Three Views on How Long a Sermon Should Be

What is the trend? Are church members and church leaders saying sermons should be longer or shorter? The answer is “yes.”

If my answer is confusing, I understand. But the reality is there are two major trends taking place related to sermon length. I have been following these trends through anecdotal information and social media polls for three years. There are growing numbers of respondents who believe sermons should be longer. There are also growing numbers of respondents who believe sermons should be shorter. And there aren’t many people in the middle of those two divergent views.

By the way, there is a smaller, but consistent, number that feel the pastor should preach “as long or short as God leads” with no constraints at all. That view is the third of the three perspectives.

I am reticent to put my numbers in statistical percentages since my social media polls of the past three years are not scientific. Since numbers, however, can provide greater clarity, I list them here with the caveat that the accuracy is definitely not precise.

  1. 41%: Sermons should be shorter, in the 20 to 30 minute range. These respondents see a cultural barrier related to short attention spans. Any sermon over 30 minutes, they say, does not connect with the typical mind of today, especially in Western culture. We, therefore, must keep the message shorter and pack more information into a relatively brief time period.
  2. 37%: Sermons should be longer, in the 35 to 55 minute range. A solid exposition of Scripture, this perspective argues, cannot be done in just a few minutes. The sermon is the central part of the worship service, and the time allocated should be significant. We do a disservice to the Word of God when we move toward shorter sermons.
  3. 9%: There should be no time constraints on the pastor’s sermons. The pastor should have a sermon length that is only subject to the leading of the Holy Spirit. Anything else lacks sensitivity to God’s work and involvement.

Obviously, if you add the numbers, another 13% had a variety of responses that fit none of the categories. By way, some of the responses in my most recent social media poll and in previous polls advocated sermon lengths from 8 minutes to 75 minutes. We church members definitely are not in full agreement on these issues.

What do you think of the two trends moving in opposite directions? One group is advocating longer sermons; the other group embraces the shorter sermon. Let me hear your thoughts on this issue.

Posted on July 30, 2014


With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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153 Comments

  • Dustin Brown says on

    Let’s all be honest. Length hinges on the preacher and his sermon. If the preacher is delivering it well and has the content most will continue to listen. When his delivery drops and his content is done people turn him off this is why chasing rabbits loses people, they take your rambling as a lack of true content in the sermon.

    • I agree with Dustin. The issue is the speaker’s ability to connect and communicate excellent content. I’ve heard plenty of preachers deliver 20 minute sermons that seemed to take forever and I’ve heard plenty deliver 50 minute sermons that seemed like 5 minutes.

      A little over a year ago, I did a 3.5 month sabbatical and visited about 12 different churches, all solid evangelical Bible-believing churches. One of the conclusions I drew from these visits was that the vast majority of us preach longer than our communication skills can carry us.

      I wonder how many of us have the self-awareness to recognize whether or not our preaching skills/gifts are matching up with the time we allot ourselves. I am not sure I’ve succeeded in reeling myself in, but at least now I am aware and have a goal.

  • I find myself-to my shame, admittedly-shifting and glancing at my watch as certain sermons draw to a close. In my opinion, that is in most cases not the fault of the preacher but rather the blame lies within myself.
    Preachers can and certainly have been boring. Some are long-winded. But when a true child of God hears a sermon, his thought should not be, “this sermon is so long,” but rather, “what can I learn from God’s word?” I love the feeling I get sometimes when a sermon closes and I open my eyes after the “amen,” look at my watch, and realize with astonishment that my Pastor just went over by a good bit his allotted time. I didn’t even notice! I was so keyed in on his exposition of God’s word that time was of no consequence to me.
    Satan so easily distracts us with Sunday afternoon lunch and ball games that when when our attention back to the preacher after thinking about pot roast, we realize that suddenly we’re really hungry-and not for spiritual food but for pot roast. And hungry people are, understandably, justified when their growling stomachs distract them from the message.
    We need to be in such love with God’s word that time is of no importance!

    Understandably, this was from a listener’s viewpoint. Preachers need to be careful that if they go over the 30 or 45 minutes that what they are presenting is truly something of such great importance that it needs to go over 30 or 45 minutes, or something that couldn’t have been said in 30 minutes.

