• Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.

  • CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.

Megachurch Pastor Ed Young: Half-hour sermons are 'way too long'

Michie

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Feb 5, 2002
184,070
67,203
Woods
✟6,040,358.00
Country
United States
Gender
Female
Faith
Catholic
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Others
Is 20 minutes enough for a Sunday sermon?

Pastor Ed Young of Fellowship Church in Grapevine, Texas, shared his thoughts in a Sept. 28 video about the duration of most contemporary sermons and says he might have found the sweet spot.

After finishing the second service at Fellowship’s Frisco campus, Young, 64, appeared to have an epiphany of sorts on how long is too long when it comes to sermons. “The first service I preached 36 minutes. Way too long. The second service I did it in 20 mins and 43 seconds,” he said. “And guess what? The second message, the 20-minute message, was better than the 36-minute message.”

Young, who's known for his colorful, highly stylized sermons, including a controversial 2012 sermon on marital intimacy presented as a “bed-in” with his wife Lisa, said he believes he and other pastors are guilty of going too long when it comes to their sermons.

Continued below.
 

Tuur

Well-Known Member
Oct 12, 2022
2,818
1,527
Southeast
✟95,757.00
Country
United States
Gender
Male
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Oh, my: Talk about "your mileage may vary." I don't even know if I can comment without accidentally offending anyone. Methodists usually have shorter sermons than Baptists, and Church of God, I'm told by those who are members, have longer sermons. Have no idea how Mass or other worship services compare. Do know that after an extremely long funeral, heard someone say she'd been to Buddhist funerals that were shorter. Supposedly an old Baptist preacher at a seminary said the three S of preaching was stand up, speak up, and shut up.
 
Upvote 0

Servus

<><
Site Supporter
Oct 2, 2020
29,185
15,723
Washington
✟1,015,107.00
Country
United States
Gender
Male
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Single
My pastor drags sermons out a little too long. He once said even his dad who was a pastor told him he went on too long. Too long in my opinion is when it gets to the point where it seems like the pastor is stretching out the sermon. There's a point were most have gotten the message, and from that point forward they're just wanting for it to end while their mind wanders.

How long was the Sermon on the Mount?
 
Upvote 0

RestoreTheJoy

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Jul 13, 2018
5,482
1,815
Passing Through
✟560,118.00
Country
United States
Faith
Non-Denom
Marital Status
Married
Depends. If it is totally anointed like the Sermon on the Mount (!!!) by Jesus and a handful of others I have heard in my lifetime, one where even the babies remained silent so we could listen (I had one at that time), it can't be long enough.

Most, where they are just blathering on with some prepared message, especially if they didn't even write it themselves (yes, they sell canned messages (!!) and today even use AI), 20 minues is too long.

It's up to the listener to distinguish between the hirelings and the actual shepherds, and he had better know the Word very well to do so.
 
Upvote 0

Bob Crowley

Well-Known Member
Site Supporter
Dec 27, 2015
3,947
2,480
71
Logan City
✟986,584.00
Country
Australia
Gender
Male
Faith
Catholic
Marital Status
Married
It depends on the speaker to some extent, and of course people's attitudes towards the speaker.

Some can hold attention for 20 minutes but it needs to be said well, especially in this day and age of goldfish attention spans.

My old pastor said that a well known African American speaker was asked the secret of his sermons.

He said "Well, first I tell 'em what I'm gonna tell 'em".

"Then I tell 'em".

"And then I tell 'em what I told 'em".
 
Upvote 0

HIM

Friend
Site Supporter
Mar 9, 2018
5,039
2,064
59
Alabama
Visit site
✟577,422.00
Country
United States
Gender
Male
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Others
The difference is whether or not we are speaking to or speaking at. There is a difference.

And if we use Jesus' sermon on the Mount as an example. He covered not just one point but several. With that said, attention issues will not be as a big of an issue regardless how long one goes.
 
Upvote 0

JustaPewFiller

Active Member
Apr 1, 2024
255
209
60
Florida
✟61,030.00
Country
United States
Faith
Baptist
Marital Status
Married
I once was church where the visiting elderly pastor noticed people glancing at watches, fidgeting in pews, etc after he had been preaching for about 35mins.

He said something along the lines of, "One thing I've learned in all my years of preaching. No matter if I am done or not, the congregation's spirit will not hold more than their bottom's can bear. I know pews get uncomfortable and everyone gets hungry and I'm going to wrap up now because I have gone too long."

It does vary a bit. A captivating pastor with a quality sermon can hold the congregation's attention longer. But that isn't every pastor. Probably 20 to 30mins is a good average
 
Upvote 0