www.thegospelcoalition.org
From Sermon to Article: Turning Oral Teaching into Written Content
Every week, you study the Scriptures, analyzing a narrative’s movements or the structure of an epistle’s argument. You prayerfully consider each text’s meaning and application. Then you put pen to paper (or at least your fingers on a keyboard) and write what you’ll say to your congregation on Sunday.
As editors who regularly work with pastors, we’re sometimes asked if writing an article differs from writing a sermon. Yes, it’s different, but most men already recognize that when they ask.
As editors who regularly work with pastors, we’re sometimes asked if writing an article differs from writing a sermon. It’s really different.
After all, in ministry, you don’t just write sermons. In a given week, you may write an email update for your elders and staff, a reflection for the church newsletter, and an encouraging note for a dedicated volunteer. You know intuitively that your writing style changes based on what you’re writing and whom you’re writing to. A sermon is more personal (and less formal) than a seminary paper. And a well-written thank-you note is more personal than a sermon.
But what if you want to turn your sermon into an article or Substack blog post? Here are 10 tips to keep in mind if you want to do this well. Some are ways you should write like you preach, and others are ways you shouldn’t.
Write like You Preach
1. Employ your best hook.
Just as you want to grab your congregation at the beginning of a sermon, you also want to grab your readers at the beginning of an article. If you opened your sermon with a story, a counterintuitive fact, or something that happened in the news yesterday, that hook will likely work for your article too. No one is required to read what you’ve written, so use an opening that will make them want to.
2. Choose one clear point.
The best sermons have one clear, main point. Bryan Chapell suggests finding the “fallen-condition focus” in the passage you’re expositing—the ways the people in the text need the good news—and then going on to explain how the gospel addresses that problem. You should do the same in an article. Find a fallen-condition problem in everyday life and explain how the gospel addresses it.
3. Develop that main point with clear subpoints.
The main point of a good sermon is supported with a few easily identifiable subpoints. Do the same when writing, and mark them with subheads.
For example, Nathan Sloan’s article about ordinary faithfulness presents a problem and then offers one gospel solution with several practical implications. Another approach, seen in an article from Davy Ellison, is to present a clear idea then illustrate it with several biblical examples.
4. Show. Don’t tell.
Pastors use stories to illustrate their sermon points. Follow the same approach with an article, only make the stories short and punchy because you’re working in a smaller space.
5. Stick the landing.
Sermon conclusions shouldn’t trail off randomly, introduce a new idea, or ramble on forever. Sometimes they swing back around to reference the introduction. Other times they repeat a truth from Scripture or give a final word of encouragement.
Articles also need a clean ending. And yes, you can swing around to reference the introduction, repeat a truth from Scripture, or encourage. You shouldn’t trail off, chase rabbits, or ramble on. Close well.
Don’t Write like You Preach
6. Lose the roadmap.
In a sermon or an academic paper (or in a book), you lay out the roadmap by projecting where you’re headed at the beginning of the journey: “My three points for today are . . .”
An article isn’t a journey; it’s more like a quick walk down the street. You don’t need a map. There’s no need to list your points in the introduction. Just get directly to your point.
7. Know that your audience is broader than your church.
When you preach on Sundays, you’re addressing one local congregation in a specific cultural context (yours!). If you write for the general public in a Substack or through an outlet like The Gospel Coalition, you’re addressing a global body, most of whom aren’t under your direct care. So you can’t assume they heard the first three sermons in your four-part series, or that they share your church’s and denomination’s theological emphases.
You’ll have to lean into explaining your assumptions and make the specific details about your context explicit when referencing it. You also may need to think more broadly when offering concrete applications.
8. Adjust the length.
Some pastors prepare outlines, and some create a manuscript for their sermon. Articles are somewhere in between.
If you’re used to outlining, you’ll probably need to add more connections and explanations to get a full-length article. If you’re used to writing manuscripts, you’ll need to cut your sermon down to what may feel like just the bones.
9. Don’t just exposit; persuade.
In an expository sermon, the outline is derived from the text. You either follow a passage’s narrative arc or let the grammar and logic of an epistle drive your points. But in an article—even if it’s explaining a tricky Bible passage—you have to assume readers don’t have Bibles open on their laps. They haven’t spent the morning preparing their hearts for worship and the Word. Your job isn’t merely to exposit a text for a Sunday morning gathering, but to equip Christians who may be reading your article on their phone during their lunch break.
As a pastor, you are a writer, and your writing skill is worth sharpening. It’s worth investing in. Why? Because God is a writer too.
You must design your article’s tone and flow so it logically persuades. This may mean thinking more about your transitions. You can get away with fewer formal transitions in your sermons because your tone, a beat of silence, your body language, or even your slides signal to your congregation that you’re moving to a new point. In written content for public consumption, you typically need words to do that. It can be as easy as “Thankfully . . .” or “To understand that, we must . . . ” or “Because that’s true . . .” A good Pauline “Therefore” goes a long way when you’re working with the written word.
To be clear, many sermons do seek to persuade. And many good articles are largely expositional (see Justin Dillehay’s piece on Mephibosheth for example), but as a general principle, it’s more necessary for persuasion to be front and center in written content.
10. Tone it down.
It’s difficult to convey humor, sarcasm, or a hushed tone over an email or text message to friends. It’s nearly impossible to convey those tones in an article read by people who don’t know your personality at all.
In your sermon, your personality does the work of connecting with your audience and giving life to your words. With the written word, your personality can be confusing and even offensive. Use it more sparingly. Instead, overbalance with gentleness and charity.
Skill Worth Sharpening
As a pastor, you’re a writer, and your writing skill is worth sharpening. It’s worth investing in. Why? Because God is a writer too. He’s written his glory into creation. Before time began, he wrote the story of redemption in his heavenly book. And in these last days, he’s spoken to us by his written word and by his Son, the Word.
When a leader like you uses and develops your God-given writing talents, when you think of your gifts as part of your pastoral vocation, you can write in a way that both glorifies God and serves your neighbor. We hope you will.