# Average Sermon Length



## Southern Presbyterian (Jul 15, 2008)

What is the average length of the sermon(s) you hear each Lord's Day?

This is mostly out of curiosity, but I thought it would be interesting to come up with an "average reformed sermon length".

Please participate especially if you are the preacher.


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## ericfromcowtown (Jul 15, 2008)

I would estimate that the average sermon at my church is 45 minutes long.


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## ChristopherPaul (Jul 15, 2008)

45 Minutes


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## Davidius (Jul 15, 2008)

45-50 minutes


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## Guido's Brother (Jul 15, 2008)

I'm usually going 25-30 minutes. Depends on the text, of course. If the text can be preached in 15-20 minutes, so be it. But if a longer text demands 40 minutes, I'll do that too. I value efficiency of expression and my observation is that most congregations (at least the ones to whom I preach) do too.


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## Davidius (Jul 15, 2008)

Guido's Brother said:


> I'm usually going 25-30 minutes. Depends on the text, of course. If the text can be preached in 15-20 minutes, so be it. But if a longer text demands 40 minutes, I'll do that too. I value efficiency of expression and my observation is that most congregations (at least the ones to whom I preach) do too.


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## fredtgreco (Jul 15, 2008)

I'd like to be consistently 30-35 minutes, but I have been more like 40 lately. I attribute some of that to have large blocks of text (I am preaching though about a chapter of 1 Kings each week, typically 30-40 verses) and the fact that I do not have the time I would like to give a final polish to sermons.

It is harder to be brief in my opinion. I am coming more and more to the opinion that it is typically not a good thing if I were to preach longer. Almost any text can be sufficiently exposited in 35 minutes. I wonder if we Reformed (myself included) have vanity of sermon length: "It had to be good! He preached for an hour!"


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## Zenas (Jul 15, 2008)

Not long enough.

Whenever my pastor says "I've gone over, I'm going to cut it short." I get mad. People can wait to go out to eat another 10 minutes.


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## InevitablyReformed (Jul 15, 2008)

Very rarely does our pastor go over 45 min.


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## Jerusalem Blade (Jul 15, 2008)

I aim for 30, but sometimes go to 40, especially when, as Fred says, dealing with a large block of Scripture I want to do justice to.

When Tim Keller preaches under 40, I am sometimes disappointed.


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## Reepicheep (Jul 15, 2008)

35-40 is my norm. sometimes 30. I think more than 40 is tough on listeners in our day.


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## JBaldwin (Jul 15, 2008)

Our pastor usually preaches 30-40 minutes, sometimes longer. We get a double dose of the passage each week, though, because we meet again in the evening to discuss the sermon and go deeper into the passage of Scripture.


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## BJClark (Jul 15, 2008)

Zenas;



> Not long enough.
> 
> Whenever my pastor says "I've gone over, I'm going to cut it short." I get mad. People can wait to go out to eat another 10 minutes.



I can relate to this, there have been many times our pastor has gone past the 'time' set for preaching and he cuts short what he's saying. I tend to think "well, don't stop, continue with the teaching until your done, and if people want to get up and leave because they have some where they need to be, then let THEM leave."


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## TimV (Jul 15, 2008)

With those hour long sermons and services lasting 1hr. 45 min to 2 hours, my younger kids started disliking church. 20-30 minutes is plenty to make a point that will stick with you during the week.


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## Davidius (Jul 15, 2008)

Most preachers I've listened to who preach over 30 minutes either a) have a really long text or b) tend to be (in my opinion) unnecessarily repetitive. Sermons that could have been 20-30 minutes end up being 45+.


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## Guido's Brother (Jul 15, 2008)

From Luther's Table Talk:

"Conrad Cordatus said to Dr. Martin Luther, 'Reverend Father, teach me in a brief way how to preach.'

Luther responded briefly, 'First, you must learn to go up to the pulpit. Second, you must know that you should stay there for a time. Third, you must learn to get down again.'

He added nothing in addition to these words, and as a result Cordatus was quite angry. Yet at length it occurred to him that the doctor had hit the mark very well. Anybody who keeps this order will be a good preacher. First, he must learn to go up to the pulpit, that is, he should have a regular and a divine call. Second, he must learn to stay there for a time, that is, he should have the pure and genuine doctrine. Third, he must also learn to get down again, that is, he should preach not more than an hour (which didn't please Pomeranus)." (p.393)

There's a note at the bottom of the page, "John Bugenhagen of Pomerania was well-known for his excessively long sermons."


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## jaybird0827 (Jul 15, 2008)

Averages slightly over 45 minutes.


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## Bygracealone (Jul 15, 2008)

I realize that many people today have a difficult time sitting through a service of an hour and a half to two hours. But I sometimes wonder why that is. I find it interesting that a number of the same people who might complain about the length of a service can easily sit through a two to three hour movie (and not even have to get up to use the restroom) or sit through a long lecture at the university on a subject of interest or a lecture on some aspect of a given hobby or other interest. Something tells me that the length of the sermon really isn't the issue... Granted, some pastors are long-winded and overly repetitive; if that's the case at your Church maybe you can have a chat with the pastor about it or maybe one of the other elders? 

