I’m obsessed with giving God my very best. This means I’m constantly making adjustments to my preaching. God has entrusted me with the proclamation of His life-transforming gospel, so how can I do less than pursue improvement in this task!
One of the adjustments I’m trying to make is to limit my sermons to 30 minutes. Most weeks, I’m at about 35 minutes. But recently, the length has been creeping towards 40 minutes. As I evaluate my sermons, I have to conclude that ‘less is more.’ Most, if not all, of my 40-minute sermons would be more effective at thirty minutes. As preachers, we have to wrestle with what is “too short” and “too long” for an effective sermon.
Here is the tension we face. It takes time for thought to form. Preachers need sufficient time to develop the argument of a Scripture text and then help their listeners apply it. Although I could reduce all of my sermons to 5-7 minute mini-sermons (I used to do this for a radio broadcast), that’s not preferable! We need to help people think through the Bible and then to think biblically about their lives and the culture in which they live. This takes more than 5 minutes!
But on the other hand, people living in the television age cannot handle the level of sustained argumentation which worked in past generations. Neil Postman tells about the time when Stephen A. Douglas delivered a three-hour speech in Peoria, Illinois in October 1854. Abraham Lincoln agreed to respond. But when Douglas finished, it was 5 p.m. Lincoln told the audience he would need as much time as Douglas, so he proposed that the audience go home for dinner and then return for another four hours of talk! We do not live in this kind of world in 2007.
So what’s the optimum amount of time that is not too short or too long for delivering an effective sermon? That’s open to debate. I suspect it’s around 30 minutes. My challenge is to settle on a goal and pursue it relentlessly. For most of us, this will mean trimming rather than expanding our sermons. The result will be a more effective stewardship of words. You may find that using less words will enable you to accomplish more for the glory of God and the advancement of His kingdom!
Posted by Steve Mathewson at 9:13 AM on April 10, 2007
Comments
At what point are we catering to cultural sensibilities that are averse to truth-discovery and serious spiritual formation(impatience, immediacy, short attention spans - all typically induced by electronic media) by always keeping sermons short? Do we, as pastors and teachers, ever have an obligation to stretch listeners and assist them in changing such sensibilities? I'm certainly not suggesting a return to multiple hour sermons, but are occasional lenghty sermons more than appropriate--perhaps needed now and then?
Posted by: Mark Mathewson on April 10, 2007
I am not a pastor, but I spent a few years in 'Toastmasters.' Shorter and more precise is much better than longer and duller. (So often we repeat ourselves without knowing it.)
It seems to me that my pastor has such vivid, to the point stories, I could take the story home after '5' minutes and the point is well made and taken.
My point is that if we take the time to choose the most accurate and appropriate illustration of our point, build to it, share the our thought, the people would appreciate the thought snd the time.
Posted by: Bob Eppel on April 11, 2007
My question is why 30 minutes and not 35 or 40 or 20 or 25? Is there a magic number? If the proper length is debateable, what are the arguments for 30 minutes as opposed to 40? Most of us are not looking to shorten from an hour. Most of us do trim a lot out of a sermon before or as we preach it. Most would also probably agree that precision in thought and speech are preferable but what makes a sermon too short or too long.
Posted by: Robert Talley on April 12, 2007