  • I come from a liturgical denomination where the tradition has been a 20 minute sermon. Over the years I have heard many comments that sermons need to be shorter because of attention span, the expectation of a 1 hour service, etc. The first time I attended a non-denominational church on vacation and the sermon went 45 minutes I wondered why people in our denomination were complaining about a 20 minute sermon. I attended a church last weekend on vacation and the sermon was 10 minutes long. After the service, my wife asked, “Did he say anything?” The longer I have been in ministry (35 years to date), the more my preaching evolved from about 15 minutes to around 25 minutes. It happened because I learned how to develop the sermon to feed those needing meat to chew on and those needing milk because they can’t handle meat yet. I learned that you need one central point that people can remember. You need a change in ingredients, timing, etc. because in our society today the camera angle changes every 8 seconds or so. I use a mix of stories, videos, Bible verses and quotes to make the one point of the text. I am definitely not the expert, but the people of my congregation tell me that I am helping them grow in their relationship with Jesus.

  • Hi there,

    I am a German, Missionary in Ecuador, married to an American lady and have served in the Micronesian islands as a missionary. I find it interesting that the main idea is that sermons have to have a certain length. In all the 4 countries I have worked in so far it is between 20-50 Minutes. Almost everyone says that it should not be longer that an hour and not shorter that 20 minutes.
    I remember my Hermeneutics professor say: “No mater if the church is used to 20 minutes or 60, you as a preacher make sure that you give them something that is not boring and something that bring them closer to God!” Now I myself am a Hermeneutics teacher here in Ecuador and I give the sam advice.
    If one has 20 minutes, he has to work harder to put the same message that he would preach in 50 minutes into 20. This means concentrate more on the important stuff. If he has 50 minutes, he has more room to invite the listeners to the journey getting to know God a little bit more deeper.
    Lets make it a focus not to focus on time but con content!People need to be brought closer to God and there in his presence get their lives straight with his help.
    Thanks,
    Daniel

  • I’ve been splitting my sermon in half, divided by the announcements and offering, for a couple of decades. it allows me to preach longer and yet in shorter segments. Like, “now a word from the sponsor.” it offers us the best of both worlds. We haven’t found a downside to it yet. Other than more work for the preacher because of the need for two introductions and two conclusions.

  • Preston Creech says on

    If # 2 is valid and I have no reason to say it is not, however, if it is; then I am wondering ,WHY is there so much controversy over style and type of music in worship service. This one part of worship seems to divide so many congregations. Or how about a sermon that takes only one or two verses and use the whole 20- 30 minutes to develop the message. Takes some research and creative thought.

  • I would be among the 9% who believe the sermon length should be dictated by the material and the Holy Spirit. I am a 20-28 minute preacher typically but have preached sermons in 15 minutes when it seemed right. If the material is good and the preacher engaging, length is not that much of an issue.

  • I think it’s important to avoid the “one size fits all” mentality.

    I’m sure I’m not the only person to have had the experience of finding a 5-minute sermon too long, and a 1-hour sermon too short, depending on the quality of the presentation.

    Addressing primarily Christians (or at least people who are familiar with the Bible) my sermons are typically 25 to 30 minutes. I think that allows a reasonable depth of development of the material, but without losing people. However, for a service where we expect more visitors – non Christians, not accustomed to church – I avoid going beyond 10 minutes. In this case, I’m limiting myself to one key point that people can take away with us.

  • Benjamin R. Owen says on

    I once heard a 45 minute sermon that seemed like a 45 minute sermon. The first 15 minutes seemed like 30 minutes, and the last 30 minutes seemed like 15 minutes. The proper length depends of the subject, the preacher, the audience, and the situation.

  • Pastor Steve Smith says on

    When the Holy Spirit says enough……
    This is God’s time not ours.

  • Rob Mongeau says on

    This will never be solved Lawrence got it right it depends on your view on the importance you put on the sermon in the worship service, climax or just a component of it. Loved to see it by denomination and so on as Lawrence proposed.

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