Sermon Series Design Trends: What Churches Are Making Now

This article comes from episode 6 of Designed for Sunday, our short weekly podcast on what churches everywhere are preaching and designing. Listen to the episode here.

What Bible books are churches preaching through right now?

In the week ending September 14th, 49 churches worked on 67 different sermon series, and a few patterns emerged immediately. Psalms, Second Corinthians, and John each drew three different churches independently. Matthew drew two more. Nobody coordinated any of this. Churches in different cities, serving different communities, simply landed on the same texts at the same time.

That convergence is worth sitting with if you have ever worried that your sermon series idea is too common. Josh points out that multiple churches landing on the same book, the same theme, or even the same single-word title is completely normal. Two churches independently named their series "Grateful" in the same week. Out of every possible title a church could choose, two landed on the same word. And that is fine, because the series is not for the same room of people. Your church's series on gratitude does not compete with another church's series on gratitude. What makes it yours is how you develop it and how you present it.

The practical takeaway: your title does not have to be original. Your execution does.

What sermon series design styles are churches choosing this season?

The style choices from this week told a clear story. Lo-Fi Zine was the most selected style, followed closely by Neo-Gothic Street and Acid Youth. Those three styles all share a family resemblance: rough edges, visible texture, and a handmade quality. Expressive Canvas and Typographic Giant also performed well, and Cinematic Double Exposure rounded out the top six.

What is notable is what was not leading. Clean, smooth, and corporate-polished aesthetics were not where churches gravitated this week. Josh notes that this is not a fluke. Congregations, and especially younger members, tend to respond to graphics that feel made rather than manufactured. There is a warmth and credibility that comes from intentional texture and grain that a perfectly smooth template often cannot replicate.

This cuts against a common instinct in church communications, which is to equate professional with polished. A more useful framing is that professional means intentional. A deliberate choice to add grain or grit or raw type can communicate more care and authenticity than something that looks like it emerged from a generic template. You can browse current style options to get a sense of the range available and see where your series might land.

One thing churches are not doing yet, but probably should

One church this week built a bilingual English and Spanish graphics kit. Josh flagged it because it stands out. For most churches with multilingual congregations, producing graphics in two languages feels like a future project, something to plan properly and tackle later. For this particular church, it was simply the week's work.

If your congregation has more than one primary language represented in the room, your series graphics can reflect that reality sooner than you might think. It does not have to be a separate production with a separate timeline. It can be part of the same creative pass.

A quick checklist before you finalize your next series graphics

1. Confirm your series title is clear and specific enough that someone unfamiliar with your church would understand the general territory.
2. Check whether the style you are using feels intentional or just safe. If you defaulted to polished because it seemed more professional, revisit whether a textured or expressive approach might actually serve your congregation better.
3. Look at the full set of graphics together, not just the main image. Consistency across social, print, and screen formats is where series identity is won or lost.
4. If your congregation includes speakers of more than one language, decide now whether your graphics will reflect that, rather than treating it as a future conversation.
5. Ask whether your graphics would make sense to someone who has never attended your church. Series art should invite, not just confirm.

Frequently asked questions

What sermon series topics are other churches preaching right now?

Based on current patterns, churches are clustering around books like Psalms, Second Corinthians, and John, with thematic threads around gratitude, family conflict, and overcoming obstacles. These themes tend to surface across many churches at once without any coordination, which suggests they are resonating broadly with congregations in this season. If your series is exploring similar territory, that is a sign you are tracking with real pastoral needs, not that you need to find a more unusual angle.

What church graphic design styles are trending for sermon series?

Right now, textured and raw visual styles are leading over clean, polished looks. Styles with visible grain, rough type, and a handmade quality are resonating with congregations, particularly where younger members are present. This does not mean every church should switch to a gritty aesthetic, but it is worth asking whether your current style feels genuinely chosen or simply default. The styles page shows a range of directions if you want to compare options before committing to a look for your next series.

How do I create sermon series graphics without a big design budget or team?

The most important thing is to start with your title and let the creative decisions follow from there, rather than trying to design from scratch around a vague concept. Having a clear series name gives you something concrete to build visual identity around. PixelChurch is built specifically for this workflow: type in your series title at pixelchurch.co/new and get a complete set of series graphics back in minutes, free to try, whether you have a design team or you are a solo pastor handling everything yourself.