Sermon Review: What It Is, Why You Need It and How to Do It

A sermon review allows pastors to receive affirmation on what’s working, tweak what’s broken, and make the experience more engaging.

By Ben Stapley

Reviewing your sermon affirms what’s working, tweaks what’s broken, and ultimately makes the experience more engaging. Obviously, a sermon review is for preachers. But it also affects and benefits everyone in the church. It benefits the guests because they have a better experience. It also benefits the volunteers and staff because it provides respite, spiritual refreshment, and encouragement during the weekend.

What you need for a sermon review

Review on Thursday

The best day to review is Thursday. It’s late enough in the week that you should be able to get all the assets—your manuscripts, slides, videos, and props ready to practice with. It’s also not so late in the week that you don’t have time to make needed corrections. But don’t let a particular day hold you back. A good day is better than no day.

Review with everything

Try to practice with as much as possible. Your manuscript—what you will say. Your slides and videos—what you will show. As well as your props—what you will hold. Your blocking—where you will move. And your tech—how it all works. Practice with it all. This allows you to identify any gaps in content.

Feedback on everything

You want to hear feedback from a panel (that we’ll discuss later in this article) on every aspect of the message. Was that cultural reference a little dated? Was that joke inappropriate? Or was that political reference unnecessarily divisive? Was that application weak? Was that theology heretical? Or was that message a little long? You want to make sure the feedback is as exhaustive as possible. This will ensure your sermon is as great as possible.

Why sermon review matters

The sermon is the main thing

On average churches allocate their service time with a 10, 40, and 50 percent model—10% to hosting, 40% to worship, and 50% of the service is dedicated to the sermon. Churches spend half of their service time on the sermon. Since the sermon is such a priority in our churches, it should receive an extensive degree of review.

Since the sermon is such a priority in our churches, it should receive an extensive degree of review. — @benstapley Share on X

It makes future messages better

The sermon review not only makes an individual message better, but it also makes future messages better. You can apply review from your current message to your next message. If the review panel keeps telling me I have too many points each week, then maybe I should have fewer points next week. A review system is compound learning for your sermons. What you hear and learn one week doesn’t just apply to that week. It applies to future weeks as well.

Go the extra mile

Most preachers take 10-20 hours each week to prepare their sermons. The review process should only take you 90 minutes—45 minutes to preach and 45 minutes to review. Create room for these 90 minutes in your work week to do the review. Feedback after a message makes the preacher feel better. Input before the message makes the preacher preach better. So go the extra mile. Do a review.

It becomes a leadership pipeline

Think about how much knowledge and experience pastors and preachers have. Think of what it would do if they invited a panel to review them. And think of how much knowledge and experience people on the panel would naturally observe. The review process can become a leadership pipeline for new and aspiring communicators as they watch and learn.

Gives you a weekend

A review gives you a degree of accountability since your panel is expecting you will have the sermon ready by the end of the work week. This planned rhythm is a huge benefit that cannot be overstated. It gives you a weekend. And your weekend gives you professional and personal margins. Having a weekend provides greater opportunities for you to fill your tank, strengthen your marriage, and care for your children. It allows you to put your family before your church.

Feedback after a message makes the preacher feel better. Input before the message makes the preacher preach better. — @benstapley Share on X

Gives your team a weekend

Your team can’t have a weekend if you don’t have a weekend. Since your message involves other moving parts, the sooner you get your work done, the sooner others can get their work done. As pastors and preachers, we need to remember that our message is the first domino to fall. And there are a bunch of subsequent dominos lined up waiting behind it. Giving your team a weekend helps them avoid burnout, stay committed to their work in the church, and, most importantly, stay committed to their faith in Christ.

How a sermon review works

Review with trusted advisers

In Proverbs, Solomon says wisdom is found in the counsel of many (Proverbs 15:22). So you need a panel of trusted advisors. I have seen a council of 3-4 trusted advisors work well. Any less and there are too few perspectives. Any more and the process can take too long. You need people who have your best interest at heart. These are people who lovingly tell the truth. They are people who exhibit Proverbs 27:6: “The wounds of a friend are trustworthy” (CSB). In other words, you’re not looking for a panel of yes men and women. You’re looking for people to speak truthfully into your message.

Review with a diversity of advisors

You want people who bring different perspectives to the table. Someone to watch how you look. Someone to watch what you said. And someone to watch what you wrote. Someone to watch for structure and flow. Someone to watch for time. And someone to watch for application for believers and unbelievers. The more diversity—age, gender, ethnicity, religious background—you can get on the panel of advisors, the better.

Start with an overview, then go page-by-page

Starting with an overview from the panel lets the preacher know how the message landed. You can quickly get a sense of what worked and what didn’t. This overview should be less than a minute and generally positive. Starting with an overview also lets preachers catch their breath and mentally change gears. After the overview, go page-by-page. The panel should write notes on their copy of the manuscripts during the message. They can bring up these notes as you go through each page.

It’s not a democracy

The review process is not a democracy. It’s a benevolent dictatorship. And the preacher is the dictator. The panel isn’t voting where to take the message. Instead, they are simply presenting their feedback. The preacher then decides to take or leave the feedback. The panel needs to be comfortable with this for the process to work.

Don’t make excuses

We’ve talked about what a review is, why to do it, and how to do it. But you may have arguments against it. Let’s explore how some common tensions can be overcome.

“I don’t have time”

You’re going to do the same amount of sermon prep each week. I’m just saying do it earlier in the week. When pastors say, “I don’t have time for a review” what I hear is, “I don’t know how to manage my time for a review.” And this problem is totally understandable. But it is also totally surmountable. Instead of front-loading your work week with meetings and back-loading it with message prep, retool it. Message prep on Mondays and Tuesdays and have meetings on Wednesdays and Thursdays. If you do this, you will find that extra 90 minutes for the message review.

“It isn’t spirit-driven”

There is a misnomer out there that the Spirit can only work at the last minute. But if God was able to lay out His plan of redemption in eternity past, don’t you think He can help guide you to write a message at a planned and purposeful pace? The Spirit wants to equip you for Sunday. Trust Him. Start your message prep earlier in the week. Also, realize that preparation does not eradicate the possibility of spontaneity. Preparation gives you the confidence and freedom to go where you feel you need to in the moment.

If God was able to lay out His plan of redemption in eternity past, don’t you think He can help guide you to write a sermon at a planned and purposeful pace? — @benstapley Share on X

“I can’t trust others”

Now I never really hear pastors saying this. But this is what I infer from their actions. There is sometimes a lack of vulnerability and even humility that keeps pastors from opening themselves up to a sermon review process. And I understand. It takes vulnerability to have people pick apart your work. But people are already picking apart your work. Your whole congregation does it as they drive home from church. If you allow a select few to shred your message in front of your face (hopefully, as lovingly as possible) it will minimize the amount of shredding that happens on those rides home from church.

This article was originally published on BenStapley.com.