# Worship Service Too Long



## larryjf (Aug 27, 2005)

On the next Worship Committee meeting that we have we are going to address some complaints we've been getting - worship services are running too long.

Our services have been ending as scheduled - 10:15-11:30am

Personally I am troubled by the complaints. A while back I was going to suggest longer services.

Any advice on how to address this biblically and/or confessionaly would be much appreciated.

Let me know what you guys thing about this.


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## toddpedlar (Aug 27, 2005)

First thing I'd do is point 'em to Nehemiah chapter 8 and remind them of the worship service they had there when the walls were rebuilt. 

Second thing I'd do is pass this to the Elders of the church and let them deal with it. This is a discipline (chastisement and exhortation) issue. If the people aren't willing to spend an hour and 15 minutes with the Lord and His people, there is some serious discussion that needs to take place - the complainers need to get their priorities straightened out, and if they don't like the length of the services they should be invited to go elsewhere. (after much loving discussion of course)

Confessionally I'm not sure there's much to point to... Biblically, there are any number of passages that deal with the love of being with God's people, the love of worship and praise of the Lord, and the ever-singing heavenly host, none of whom complain about how long they are singing "Holy, Holy, Holy". Seriously, the people need to be asked if their love for the Lord is being properly shown by their whining attitude about how long they're in worship.

Todd


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## fredtgreco (Aug 27, 2005)

Another important question is why is it too long? Is the complaint because the sermon is more than 15 minutes? Or because there are 8 songs? Is there something in the service that makes it seem to "drag" ?

This might be worth addressing, although in general I agree with Todd.


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## larryjf (Aug 27, 2005)

Todd,
Thanks for the post. I never really thought of it from the perspective of a discipline issue - good call.

Fred,
The part they would probably want to cut would be the sermon itself. The complaints were actually written on a welcome card and put into the offering, so i don't know for sure what they would want to shorten. But the sermon would be my best guess.


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## fredtgreco (Aug 27, 2005)

> _Originally posted by larryjf_
> Todd,
> Thanks for the post. I never really thought of it from the perspective of a discipline issue - good call.
> 
> ...



Larry,

That is worth finding out. If you are right, then the obvious (calm) response is: "so what is suggested is that we have little or no Word of God, right?"


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## Poimen (Aug 27, 2005)

> _Originally posted by larryjf_
> The complaints were actually written on a welcome card and put into the offering, so i don't know for sure what they would want to shorten. But the sermon would be my best guess.



Are you certain that is was a member and not a visitor?


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## Swampguy (Aug 27, 2005)

Tell them to go to a Charismatic service that can be 2 hrs to 3 hrs long and you never hear complaints about it being to long. Right or wrong those tongue talkers love to worship..


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## larryjf (Aug 27, 2005)

> Are you certain that is was a member and not a visitor?


I'm pretty sure it's at least a regular church-goer. We had 2 complaints in 2 weeks, so it wasn't just one person. And our church is pretty small, we rarely have visitors (an altogether different problem).


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## larryjf (Aug 27, 2005)

Maybe the solution is to do away with the welcome cards


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## ReformedWretch (Aug 27, 2005)




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## turmeric (Aug 27, 2005)

> _Originally posted by Swampguy_
> Tell them to go to a Charismatic service that can be 2 hrs to 3 hrs long and you never hear complaints about it being to long. Right or wrong those tongue talkers love to worship..



They may be 2 to 3 hours long, but no sermon!

You may have 1 or 2 troublemakers on yr hands - the kinds that are always objecting to something, either because THEY want to be in charge or they really have a serious theological disagreement with you, i.e. Arminians or some such.


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## jfschultz (Aug 27, 2005)

> _Originally posted by fredtgreco_
> Another important question is why is it too long? Is the complaint because the sermon is more than 15 minutes? Or because there are 8 songs? Is there something in the service that makes it seem to "drag" ?
> 
> This might be worth addressing, although in general I agree with Todd.



Gee Martyn Lloyd-Jones' sermons at the 1969 Penascolat Theological Institute ran as much as one hour! 

Soounds like trouble with some who do not "call the Sabbath a delight."


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## Poimen (Aug 27, 2005)

> _Originally posted by larryjf_
> 
> 
> > Are you certain that is was a member and not a visitor?
> ...



