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Whether you are preaching a sermon to the congregation on Sunday morning or leading a small group during Sunday school, having a sermon outline can make it much easier to get through smoothly.  As disclosed on numerous church websites, an outline allows you to focus on what is most important to your audience and enables you to cover everything that needs to be addressed.  These steps will help you create an effective outline for any sermon or discussion.

 

Before writing anything down or recording your thoughts on paper, ask yourself, “Why am I preaching this message?”  Every good sermon has a purpose that usually includes explaining, informing, exposing sin, encouraging words, and persuading those who lack faith.  An outline needs to reflect the purpose of your sermon so that every point is moving you toward the main point.

 

Obviously, you should tailor your sermon outline to your personality so it’s more meaningful to those that hear it.  When starting as a preacher, you should try to cover two points in the first three minutes, then finish the next two points in the first five minutes and move on from there.  Eventually, it becomes more natural for most preachers and it won’t be as important where to start, though an opening is still needed.

 

Whether or not an outline is used depends mainly on the life experience of the preacher and how confident they are in public speaking.  Some people have never done public speaking before and get extremely nervous about doing so.  On church websites, there is a noticeable difference between a preacher who has a preaching method and one who does not.

 

It is usually a good idea to have an outline in front of you when speaking in front of the congregation.  Everyone has different styles and personalities, which means each preacher will have a unique way of presenting sermons.  The best solution for a sermon outline is to use a sermon presentation tool that can help create an idea of the main points so preachers stay on track and deliver a meaningful message.