appropriate sermon length?

NewCreation435 · Feb 20, 2018

What do you think is the appropriate length of time a sermon should be?

I know two pastors in this area that regularly speak for over 45 minutes. The pastor of the church I was at last year spoke for about 24 minutes.

I also know some pastors who can speak a shorter amount of time and make it seem much longer.

Albion · Feb 20, 2018

This is a tough one, IMO. During the Reformation, sermons went on for hours and attendants were appointed to see if anyone had dozed--and then wake them up! No one would want that today.

If the sermon were 45 minutes, it would be considered very long by almost everyone today--as you indicated. The "problem" is that studies have shown that the average listener really absorbs what's said for only the first ten or so minutes. Most of us would consider that to be too short for a good sermon, but with that information in mind, maybe it is what pastors ought to begin doing. If the sermon is well-organized and well-delivered, it probably would be sufficient. That is, BTW, the norm in most Eastern Orthodox churches and the members seem to me to know their religion as well as the members of other churches do.

But here's the rub for most Protestants: considering that instruction has always been emphasized and ritual de-emphasized, what congregation would let their pastor off with what I've suggested here? Few, I'm guessing. For most congregants, the one thing that the pastor is supposed to do is deliver a solid sermon each and every Sunday. If he's not so adept at other things, that is more readily excused than if he seems to be cutting corners with his sermons.

tango · Feb 20, 2018

jsimms435 said:
What do you think is the appropriate length of time a sermon should be?

I know two pastors in this area that regularly speak for over 45 minutes. The pastor of the church I was at last year spoke for about 24 minutes.

I also know some pastors who can speak a shorter amount of time and make it seem much longer.

I don't think that's a question that has a simple answer.

I've sat through a couple of sermons that ran for an hour and by about half way through I'd lost the will to live. The speaker was clearly knowledgeable but was just going on at such agonising length that the good points he made in the beginning were utterly lost by the time he finally stopped talking. On the other hand I've sat through sermons where I was listening intently for the entire time and was amazed to realise they had lasted an hour.

On the flip side I've heard a couple of sermons that only lasted for 20 minutes but the 20 minutes were utterly devoid of anything useful. On one occasion I walked out in disgust after 10 minutes when it was clear the speaker was going to do little other than take dig after dig after dig at then-President Obama - it's probably no surprise to people that I wasn't much of a fan of Obama but I'm not interested in hearing a political rant from the pulpit. I've also heard sermons that were over within 20 minutes and fulll of useful information and challenging concepts.

If there's enough material to maintain interest I don't know it's a good thing to cut useful information, particularly if it results in a sermon becoming unbalanced. At the same time I think the results are likely to be nasty if people think they have to speak for a certain time so just pad their sermon with extra verbiage to make up the time.

The style that really annoys me is the "tell 'em what you're going to tell 'em, then tell 'em, then tell 'em what you just told 'em". If a preacher adopts that approach there's a significant chance I'll literally fall asleep during his sermon.

Andrew · Feb 20, 2018

Welcome back

If the sermon is good it could be timeless.
The church I attend begins at 10:30am (from 10:00 to 10:30 is the marriage counseling preacher), prayer offerings around 10: 50 or 11:00 (after the music and singing and the worship leaders walk from the pulpit) the first preacher goes on to roughly 11:15 and then the pastor preaches to a little after 12pm, then the alter call and about 10 minutes after the call he announces that we be respectful of those who are praying as you leave.
He can do a good hour at times

NewCreation435 · Feb 20, 2018

tango said:
I don't think that's a question that has a simple answer.

I've sat through a couple of sermons that ran for an hour and by about half way through I'd lost the will to live. The speaker was clearly knowledgeable but was just going on at such agonising length that the good points he made in the beginning were utterly lost by the time he finally stopped talking. On the other hand I've sat through sermons where I was listening intently for the entire time and was amazed to realise they had lasted an hour.

On the flip side I've heard a couple of sermons that only lasted for 20 minutes but the 20 minutes were utterly devoid of anything useful. On one occasion I walked out in disgust after 10 minutes when it was clear the speaker was going to do little other than take dig after dig after dig at then-President Obama - it's probably no surprise to people that I wasn't much of a fan of Obama but I'm not interested in hearing a political rant from the pulpit. I've also heard sermons that were over within 20 minutes and fulll of useful information and challenging concepts.

If there's enough material to maintain interest I don't know it's a good thing to cut useful information, particularly if it results in a sermon becoming unbalanced. At the same time I think the results are likely to be nasty if people think they have to speak for a certain time so just pad their sermon with extra verbiage to make up the time.

The style that really annoys me is the "tell 'em what you're going to tell 'em, then tell 'em, then tell 'em what you just told 'em". If a preacher adopts that approach there's a significant chance I'll literally fall asleep during his sermon.

I have this urge to tell the man I heard speak last Sunday that if he preaches just one sermon instead of three it would be better for everyone, but that would be rude. He literally had enough information for three sermons. I don't think that people should walk away from the service feeling overloaded with information

tango · Feb 21, 2018

jsimms435 said:
I have this urge to tell the man I heard speak last Sunday that if he preaches just one sermon instead of three it would be better for everyone, but that would be rude. He literally had enough information for three sermons. I don't think that people should walk away from the service feeling overloaded with information

I'm sure you could phrase it in a way that would be constructive - if the problem is that he's got too much material it seems like it would work to say that you really got a lot out of his sermon but struggled to take it all in because there was so much material there, and would have found it easier to process if it had been broken into two consecutive sermons.

It seems like that situation would be much easier to address than the reverse, where someone spoke for an hour but only really had enough material for 20 minutes.