I often wonder what the rush is to get done with the service. After all, it is the Lord's Day; what greater way to spend it than in His special presence with His people? Is two hours once a week really too long to spend in God's glorious presence? By the way, I thought this way even before I became a pastor, so I'm not just saying this because I'm a pastor and I want people to hear me speak longer; there's more to the service than the sermon.


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## Poimen (Jul 15, 2008)

Almost always over 30 minutes; rarely over 45. Lately I have been pushing 40 minutes especially in the afternoon service (the Canons of Dordrecht require some more in-depth explanation). 

Basically it is the subject matter or text size that determines the length and also whether or not we are celebrating the Lord's Supper (such as this past Sunday morning where I doubt I went over 30 minutes).


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## matt01 (Jul 15, 2008)

fredtgreco said:


> Almost any text can be sufficiently exposited in 35 minutes. I wonder if we Reformed (myself included) have vanity of sermon length: "It had to be good! He preached for an hour!"



The sermon should be long enough to glorify God, and convey the points. I would agree with the comment about being proud of our long sermons. Unnecessarily long winded sermons dry up any seeds that may have been planted.


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## fredtgreco (Jul 15, 2008)

Bygracealone said:


> I realize that many people today have a difficult time sitting through a service of an hour and a half to two hours. But I sometimes wonder why that is. I find it interesting that a number of the same people who might complain about the length of a service can easily sit through a two to three hour movie (and not even have to get up to use the restroom) or sit through a long lecture at the university on a subject of interest or a lecture on some aspect of a given hobby or other interest. Something tells me that the length of the sermon really isn't the issue... Granted, some pastors are long-winded and overly repetitive; if that's the case at your Church maybe you can have a chat with the pastor about it or maybe one of the other elders?
> 
> I often wonder what the rush is to get done with the service. After all, it is the Lord's Day; what greater way to spend it than in His special presence with His people? Is two hours once a week really too long to spend in God's glorious presence? By the way, I thought this way even before I became a pastor, so I'm not just saying this because I'm a pastor and I want people to hear me speak longer; there's more to the service than the sermon.



Steve,

I don't think that is always the issue. I agree that sometimes it is. But I don't like to be long because I believe it is too much to digest for the people. In a two hour movie, people leave and remember almost none of it in detail. Same with a long lecture - I especially note the difficulty retaining information and taking notes in a 3 hour evening class.

Our service is not short. It is about 75-80 minutes. We have short fellowship time, and Sunday school afterward. Our SS attendance is outstanding, usually about 85-95% of worship attendance.

Your point about service length is well taken. To have a good number of songs (3-5), and a couple of real prayers (not just 1 minute ones), a Scripture reading and the rest of the service takes about 30-45 minutes in themselves.

I think that many Reformed preachers (including and *especially *ME!) have overreacted to the 10 minute mini-homily in most churches. We feel that we are not _really _preaching unless we are 50+ minutes. We have our pedigree: Sproul does it, so does Al Martin, so can Sinclair Ferguson, etc. But we forget that those men are _unusually_ gifted.

Just my opinion.


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## mshingler (Jul 15, 2008)

Usually, about 45 minutes. However, it varies with the text and subject matter. I think it's not only the length of the text but also what difficulties and/or doctrines need explication in the course of the message.


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## BJClark (Jul 15, 2008)

TimV;



> With those hour long sermons and services lasting 1hr. 45 min to 2 hours, my younger kids started disliking church. 20-30 minutes is plenty to make a point that will stick with you during the week.



My kids are older, and have asked why the pastor stopped in the middle of the teaching, they enjoy his teaching. 

As I've mentioned before on another thread, we had a rain storm one Lords Day and the power went out, the pastor continued teaching and not ONE person got up to leave. Even the younger kids were quite as they listened to him teach without a microphone, when the power came back on everyone stayed until he finished.

What was interesting is that even after the service and the rain stopped, nobody rushed to leave as many of them normally do, they stayed around to actually visit with each other.

It's going to be very sad to see this pastor leave our congregation later this year..


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## KMK (Jul 15, 2008)

42.5 minute average. But that includes prayer at the beginning and at the end.

I agree that the most time consuming part of sermon preparation is the editing and polishing. Because I am bi-vocational, those are the areas where my sermons suffer most, in my opinion. If I had more time, I would like to keep the sermon around a 35 min average and have it largely memorized. That would be cool.

BTW, Pastor John Weaver's sermons often go over 60 minutes and I hang on every word. It all depends on the preacher. Some can go so long that someone falls out a window and some can't. I think it is careless to create a standard for every preacher.


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## Southern Presbyterian (Jul 15, 2008)

This is great. Keep the comments and information coming.

