How do you measure Sermon Length?

Posted on January 25, 2010
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(78) comments

What do you think of this quote: "Sermon length is not measured in minutes; it is measured in minutes-beyond-interest, in the amount of time the minister continues to preach after he has lost the interest of his hearers."

That's from a book entitled "Why Johnny Can't Preach" (by T. David Gordon). JD Greear shares this quote on his blog recently.

Gordon continues:

Some preaching is so bad that the best we can say about some preachers is that they themselves realize it, and are merciful in the length of their sermons (ouch!). By contrast, I've heard ministers whose sermons I was disappointed to have come to an end. These entire sermons had been so well delivered--so thoughtful, so faithful to the text without being pedantic... so well-organized as to appear seamless, so challenging and nourishing to my soul--that I just didn't want the experience to end."

What do YOU think? How do you measure the length of your sermons?

My 2 cents: Very few preachers have the communication skills to go over 30 minutes. Very few. Unless you're Andy Stanley, is it really necessary to take 50 minutes to bring home your point? (I realize this may open a can of worms, but seriously, most sermons would be 100x better if you wacked them in half. And the thing is... you don't have to cut that much content... just choose it more wisely. Am I wrong?)

Love to hear your comments...

Todd

Comments

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Stretch Mark Mama on Tue, January 26, 2010

Great quote, hilarious picture.

I’m not a big fan of the sermon, regardless of how long or short it is. I hope I live to see the day when someone dares to do church in a format other than 20 minutes of singing + 35 minutes of a talking head. Next generation, maybe.
Stretch Mark Mama on Tue, January 26, 2010

As my dad likes to say, “The ear can only hear what the rear can endure.”
Christopher Fontenot on Tue, January 26, 2010

You can solve this dilemma easily. First, get a preacher who believes in the absolute inerrancy of Scripture, the absolute sovereignty of God, and the importance of expository preaching and turn him loose in the pulpit. The “church goers” and unbelieving attendees, who typically find church boring, will either leave or commit to the Lord. What will be left will be TRUE converts whose heart has been changed by God and desires to plumb the depths of His Word.

Personally, I could sit for hours listening to John Piper, RC Sproul, John MacArthur, Ravi Zacharias, Allistair Begg, or Paul Washer. It’s not the length of the sermon, it’s the condition of the heart. Someone once said, “Get on fire for God and people will come to watch you burn.”
Rich Schmidt on Tue, January 26, 2010

That’s certainly one approach, Christopher.

I, on the other hand, don’t want to drive away unbelieving attenders (who have courageously accepted the invitation to come learn more about God and what it means to follow Christ) because I decided to talk longer than I had the ability to keep people engaged.

If you believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, then you believe 1 Cor. 14:32 - “The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets.” Some prophets need to learn to keep themselves, and their sermon length, under control.
Wyeth Duncan on Tue, January 26, 2010

Amen, Christopher!

I will only add that when I began preaching (soon to be 21 years ago) I was part of a mainline Protestant denomination (which my family and I left almost 12 yrs. ago). It was my experience then, in an environment where expository preaching was practically non-existent, and where there wasn’t much sympathy for my conservative evangelicalism from my fellow clergypersons (and still is my experience), that people will sit and pay attention to the preaching of the word of God far longer than the surveys say they will. Now, I’m not advocating preaching over 30 minutes just for the sake of preaching that long; I’m simply saying we should not quench the Spirit by prescribing limits on the length of sermons.

One thing is for sure: the Holy Spirit honors the word. And my experience, and the testimony of Church history, is that the Spirit of God will hold the attention of any audience. The question is, are we willing to trust God in this matter?
Peter Hamm on Tue, January 26, 2010

So expository preaching is the only valid method, eh?

Somebody should have told Jesus that.

RIch. AMEN!
jeff weddle on Tue, January 26, 2010

The fact that people sleep doesn’t prove you are not preaching the word nor a proof you are a bad speaker. Paul put a guy to sleep who died from it. Should he have spoken less? The fact a guy can keep people awake is no proof he is preaching God’s word, he may just be entertaining, loud and or startling. Time of sermons makes no difference. If it did God would have said something about it. However, most pastors, including me, should indeed shut up more often.
Leonard on Tue, January 26, 2010

One reason sermons seem too long is that preachers are trying to feed people who have snacked all week long. They have not come hungry. Preachers need to re-examine the concept of feeding sheep with a sermon.

