As NextGen pastors, we’re all confronted with the same question each week: What topic am I going to cover? Teaching week after week can become draining. If we’re not careful, we can allow teaching preparation to take a back seat to administrative duties, pastor visitations or mercy ministries. The early apostles wrestled with this same issue, as recorded in Acts chapter 6. They concluded their most important tasks were prayer and the ministry of God’s Word. It would be wise for us to follow their example. I try to follow the rules below.

Teaching Rules to Follow:

• Begin with prayer. Ask the Lord what He would have you teach.
• Operate under the rule of neglect. Neglect everything else until your lesson is ready.
• Consider your audience. What do they need to hear? Start by listing key topics you feel the Lord would have you address.
• Create a year-long teaching calendar. If God can speak to you about this Sunday, then he can speak to you about the entire year.
• Teach in series. Have a series main idea. Then focus on one big idea, of the main idea, each week.
• Don’t take teaching lightly. Teachings need to be solidly biblical and very practical. Every teaching should convict, correct and convince.
• Make your teaching memorable—something they won’t forget. Be creative; use media, props, stories, illustrations or memorable objects.
• Call your audience to action. Cast a big net when calling for a response and provide action steps for your listeners to take.
• Teach with excellence. Prepare and teach like there are 100 people in attendance.
• Remember, It’s God you’re teaching for, not the listeners (1 Peter 4:10).