Saturday, July 02, 2005

Sermons That Are Too Long


Quick definition:
"Sermon That is Too Long" - One that is not working.

Sermons that are meeting needs, biblically accurate, passionate, engaging and well delivered are never too long.* But even really short sermons that don't do those things are always too long.

This is my summary definition from a variety of conversations I've had over the past few months, and my own observation of preachers and sermons. Especially me and mine. It's from the perspective of the people listening, or not listening, as the case may be.

Don't get all righteous on me. You know it's true... Leave Jeremiah out of this. :)

By the way, Tony Morgan has an interesting take on sermons here.

* This is a general observation not to be taken to the extreme. Yes, even a good sermon can be too long - but then again, it isn't really meeting needs if people are thinking about the fact that they've been sitting for too long, or they need to go to the bathroom. If you're preaching for over an hour in the United States in the 21st century, it had better be pretty flippin' incredible stuff, Napoleon!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

We always say, "That sermon was flowery. Too Blooming long!"

Johnny Leckie said...

LOL.

:-D