Sermon length is a topic of constant debate. Several factors, such as culture, literacy, expectations, liturgy, and others make the issue of length variable with no absolute determination. What was once given to me as a guideline was simply, “preach as long as it takes to explain the passage.” While such common-sense advice has an element of simple truth to it, as with most things, it is not quite that simple. Some preachers seem to think what it takes to explain the passage is to droll on for far too long and results in a poorer quality sermon, less real explanation taking place, and a zoned-out congregation.
The average length has varied by tradition, for instance, Catholic priests are encouraged by the Vatican to preach for 8 minutes or less, while preachers of mainline denominations are generally in the 11-20 minute mark.[1] What is surprising is among churches drawing many Millennials there is a shift towards sermons 40 minutes or longer.[2] While there isn’t necessarily a right or wrong answer here, one’s theological understanding of the importance of the Word would tend towards a sermon length that is a substantial part of the worship service rather than something appearing to be an afterthought. Reformed, expository preachers can often pride themselves in 45-60 minutes of a sermon. Even still, some poor congregations have pastors who may take the affair with Eutychus as a challenge.[3] As a preacher I have generally run about 45 minutes. However, I am increasingly appreciating what may be the perfect sermon time for most situations, the 30-minute sermon. Here are 10 brief arguments in favor of preaching for half an hour.
1. You need sufficient time. While most of my arguments are for reigning in larger sermons, a micro-sermon of only a few minutes can generally only rise as high as a devotional thought. If one is dedicated to expository preaching then it takes time to go through the verses, and explain their meaning. 10 or even 20 minutes is not usually enough time to accomplish the task of preaching necessary. For those dedicated to the Word as authoritative, and vital to Christian worship, it is appropriate for the sermon to take up ½ to 1/3 of the worship service, which is generally 30 minutes.
2. Most preachers don’t have many long sermons in them. Some people can keep an audience rapt in attention for over an hour, but those people are few and far between. Even they generally can only do so a set number of times, with pre-worked sermons repeated over multiple events. The best conference speaker or famous preacher still have duds on Sundays in their regular preaching ministry. The average joe preacher probably only has about 30 minutes in him before the congregation is going to be lost.
3. 30-minute sermons use an economy of words. I have noticed repeatedly, in my sermons and those of others, that long sermons are wasteful in their verbiage. There are a lot of facts, ideas, or sentences that didn’t need to be in the sermon and distract from the main point. While I am not saying we should take cues from Twitter, it does show an economy of words can aid comprehension. More words can add confusion rather than clarity, and fewer words can often add clarity rather than confusion. One of my professors once said something to the effect of, “There is rarely a sermon I have heard where it wouldn’t have been better if 10 minutes were cut off from it.” I tend to agree.
4. It takes greater craft and skill to be shorter, not less. When growing up in Independent Fundamental circles it was a point of pride and preacherly machismo to be able to preach long sermons. For whatever reason, the idea was any preacher worth his salt or of seasoned skill would preach for a long time. What I have found in my years of experience is it takes more skill to edit, cut, and sort a sermon into a finer tuned and streamlined manuscript. Being able to say more with less takes more expertise in sermon crafting than someone who can merely talk a long time. 30 minutes gives a preacher time, but time enough for meaningful brevity.
5. It keeps the sermon a sermon and not a textual lecture. A 30-minute sermon gets to the main point. Some preachers seem to forget the role of the Sunday morning sermon is not to give a lecture for a theological seminary, it is to preach the Word of the gospel to a dying and hurt people. While ancient Akkadian funerary practices may be very interesting to you, it most likely does absolutely nothing for the text and makes the Scripture seem irrelevant. Now here is my disclaimer, if the Akkadian funerary practice is necessary to understand the text, then keep it in. If it doesn’t serve a real purpose in getting to the main point of the text, then it should be left in the edit folder. A 30-minute sermon cuts through the clutter to what the people need to hear.
