How much time you spend on writing sermon ?

[johnnywong]

Some say they have to spend a lot of time to write the sermon , more than 15 hours ,some say that they have only 2 hours to write it.

What should be the optimal time to prepare the sermon ?

 

[LaSorcia]

It depends on a lot of factors.
1-How well do you know the material/topic? Do you have to do research?
2-How good of a writer are you?
3-How long is your sermon? 5 mins? 15?
4-For how long have you been sermon writing? Someone who's been writing sermons 20+ years will probably need a lot less time than someone who's only just started.

 

[bekkilyn]

Saw this on an interview with Adam Hamilton:

Preaching: If you were talking to some young pastors about preaching or pastoral ministry and could offer one bit of advice, what would it be?

Hamilton: One of the things I’d say is that because preaching is the single-most-important thing you’re going to do in your ministry-after taking care of your soul and taking care of your family-devote enough time to it. And I think to prepare an excellent sermon, there’s no shortcut.
It just takes time. And it helps if you can outline sermons in advance or at least get a head start on your preaching, even if it’s just for the next six months. Then, if you can, dedicate a minimum of 10 hours-for me it’s 20 hours a week I’m going to spend-reading, researching, studying, praying and writing the sermon. Sometimes more than that. In some church sizes you can’t have more than 10 or 15 hours-but at least use that.
What happens is we tend to be captured by the tyranny of the urgent, so there’s a pastoral care thing or a phone call or something else that comes in or eats away at our preaching time. We can have laity help us in doing congregational care, and if we have to give up some of our preaching time, we can reclaim it at night or reclaim it the next day and reschedule appointments.
But take the time. There’s just no getting around the fact that to preach a great sermon, you’ve got to spend the time reading, studying, praying, writing your message and then reworking it until you’ve got it where it can be its most effective.​

Preaching and Politics: An Interview with Adam Hamilton - Sermons & Articles

Saw another article by someone who said to just take an hour or two a week and use other people's sermons (giving them credit) but I can't say that I'm personally fond of that idea. It just seems cheap as if the only thing that goes into preparing a sermon is writing it, rather than the prayer, meditation, talking to God, scripture study, etc. After all, how are you going to learn to prepare good sermons and have a better understanding of scripture if none of the sermons are actually yours and you've never actually done the work?

It's difficult for me to determine how long I take because I don't do everything in one session. I tend to do a few minutes here and a few minutes there, and spend a lot of time thinking about it while doing other things, etc. It seems I spend a lot more on it than physically sitting at the computer writing up an outline or even taking notes on various things. (Though there are times when I do that too.) I get all sorts of ideas of things to add throughout the week in different non-sermon or even non-church-related activities. Sometimes I spend many hours on one sermon and then it turns into multiple sermons and I don't spend as much time the next week or so because I've already done most of the sermon for that week in an earlier week.

A less experienced pastor will probably need to spend a lot more time on research than a pastor who has had 20 years experience and has preached on many of the same passages multiple times, and therefore already has done the research.

 

[bcbsr]

Some say they have to spend a lot of time to write the sermon , more than 15 hours ,some say that they have only 2 hours to write it.

What should be the optimal time to prepare the sermon ?

I write sermons long in advance so to be prepared at any time. I put all my studies online freely available, and I use them in my Bible study groups for preaching. See The Berean Christian Bible Study Resources for examples.

 

[Arcangl86]

I'm still a fairly young preacher so when I approach a text it's usually for the first time. And it depends on the week, but 10-15 is normal for me.

 

[Paidiske]

I average about four hours, but some weeks it's more and some less. That's dedicated time; I've always looked at the readings ahead of time, thought about themes, it'll be in my mind as I pray and listen to people in my congregation, and different things will develop and come together in my head before I sit down to get it all into a document.

I don't think there's one right answer to this; the reality is going to be shaped by so many other factors.

 

[johnnywong]

Saw this on an interview with Adam Hamilton:

Preaching: If you were talking to some young pastors about preaching or pastoral ministry and could offer one bit of advice, what would it be?

