial. I often felt as though I was sitting around the table with a fellow practitioner discussing how we can better glorify God and serve his people through our preaching.
Second, I really appreciated the idea that planning and the movement of the Spirit are not mutually exclusive. I have often thought of my preparation process as a sort of “John the Baptist”: the plan is not the message but it “prepares the way” for the message. As such, the message outweighs the plan and may well change the plan, but more often than not it uses the means of the plan to deliver the ends of glorifying God and transforming lives. When conceived in this way, the details of the plan are not so important as the fact that we have a thoughtful approach to handling the Word of God in the presence of the people of God. God seems to smile on this effort, even when he sets our plans aside.
Third, over the years, I've most often preached through books of the Bible, albeit at a varied pace. I don’t over-plan my trek through any particular book because I’ve found that my most important insights are often owing to the flow of many weeks, or even months, of study and preaching. There is simply no way to foresee the most important ideas that will emerge in a book series before the fact. However, Rummage helped me see that I can benefit very much from a long study retreat wherein I do nothing but seek Jesus, bathe in the book I’m about to preach, and lay out a basic road map for how I hope to preach it.
Finally, because preaching through books is my dominant style, I tend to view holidays and special days as good and necessary interruptions to the flow of working through a book—but interruptions nonetheless. Rummage helped me see that if I’m more thoughtful about these kinds of events I can work with the Lord to heighten the value and effectiveness of such special days in the life of the church, and I’m thankful to him for this insight. To make the most of these occasions, I think it's best to plan the annual flow of them along with the other pastors and leaders, especially those involved in the planning and execution of the worship services. But whatever the details, Rummage is right to encourage us to be as thoughtful as possible about special Sundays well before they come.
Like me, you may be hesitant to read a book like this, but I want to encourage you to acquire and read Planning Your Preaching. I'm confident that if you approach it with a humble heart, you'll learn from our fellow preacher, Stephen Rummage.
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