What Churches Are Preaching and Designing Right Now

This article comes from episode 10 of Designed for Sunday, our short weekly podcast on what churches everywhere are preaching and designing. Listen to the episode here.

Some of the most useful weeks to pay attention to are the quieter ones. When a smaller number of churches are building graphics, the patterns that emerge are cleaner and easier to act on. This week, thirteen churches worked on twenty different sermon series, spanning eight books of Scripture and six distinct design styles. Here is what stood out and what it means for your church communications work.

Why are churches running more than one sermon series at the same time?

The ratio that jumped out immediately was thirteen churches producing twenty series. That works out to roughly one and a half series per church, which is higher than a typical week. Several churches were clearly running more than one thing at once, such as a main Sunday morning teaching series alongside a youth event or a weekend retreat.

If you are a church communicator, that is worth pausing on. Design is not just for the one big fall series or the Easter teaching thread. Churches are actively building graphics for topical series, youth nights, and one-off events in parallel with their primary teaching calendar. If you have been waiting until every detail is locked in before starting on graphics, you are probably waiting longer than you need to. A series title is enough to get the design moving, even if the first Sunday is still a few weeks out.

What books of the Bible are churches preaching from right now?

Eight different books showed up across thirteen churches this week. First Corinthians was the only one that appeared at more than one church, and that was just two. After that, it was one church each in First Thessalonians, Isaiah, James, John, Luke, Philippians, and Psalms.

That spread tells a clear story: churches are not following a trend or borrowing from each other. They are preaching what they feel called to preach. And for church designers, that is actually good news. It means your series title is probably not competing with anyone else's visual identity right now. A timely design does not need to be a trendy one. A strong title, treated with care, will carry its own identity without needing to mirror what is popular.

Design styles this week

On the visual side, no single style dominated. Atmospheric Environment led with five selections, followed by Studio Pop and Acid Youth at four each, and Gilded Reverence, Moody Portrait, and Typographic Giant at three each. The top six styles were tightly grouped, which suggests churches are bringing genuinely different creative instincts rather than defaulting to one look. You can browse the full range of options in the styles gallery to get a sense of what fits your series best.

A practical checklist for church communicators this season

Based on what Josh observed across this week's designs, here is a short checklist to pressure-test your own graphics workflow before the next series launches.

1. Write down every series, event, or teaching thread planned for the next 60 days, not just the main Sunday series.
2. Identify which ones have a confirmed title, even a working one, and start your design process there rather than waiting for a final version.
3. Check whether any series is running for a specific group, such as students or a smaller community, that might need its own visual treatment.
4. Review whether your congregation includes Spanish speakers and, if so, plan for bilingual graphics from the start rather than as an afterthought.
5. Choose a design style that fits the tone of the text and the series title, not just what looks popular elsewhere.

Bilingual graphics deserve their own moment

Two of the kits built this week were bilingual, English and Spanish together. That does not happen every week, so it stood out. A common assumption among church communicators is that serving a bilingual congregation means doing twice the design work. But when a church produces an English and Spanish kit in a single pass, that is one creative decision, one series title, and one round of effort that serves everyone in the room. If your congregation includes Spanish-speaking attendees, your graphics workflow is worth revisiting with that in mind from the very beginning, not as a secondary step after the English version is finished. For inspiration on how other churches are handling this, the gallery is a good place to start.

Frequently asked questions

How far in advance should I start working on sermon series graphics?

As soon as you have a working title, you have enough to begin. Most church communicators wait until the series is fully planned, but a confirmed title is really all the design process needs to get started. Building graphics in parallel with your planning, rather than after it, means your team has more time to review, adjust, and promote the series before it launches.

Does my church need a different design style for every sermon series?

Not necessarily, but it is worth making a fresh choice each time rather than defaulting to the same look. The style should reflect the tone of the text and the feel of the series title. A Psalms series and a First Corinthians series might call for very different visual approaches even if they are running in the same season. Treating each series as its own creative moment tends to produce graphics that feel intentional rather than templated.

How do I create bilingual church graphics without doubling my workload?

The key is to plan for both languages from the start, treating it as a single job rather than a translation step added at the end. When you build with both languages in mind from the moment you enter your series title, the effort is essentially the same as producing a single-language kit. Deciding late to add a Spanish version almost always creates more work than deciding early, so the most practical move is to make bilingualism part of your initial setup, not an optional add-on.

If any of this is helpful for your next series, PixelChurch lets you type in your sermon series title and get complete graphics back in minutes, free to try, with no commitment required.