Hamilton: One of the things I’d say is that because preaching is the single-most-important thing you’re going to do in your ministry-after taking care of your soul and taking care of your family-devote enough time to it. And I think to prepare an excellent sermon, there’s no shortcut.
It just takes time. And it helps if you can outline sermons in advance or at least get a head start on your preaching, even if it’s just for the next six months. Then, if you can, dedicate a minimum of 10 hours-for me it’s 20 hours a week I’m going to spend-reading, researching, studying, praying and writing the sermon. Sometimes more than that. In some church sizes you can’t have more than 10 or 15 hours-but at least use that.
What happens is we tend to be captured by the tyranny of the urgent, so there’s a pastoral care thing or a phone call or something else that comes in or eats away at our preaching time. We can have laity help us in doing congregational care, and if we have to give up some of our preaching time, we can reclaim it at night or reclaim it the next day and reschedule appointments.
But take the time. There’s just no getting around the fact that to preach a great sermon, you’ve got to spend the time reading, studying, praying, writing your message and then reworking it until you’ve got it where it can be its most effective.​

Preaching and Politics: An Interview with Adam Hamilton - Sermons & Articles

Saw another article by someone who said to just take an hour or two a week and use other people's sermons (giving them credit) but I can't say that I'm personally fond of that idea. It just seems cheap as if the only thing that goes into preparing a sermon is writing it, rather than the prayer, meditation, talking to God, scripture study, etc. After all, how are you going to learn to prepare good sermons and have a better understanding of scripture if none of the sermons are actually yours and you've never actually done the work?

It's difficult for me to determine how long I take because I don't do everything in one session. I tend to do a few minutes here and a few minutes there, and spend a lot of time thinking about it while doing other things, etc. It seems I spend a lot more on it than physically sitting at the computer writing up an outline or even taking notes on various things. (Though there are times when I do that too.) I get all sorts of ideas of things to add throughout the week in different non-sermon or even non-church-related activities. Sometimes I spend many hours on one sermon and then it turns into multiple sermons and I don't spend as much time the next week or so because I've already done most of the sermon for that week in an earlier week.

A less experienced pastor will probably need to spend a lot more time on research than a pastor who has had 20 years experience and has preached on many of the same passages multiple times, and therefore already has done the research.

Totally agree with you . In the beginning some good sermons may help.
But one have to prepare them under the Holy Spirit because it is a way of spiritual growth for the preacher.

I think 3 'I' sermon can help.
Inspirational :
3 words 2 ways1 bring home message
e.g a satisfied ,secular ,social life is way to Hell ;while a suffering ,a sacrificed , a separated life is way to Heaven
Informational :
(very few this type of sermon in the church this day )
e.g. differences between Catholics , denominations ,LDS...; history of early church ; geography and map of Bible ; legends of great believers ...many facts to equip the Christians with knowledge and can form a series sermons in a month time
Irritational :
I think it is very important in having a great impact after hearing the sermon and motivate the audience to take action and repent their sins . Otherwise it may be easy to be satisfied with sugar-coated sermon to avoid confronting the audience.

 

[johnnywong]

I'm still a fairly young preacher so when I approach a text it's usually for the first time. And it depends on the week, but 10-15 is normal for me.

I think it is a good idea to "stock" up some sermons in advance.(say 6-12 sermons in case of emergency use )
It may be good to drop down the ideas god gives you in everyday activities, a few words can be expanded to a good sermon.
e.g. from 3 'P 'to 3 'F' ,this is given to me while i was running in the morning.
Don't focus on the Past ,Personal ,Problems but to the Future, Fellow ,Father .
Then search the Bible for the versus .

It will be a good inspirational sermon.

 

[Paidiske]

It's more tricky when your church follows a lectionary, of course.

 

[johnnywong]

I average about four hours, but some weeks it's more and some less. That's dedicated time; I've always looked at the readings ahead of time, thought about themes, it'll be in my mind as I pray and listen to people in my congregation, and different things will develop and come together in my head before I sit down to get it all into a document.

I don't think there's one right answer to this; the reality is going to be shaped by so many other factors.

Totally agree with you sometimes Holy spirit just pour out ideas of many sermons in a single day and you have to drop down all the points and elaborate them to create multiple sermons or sermon-series

I think 3 'I' pattern sermon can help.

Inspirational :

3 words 2 ways1 bring home message

e.g a satisfied ,secular ,social life is way to Hell ;while a suffering ,a sacrificed , a separated life is way to Heaven

Informational :

(very few this type of sermon in the church this day )

e.g. differences between Catholics , denominations ,LDS...; history of early church ; geography and map of Bible ; legends of great believers ...many facts to equit the Christians with knowledge and can form a series sermons in a month time

Irritational:

I think it is very important in having a great impact after hearing the sermon and motivate the audience to take action and repent their sins . Otherwise it may be easy to be satisfied with sugar-coated sermon to avoid confronting the audience.