6. A 30-minute sermon is more memorable and impactful. I recently heard a sermon which shared a lot of theologically true information and yet because it went on and on, I barely remember much of it. There were a few nuggets, but all of the filler in between had me thinking how much more impactful it would have been if better editing had been employed. Now I know different parts of a sermon may impact different people in different ways, as what I think is boring another may find profound. The point, however, is we all have attention span limits and once they are broken, we tune out. A more impactful sermon has the ability to be memorable, shareable, and yes even at times, tweetable.
7. Makes them hunger for more. A 30-minute sermon can generally deal with the main issue a text conveys while leaving room for a desire to know more. I have sat in, and have given, sermons where seemingly every bit of information is given and by the end of it the congregation isn’t enticed to know more, they are exhausted from hearing about it. I feel guilty anytime I look at my watch when I hear someone preaching, but long winded preachers tempt me more than my willpower. Often in preaching less is more. For the good sermon 30-minutes will whet my appetite for further study or discussion, for the bad sermon 30-minutes gives me the kindness of having the end not far off.
8. 30-minute sermons keep the flow of the worship service going. While the sermon is vital to Christian worship, other things are going on in the service. We have songs to sing, prayers to pray, announcements need to be made, and a communion meal needs to be partaken in. While the other elements of worship need due placement and length in the service, preaching does as well. Having each element flow into the other towards completion of the service respects people’s time, and can aid in their worship to God rather than just thinking about when they are going to get out of the intolerably long service with their increasingly squirmy child.
9. It can keep the preaching about the Word. In a 30-minute sermon, there is no time to mess around. Needless jokes, anecdotes, or rabbit trails have no place and the proper task at hand, the proclamation of the Word, is all that has time to remain. The 30-minute sermon also means the preacher needs to get the heart of the text across to the people in concise clarity. Brevity limits the temptation a pastor may have of proving all the study, work or knowledge put into the sermon by including extraneous information or facts. There is time here for the exposition of the Word, but only for the exposition of the Word.
10. 30-minute sermons provide great resources from their editing. I know one of the hardest parts of sermon crafting is editing out all of the juicy nuggets of history, linguistics or scriptural connections, that while they may be interesting, are not essential to the exposition of the text. Once again, if they are essential keep them in, but if a preacher has done his work of diligent study then a lot will be left on the cutting room floor. That material doesn’t need to be wasted, however, the extra material can be used to encourage further study, blog posts, inserts, teasers, social media blurbs, or Sunday School. If people are hungry for more, then the really neat information that didn’t make it into the sermon provide tools of further study for the congregation.
Once again, I am not claiming 30-minute
sermons are a hard and fast rule or even a rule at all. But preachers should
think through the matter of sermon length just as they do syntax, verb parsing,
historical backgrounds, illustrations, or applications. Length is a core part
of the preaching experience for the congregation, and if what we want most is
to communicate God’s truth clearly to his people, then we should consider it.
We can piously claim, “Well if they can sit through a 2-hour superhero movie,
they should be able to sit through my sermon.” What we need to realize,
however, is we are ridiculously less interesting than the special effects
bonanza of a superhero movie whose entire purpose is to captivate in
entertainment. We need sufficient time to exposit the Word, but we need to not
take advantage of that time with our sloppiness of preparation. Such sloppiness
can manifest itself in a long winded not properly edited sermon, or one so
short and shallow it could have been come up with on the car ride over. So
perhaps in the end, rather than just, “Preach as long as it takes to explain
the passage,” what we can say is, “Preach as long as it takes to explain
clearly, concisely, and with substance the essential message of the passage.”
And remember, part of the essential message of the passage is always the
Gospel.
[1] https://presbyterian.typepad.com/beyondordinary/2010/03/sermon-length.html
[2] https://baptistnews.com/article/don-t-blame-millennials-for-shrinking-sermon-lengths-baptists-say/#.XUCyNHt7nIU
[3] Acts 20:7-12