Josiah · Feb 21, 2018

jsimms435 said:
What do you think is the appropriate length of time a sermon should be?

I know two pastors in this area that regularly speak for over 45 minutes. The pastor of the church I was at last year spoke for about 24 minutes.

I also know some pastors who can speak a shorter amount of time and make it seem much longer.

I'd say 10-20 minutes or so, but it REALLY depends on the quality of what they say. Some preachers are very "fluffy" and just consume lots of time to say not-so-much. Others (like my pastor) are pretty condensed and can make their point very powerfully and clear rather quickly..

I think that sermons that are long (like the 45 minutes you spoke of) tend to present a lot of points - and most of them will soon be forgotten, better (IMO) to keep it to 1 or 2 major points clearly and memorably conveyed. I think too a lot of people (especially younger people) have a short attention span for purely oral presentations.... a lot of pastors address that by using powerpoint, short video clips, etc. My pastor as "notes" in the bulletin, usually sentences from his sermon with key words as just a blank to fill in, I actually use that as I'm listening, glad if I get all the blanks.

I think preaching skills vary a LOT! In my Catholic parish, the pastor (a man DEEPLY loved and respected) - well, public speaking just was NOT his gift. He would just retell the Gospel lesson, maybe saying what he thought the point was. He was very monotone and soft spoken. And he'd interject a LOT of advertisments, so much so that I often thought of the sermon as "commercial interruption" (he would plug Catholic this and Catholic that). BUT (here's the thing) no one cared.... we listened and were respectful because we loved and respected the speaker (and this gave us time to read the annoucments in the bulletin). Some pastors are just gifted and skilled.... some not-so-much..... but I think as long as their teaching is SOUND and their theology is SOUND, I'm pretty accepting.

- Josiah

NewCreation435 · Feb 21, 2018

Josiah said:
I'd say 10-20 minutes or so, but it REALLY depends on the quality of what they say. Some preachers are very "fluffy" and just consume lots of time to say not-so-much. Others (like my pastor) are pretty condensed and can make their point very powerfully and clear rather quickly..

I think that sermons that are long (like the 45 minutes you spoke of) tend to present a lot of points - and most of them will soon be forgotten, better (IMO) to keep it to 1 or 2 major points clearly and memorably conveyed. I think too a lot of people (especially younger people) have a short attention span for purely oral presentations.... a lot of pastors address that by using powerpoint, short video clips, etc. My pastor as "notes" in the bulletin, usually sentences from his sermon with key words as just a blank to fill in, I actually use that as I'm listening, glad if I get all the blanks.

I think preaching skills vary a LOT! In my Catholic parish, the pastor (a man DEEPLY loved and respected) - well, public speaking just was NOT his gift. He would just retell the Gospel lesson, maybe saying what he thought the point was. He was very monotone and soft spoken. And he'd interject a LOT of advertisments, so much so that I often thought of the sermon as "commercial interruption" (he would plug Catholic this and Catholic that). BUT (here's the thing) no one cared.... we listened and were respectful because we loved and respected the speaker (and this gave us time to read the annoucments in the bulletin). Some pastors are just gifted and skilled.... some not-so-much..... but I think as long as their teaching is SOUND and their theology is SOUND, I'm pretty accepting.

- Josiah

I think public speaking is an art and some people practice and take it seriously and some don't put their energy or time there. I personally really appreciate a pastor who takes their time and develops a good sermon or series of sermons that I can get something out of.

tango · Feb 21, 2018

I think a large part of it is staying on topic and keeping things relevant.

I sat through one sermon delivered by a guy who had all sorts of slides, lots of random comments, and in the end all I concluded was that his sermon was a commercial for the particular diet he was on. There really wasn't much else of any substance.

Another guy spoke for about 30 minutes and seemed to jump all over the place, with little to nothing as a common theme. At the end of his sermon I wasn't sure what (if any) point he was trying to make.

I don't speak at my church very often but when I do I really try to keep what I'm saying relevant, to explore side paths to the extent they are relevant but to fundamentally stick to the topic. If I'm going to run for more than about 20 minutes I go through my notes an extra time to see if there are ways I can trim it without cutting key content.

Albion · Feb 21, 2018

It looks like what is IN the sermon and how it is delivered may be more important than how long it is--although the length was what started us off here.

Lamb · Feb 21, 2018

I like consistency so around the 25 minute mark is good and then people get tired of sitting and you start to hear the rustling around you. Our attention spans are not what they were in Jesus' day so we prefer an abbreviated version it seems.

NewCreation435 · Feb 22, 2018

Lämmchen said:
I like consistency so around the 25 minute mark is good and then people get tired of sitting and you start to hear the rustling around you. Our attention spans are not what they were in Jesus' day so we prefer an abbreviated version it seems.

I find that my attention span for most things is not what it once was and I start thinking about other things i need to do or plans after church or other things if it goes much longer than a half hour.

tango · Feb 22, 2018

jsimms435 said:
I find that my attention span for most things is not what it once was and I start thinking about other things i need to do or plans after church or other things if it goes much longer than a half hour.

I think that depends on the quality rather than the quantity. With some speakers I'm bored and restless after 10 minutes and sometimes less. With others I'm still following them after 45 minutes.

Krissy Cakes · Feb 24, 2018

I believe sermons can be as long as the members agree. My pastor always asks if he can go on.

appropriate sermon length?

NewCreation435

Well-known member

Albion

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tango

... and you shall live ...

Andrew

Matt 18:15

NewCreation435

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tango

... and you shall live ...

Josiah

simul justus et peccator

NewCreation435

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tango

... and you shall live ...

Albion

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Lamb

God's Lil Lamb

NewCreation435

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tango

... and you shall live ...

Krissy Cakes

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