In homiletics class at Piedmont Bible College, we were taught to always keep in mind that "the mind can only absorb what the seat can endure." But I now often wonder if most "seats" haven't become overly sensitive. I routinely sit during sermons that are 60 minuets on the average (not including the rest of the service) and rarely, if ever, look at my watch. I'm not claiming to be some sort of super saint either. But I echo the sentiment that spending 1 to 2 1/2 hours out of a whole week immersed in the preaching of God's Word is not too much to ask even out of our busy post-modern lives.


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## raekwon (Jul 15, 2008)

45-50 minutes, occasionally stretching into an hour. Thankfully, we have a good preacher, because a sermon of that length without a gifted expositor is not beneficial for ANYONE involved.


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## Ivan (Jul 15, 2008)

Our worship service is at least 75 minutes long and I take about 40 minutes of the time preaching, sometimes a bit longer. 

I should note that at 10:15 we make announcements and share praise and prayer concerns. The worship service proper begins at 10:30, so I use 40 minutes of the hour preaching. 

Haven't had any complaints.


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## ColdSilverMoon (Jul 15, 2008)

40-45 mins


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## rescuedbyLove (Jul 15, 2008)

about 45-55 min.


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## JonathanHunt (Jul 15, 2008)

I aim for 30 minutes. I generally succeed! The congregation has several elderly folk who cannot cope if the overall service lasts more than an hour or so.


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## jawyman (Jul 15, 2008)

At PRTS we are taught to preach for 30-40 minutes. My pastor usually preaches for this long and when I am privileged to exhort the Word, I usually preach for about 30 minutes with a few minutes over or under depending on the text.


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## Me Died Blue (Jul 15, 2008)

The church of which I'm soon to be a member always has a 90-minute service, but that always includes the Lord's Supper. Also, in addition to the call to worship and the benediction, usually throughout the worship there are about four songs (always including Psalms), 2-3 "short" prayers, one "long" prayer, a corporate praying of the Lord's prayer, a silent and a corporate confession of sin, an assurance of forgiveness, a corporate reading of the law (Decalogue and the "two great commandments"), a corporate confession of faith, and a Scripture reading by the pastor apart from (but often relevant to) the sermon text.

With all of that in 90 minutes, I'd say the sermon is usually around 40-45 of those minutes.



fredtgreco said:


> We feel that we are not _really _preaching unless we are 50+ minutes. We have our pedigree: Sproul does it, so does Al Martin, so can Sinclair Ferguson, etc. But we forget that those men are _unusually_ gifted.



Indeed! I *still* to this day remember Sinclair Ferguson's evening sermon on dying to sin at First Presbyterian at the conference in Jackson several of us attended a few years back.


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## Grace Alone (Jul 15, 2008)

The pastor at our new church is so good that I have never looked at my watch to see how long the sermons are! But I guessed around 30-40 minutes. I have been in a church when the sermons were too long, though, and it was tough especially for the children and for older people with back problems, etc. We had difficulty getting new families with young children, and I think this might have been one reason.

Incidentally, I have the privilege of hearing both *Sinclair Ferguson *and *Ligon Duncan* for three days next week at an ARP Family Bible conference! I am really looking forward to that since I have not heard them preach before.


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## Ivan (Jul 15, 2008)

Grace Alone said:


> Incidentally, I have the privilege of hearing both *Sinclair Ferguson *and *Ligon Duncan* for three days next week at an ARP Family Bible conference! I am really looking forward to that since I have not heard them preach before.



Wow! I'd love to hear them preach. I highly respect both of these men.


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## DMcFadden (Jul 16, 2008)

A fellow on a non-profit board I also serve on kind of "guilted" me into preaching for him when he is away this week. That is OK, except . . . 

a. This pastor is a VERY liberal fellow (McCormick in Chicago trained -- total Arminian with a preoccupation with social justice) 
b. The church is mainline United Methodist 
c. They are a much smaller body than I am used to (60-70 folks) and that always throws me a bit adjusting to the differences in communication style
d. Their ENTIRE service runs 45 minutes!!! My sermon will take almost that long!

Wait until he hears what this Calvinistic Baptist does emphasizing the "done" over the "do" and stressing divine sovereignty!!! Hey, I tried to talk my way out of it and he already knew where I am theologically before asking me.


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## Ivan (Jul 16, 2008)

DMcFadden said:


> A fellow on a non-profit board I also serve on kind of "guilted" me into preaching for him when he is away this week. That is OK, except . . .
> 
> a. This pastor is a VERY liberal fellow (McCormick in Chicago trained -- total Arminian with a preoccupation with social justice)
> b. The church is mainline United Methodist
> ...



Sic 'em!!


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## Southern Presbyterian (Jul 16, 2008)

Ivan said:


> DMcFadden said:
> 
> 
> > A fellow on a non-profit board I also serve on kind of "guilted" me into preaching for him when he is away this week. That is OK, except . . .
> ...



 [I've been told that saying that is like saying Sic'em to a preacher ]


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