 

[Paidiske]

Probably the informational sermon is out of fashion because it doesn't actually work from a particular piece of Scripture. When your starting point for any sermon is, "What are the readings for the day, and what do they have to tell us about God, and our relationship with God?" then you're not ever likely to preach a sermon on denominational differences (although you might occasionally touch on how different denominations interpret a particular text differently).

 

[Arcangl86]

I think it is a good idea to "stock" up some sermons in advance.(say 6-12 sermons in case of emergency use )
It may be good to drop down the ideas god gives you in everyday activities, a few words can be expanded to a good sermon.
e.g. from 3 'P 'to 3 'F' ,this is given to me while i was running in the morning.
Don't focus on the Past ,Personal ,Problems but to the Future, Fellow ,Father .
Then search the Bible for the versus .

It will be a good inspirational sermon.

I'm a lectionary preacher. I work from the texts assigned for a day and base my message on that, not the other way around.

 

[johnnywong]

Probably the informational sermon is out of fashion because it doesn't actually work from a particular piece of Scripture. When your starting point for any sermon is, "What are the readings for the day, and what do they have to tell us about God, and our relationship with God?" then you're not ever likely to preach a sermon on denominational differences (although you might occasionally touch on how different denominations interpret a particular text differently).

Yes.

But we can co-relate the history of church with Scripture ,say such as what Jesus said about in the book of Revelation .Christians nowadays need these facts to have a better understanding of the interaction of Bible with this current world and never should be out of fashion. But the preacher has to do a lot of reading and research !

 

[bekkilyn]

Part of my secular background is in teaching, so I've been doing a good bit of informational preaching. I've noticed that there is a lot of biblical illiteracy in general...even the very, very basic stuff. Fortunately, while many United Methodists do use the lectionary, we aren't forced to use it, so even when I do start off with a single lectionary text, it can turn into multiple sermons, especially when writers like Paul or the author of Hebrews, etc. assumes cultural knowledge of his time that we don't have. How many people, for example, could even point out where the city of Ephesus was on the map (or know it was located in modern day Turkey vs. everything being in "Israel" or the generic "Middle East", or may have even heard of it to begin with, despite a book of the bible being called Ephesians?

The author of Hebrews was very likely writing to a Jewish Christian audience, so assumes a lot of familiarity with old testament scriptures, which many people today often don't have.

This past week, I was focusing on Hebrews 4:14-15 about Jesus being our high priest and so went back to the time of Moses and Aaron and how the Israelite high priesthood was formed and what happened on the Day of Atonement (and even what the word "atonement" even means), etc. If people don't have this background, they aren't going to more fully understand what it means for Jesus to be our high priest and how his being our high priest helps us today. In fact, many Methodists don't even really know what a "priest" is because we don't have them (despite the Wesleys having been Anglican priests), and there is a difference, at least historically, between a priest and a pastor, preacher, minister, etc.

Should *all* our sermons be of just one type? Nope, of course not, but I don't think we need to neglect informational teaching, especially in smaller congregations that may not have a formal bible study or Sunday School time.

If people don't even know who Paul was, then they may not care what Paul has to say despite him being some guy "in the bible".

 

[Paidiske]

Yes; that's the sort of thing I try to tackle in Bible study groups. Of course, not everyone comes. But on the whole I don't do a lot of informational preaching; a paragraph or two here or there slipped into a sermon, generally.

 

[bekkilyn]

Yes; that's the sort of thing I try to tackle in Bible study groups. Of course, not everyone comes. But on the whole I don't do a lot of informational preaching; a paragraph or two here or there slipped into a sermon, generally.

Are Anglican priests obligated to use the lectionary each week, or does it depend on the parish what is traditionally used?

 

[Paidiske]

I think, if we were being absolutely strict about the rules, we would be obligated to use the lectionary. In practice that is not enforced, at least where I am, and in fact I've just done three weeks where I've tweaked the readings during a stewardship campaign.

But for me not using the lectionary would be the exception - for which there ought to be a very good reason - rather than the rule.

 

[bekkilyn]

I think, if we were being absolutely strict about the rules, we would be obligated to use the lectionary. In practice that is not enforced, at least where I am, and in fact I've just done three weeks where I've tweaked the readings during a stewardship campaign.

But for me not using the lectionary would be the exception - for which there ought to be a very good reason - rather than the rule.

It's interesting how different denominations choose to do things! I'd never even heard of the lectionary until I seriously started down the route of being a pastoral candidate and it was brought to my attention as an option.

 

[Paidiske]

Did Methodists historically use the lectionary? Having come out of a tradition which did?

 

[JackRT]

I have delivered perhaps six sermons in my life. They have been more informational than inspirational. Each one took 6 to 8 months.