Well if they are not a member then their opinion really doesn't matter does it? Make sure it's a professing member before you do anything about it.


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## Arch2k (Aug 28, 2005)

> _Originally posted by poimen_
> Well if they are not a member then their opinion really doesn't matter does it? Make sure it's a professing member before you do anything about it.


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## larryjf (Aug 28, 2005)

> Well if they are not a member then their opinion really doesn't matter does it? Make sure it's a professing member before you do anything about it.


I guess that's one of the problems with welcome cards. You don't always know who is turning them in.
Our church policy has been to answer every suggestion or complaint received through the welcome cards via the Worship Comittee.

So far i like the idea of taking a vote to pass it on to the elders as a discipline issue.


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## Craig (Aug 28, 2005)

The only times it seems a sermon goes too long is if the pastor seems to go off topic...like a tangential point becomes too long. If this is part of the problem, that's worthy to consider. Other than that, I think most Christians should delight in the exposition of the Word. How seriously do we take it if we don't want to understand it more completely? As others have noted, these could be two trouble makers that decided they'd start dropping complaints in the offering. I'd make a comment from the pulpit about appreciating the tithes and offering toward God, but God being displeased with the complaints on how much He has to say.


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## DTK (Aug 28, 2005)

> _Originally posted by larryjf_
> On the next Worship Committee meeting that we have we are going to address some complaints we've been getting - worship services are running too long.
> 
> Our services have been ending as scheduled - 10:15-11:30am
> ...


Dear Larry,

The morning worship services at our church are 1:15 mins long, 10:45-12:00. This has proven to be very conducive to our people. Given that the proper elements of worship are observed, you might want to examine closely as to how things flow. By this, I think it's important that we keep moving through the various elements of worship at a continual pace with proper transitions. 

The preaching here tends to be 40-45 mins in length, and though I've experienced one elderly gentleman falling out in the middle of the aisle (one of our deacons quickly moving so that his fall was a gentle one), we haven't had anyone pass out as one man under the lengthy message of Paul as recorded in Acts 20:9.

I think that the general problem we face today with complaints about the length of a worship service stems from the fast paced culture in which we live (no new insight here). But surely we would want to believe that God's people wouldn't find (even) 1 1/2 hour worship services too long. I think, as I'm inclined to believe many here would agree with me, that such a complaint about time is more of a symptom than the real problem itself, which is surely spiritual in nature. I agree with a previous poster, it is a sessional issue for them to address.

Blessings in seeking to resolve this issue,
DTK


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## crhoades (Aug 28, 2005)

I love our long services and our pastor's 35-45 minute sermons...wish they were longer! He and I were actually talking about this this morning. 

It would be interested if the same complainers have issues with sitting through a whole game or race...


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## Anton Bruckner (Aug 29, 2005)

> _Originally posted by Swampguy_
> Tell them to go to a Charismatic service that can be 2 hrs to 3 hrs long and you never hear complaints about it being to long. Right or wrong those tongue talkers love to worship..


 1:15 minutes is getting away with murder. Heck, a good sermon should go for 45-70 minutes at least.


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## NaphtaliPress (Aug 29, 2005)

Our AM Lord's Day service is normally 2 hrs; running long is 2.5. PM is a bit shorter. Sermons avg 1 hour. A 45 minute sermon is a short one. We've had the occasionaly 90 minute sermon! Our Am starts at 10:30; then there is an hour break for lunch, and we have the Pm service, another 15 minute break and catechism class; and then the day ends with our Biblical Institute hour which equates to an unsegregated sunday school class. So basically most folks are at church from 10:30 AM till 6:00 PM.


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## rgrove (Sep 9, 2005)

Our services are about 90 minutes. The sermon goes about one hour give or take. 

I visited a Russian Baptist church in Portland and thought it would never end. They go three hours for the morning service minimum and almost as long in the evening service. They don't understand the short American services at all. The younger ones I spoke to just laughed at us.


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## Average Joey (Sep 9, 2005)

> _Originally posted by Slippery_
> 
> 
> > _Originally posted by Swampguy_
> ...



Our normal services(not including Sunday school) begin at 10:45 and end between 12:30-12:45.I`m usually extremely tired at this point(I work 3rd shift)but,I throughly enjoy a long excellent sermon.


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## BJClark (Sep 9, 2005)

Maybe they were being convicted about the topic and don't want to address the issue internally.


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