I was recently asked how early I know what series I am likely to be preaching through next. The short answer is, whenever I have finished prepping the sermons I am due to preach in the existing series. For me, that is usually somewhere between three to six months before the new series begins.

I was then asked how I work out what series I will do next. Once I’ve finished one book, how do I decide what to go through afterwards? Here are the things I tend to factor into the decision.

Links and complements

Typically, once I have finished a series, I am thinking about how the next series will complement or link to what we have just heard. I want there to be some sort of linking thought from one to the other. For example, if I have just finished a series in Judges, I am going to be thinking about the big themes and ideas from that book. Knowing that it is big on there being no king in Israel and everyone doing what was right in their own eyes, I am likely to be looking either for a book that reinforces that idea in a different way or one that offers a kind of antidote the the problem presented, so maybe thinking about 1 Kings or Matthew’s gospel or something like that.

Variation

Another factor in my thinking will be offering a varied diet. If I have just preached something Old Testament, I’m likely to favour something complementary from the New Testament. If I have recently preached some historical book, I’m likely to think about landing in the wisdom literature or prophetics books instead. If we have just had a fairly heavy book that is dense and tough to understand, I might look to land in something lighter and easier if I can find a suitable linkage.

New over repeat

If I have found a suitable link and landed in a few books of a different variey, I am likely to favour preaching through a book my people haven’t heard yet over one that we have preached through before. I would be more likely to repeat a book we’ve done before if it links better to what we have done or it feels more pressing in respect to what our people need. But generally, as we want to teach the whole counsel of God, I’m going to lean towards books we’ve not been through over ones we have been through.

These are the key factors that will influence the next series. We want complementary or counterpoint themes, some variation in the style of literature and to favour books we haven’t yet studied over ones that we have. When we’ve worked those things out, we land on something we think suitable.