My goal in preaching is to lead not feed.
Pastor Matt on Tue, January 26, 2010

I aim at 15 - though we meet around tables and do discussion about how we can process, apply and hold each other accountable in our response. 15 minutes is adequate, but if you’re looking to teach something rather than just preach (ie, info rather than prophetic) then 15 minutes feels quite short! In fact compared to African church who speak for 2-3 hours it is very short - though there is no use in comparing cultures!

One of the reasons we meet around tables to engage in processing, application and accountability is because I calculated that someone in church for 20 years has probably heard 1000-1500 sermons. As I looked around different churches and saw the people I knew had been there for that long I began to ponder how much good those 1000 sermons had been in their lives and I wasn’t too encouraged by the results I saw before me both in them and in myself. I realised that sermons are a pretty useless form of communication and agent of change in people’s lives.

Its not about the minutes before or after interest is lost, but rather what they do with it afterwards.
PastorJamieGreerSC on Tue, January 26, 2010

I don’t wear a watch and we don’t keep track of time. The Holy Spirit is the time keeper. We start with prayer requests (15 minutes maybe), praise &worship; music (15-20 min), sermon 30-45 minutes I suppose, a couple of more songs, closing thoughts and prayer. Total service time is anywhere from 1 to 2 hours. Start @ 11 out by 1/1:30 imagagine 2 hours of service. We get it all done in the one service instead of coming back Sunday night. It is sad that we would put God on a clock. Nehemiah 8: 3 He read it aloud from daybreak till noon…. (sounds like 6 hours or so)
He must have been a real nut. And imagine that the people were Hungry for God’s Word.
Fred on Tue, January 26, 2010

Adults DO have an attention span.
Being a great speaker who can go on and on isn’t what it’s about.
Hitler was a good speaker too.
Please don’t drone on and on because you think you’re a good speaker and you get strokes from it!
Someone needs to remember that there is probably children’s ministry going on somewhere. The sermon time needs to be as consistent as possible so they can get finished and not have to keep children occupied after they are through.
Let someone else who is long winded speak one Sunday while you change diapers in the nursery.
Stretch Mark Mama on Tue, January 26, 2010

Fred: That’ll preach.
Anonymous� on Wed, January 27, 2010

Dane Gressett,
You made a profound statement. I too believe it�s almost entirely a culture defined issue. Worship and preaching is not something you just rush along so one could have their afternoon free. I�m afraid many preachers have to contend with worldliness and carnal minded individuals. Many today are being robbed of the Word of God. I never could understand how one could spend 3-4 hours watching a baseball game, but can�t spend 1 hour listening to the Word of God. In this microwave society we�re raising up microwave Christians. As a young man I like old fashioned food rather then this quick fix stuff being presented today. Charles Spurgeon, A.W. Tozer, Arthur Pink, Billy Sunday, and many others all labored in the Word Sunday after Sunday (The Lord�s day) and their preachment wasn�t less than an hour. Emotionalism has taken the place of biblically sound preaching� Sermon-ettes produces Christian-ettes� In many of congregations the worship band is permitted more time than the preacher. (Many priorities are tangled) We�re to train our followers how to listen to sermons.
To travel miles upon miles to hear a ten-twenty minutes message at times is discouraging� I tried preaching a 15 minutes sermon and the congregation asked me afterwards, �what, you didn�t study?� When I come to worship I come to receive a Word from God and it doesn�t matter how long it takes. I�m on God�s time.
Preachers were to serve a balanced meal in our preachment.
Anonymous� on Wed, January 27, 2010

Preachers were to serve a balanced meal in our preachment. Stop giving out advertisers�leaving the people hungry also leaves them mal-nutrient�
Peter Hamm on Wed, January 27, 2010

Anonymous writes [I never could understand how one could spend 3-4 hours watching a baseball game, but can�t spend 1 hour listening to the Word of God.]

I would pose to you that if a preacher can’t imagine this, truly, then he might not be the person to preach to the person who’d rather watch a baseball game. (I’d say this person would be a bad choice for a preacher for any church that is more seeker- or “pre-believer”- focused.

Seriously… if you don’t know the people you are speaking to, then you aren’t in their culture, and don’t know their ways enough to “speak their language”.