T. G. Drummond
A few months ago I heard of a certain young gentleman, we shall call him “Sam”, who has advocated for 8 minute sermons in church, because that is the average attention span of Americans today.[1] I have not heard Sam’s arguments personally, but I imagine they go along the lines of this: the average American attention span is 8 minutes (or less), therefore any part of a sermon that goes beyond 8 minutes will fall on inattentive ears and be useless, so why even preach it? It will do no good and might do much harm in frustrating the congregation by making them sit on uncomfortable pews for longer than they can pay attention to, and will ultimately turn people away from the church.
I find this unconvincing for numerous reasons.
The Bible presents preaching as an incredibly serious business. In 2 Timothy 4:1-2 Paul charges Timothy on the basis of God, Jesus Christ as judge, His incarnation/second coming, and His kingdom to do one thing: “preach the word.” One would be hard pressed to find a more serious charge in all of Scripture. One can find an example of a full-length biblical sermon in the book of Hebrews. The author of Hebrews describes his book as a “word of exhortation” (τοῦ λόγου τῆς παρακλήσεως), a phrase which is used in Acts 13:15 for Paul’s sermon in the synagogue in Antioch of Pisidia. This suggests strongly that the book of Hebrews is a written sermon.[2] The whole book of Hebrews can be read out loud in about 30-45 minutes, and the author even says “I have written to you briefly” (Hebrews 13:22)! According to the young gentleman, if a pastor preached a sermon of the same length as the author of Hebrews did, it would be 5 times to long. This is not the only example of a “long” sermon in the Bible, in Acts 20:7-17, Paul taught for until midnight on the Lord’s Day, so long that a man, Eutychus, fell asleep and fell from the window and died. Most likely they did not gather until the evening when they were free from their labors, but even if they had waited until the late time of 9 or 10pm (well past sunset), Paul’s speech lasted 2-3 hours, at least 15 times to long according to Sam. Another example of the people of God gathered together to hear the Word of God comes from Nehemiah 8:1-3,
And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.[3]
The people of God took the preaching of the Word of God seriously, and so should we, if we are indeed part of the people of God. If we show that we do not take it seriously by relegating its preaching to such a short amount of time how can we entreat the unconverted to take its claims seriously? They will see the hypocrisy in our actions and dismiss our pleadings without a second thought.
“But,” Sam might object, “The audiences of the Biblical authors had longer attention spans, so they could speak for longer.” To which I answer: so what? Is the worship of the church to be governed by the destructive whims of culture? Suppose we continue on the trend of decreasing attention spans and the average attention span shortens to 1 minute, or 30 seconds, should the preaching also be limited to that short amount of time, barely enough time to read a few fortune cookie length statements from the Word of God? I hope that no one would agree to that, but it illustrates the ridiculous nature of letting the attention span of the audience dictate the length of the sermon. The problem is not that sermons are too long, but that our attention spans are too short, probably due to the effect of electronic and digital media on our brains. Media ecologist Maggie Jackson[4] argues that digital media erodes our executive attention[5] and encourages alerting attention.[6] Another media ecologist, Neil Postman, noted in 1985 that the average length of a camera shot on TV is 3.5 seconds, which trains the TV-watching brain to always be looking for something new, something exciting.[7] The digital era has only shortened that time span and amplified its effects. Less than 150 years ago Americans listened to debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas which could last up to 7 hours, even the shorter debates would begin with hour long opening statements by each side, followed by half hour long rebuttals.[8] What percentage of Americans today could listen, much less follow, debates such as those? Perhaps more attention should be given to fixing the problem (short attention spans) rather than catering to it.
Imagine if college professors took the approach advocated by Sam. If lectures were shortened to accommodate the shrinking attention span, would students learn better than they had with 1-1.5 hour lectures? To ask the question is to answer it. Let us take an example from musical education. To shorten lectures to 8 minutes would banish the serious study of classical music from all places where the short lecture is adopted. Can any serious study be made of Beethoven’s 9th symphony if one cannot even listen to 3 of the 4 individual movements in 8 minutes, let alone the entire symphony? Or Dvorak’s “New World Symphony,” where the first movement alone takes 12 minutes? If not enough time is even given to listen to the music there is surely not enough time to both listen to it and teach it. However, Sam might object, “of course lectures ought not to cater to the short attention spans, education is meant to stretch us and our learning capacities, how else could we learn?” The point is well taken, how much more is that true of sermons? The preaching of the Word of God deals with more serious matter than any academic lecture on any topic, in a matter where eternal souls are at stake it is dangerous beyond measure to skimp on the means of saving them.
Furthermore, the shortening of sermons to 8 minutes limits artificially limits the size of text from which a pastor can preach. For example, Ephesians 1:3-14 is one sentence in the Greek and should be treated all together. Such a text deserves multiple hour-long sermons in order to preach it well, something which would be impossible to do with 8 minute sermons. Not only do short sermons limit the size of the text from which a pastor can preach, but it also limits the type of texts from which a pastor can preach. For example, it would probably take at least 8 minutes for a pastor to correct popular misunderstandings of John 3:16, specifically the word οὕτως (translated “so” in ESV), let alone also exegete the passage in its context with John’s allusions to Numbers 21 beforehand and its hard statements afterward, and then apply the text to his congregation.
I can think of a few explanations as to why Sam might advocate for such short sermons. First, perhaps Sam spends so much time apart from Sunday mornings studying the Scriptures in depth, reading commentaries, studying the original languages, and trying to gain a deeper understanding of the truth. If that is the case then Sam might feel as if he were not benefiting from his pastors sermons would wish them to be shorter to save his valuable time. Second, Sam might attend a church with a bad pastor. Sadly, many pastors are under equipped to preach the Word of God, and hence do a poor job of it. If that is the case then Sam might just wish his pastor would stop rambling on for so long and save him time. Third, Sam might be unconverted and therefore hardened against the Word of God and not accepting spiritual things. In that case it is only natural for him to want shorter sermons because they tell him that he is a sinful wretch and cannot save himself.
I will end with some questions for Sam and all who think in the same manner. Search your heart to see if it is truly out of a concern for the glory of God and the wellbeing of the church (defined by God’s standards, not by human ones) that you wish for shorter sermons. Ask yourself these questions:
- Is my desire for shorter sermons motivated by a love for my brothers and sisters in Christ, which testifies to my having been reborn?
- Is my desire motivated by the desire to see Christ glorified more in His people, and them conformed more to His image?
- Does my desire stem from my selfishness, not wanting to give more than a small amount of my time to the Word of God?
- Is my desire for shorter sermons motivated by a laziness on my part, because long sermons are hard and demanding?
- Do I truly love the Bible and seek to understand it and submit my life to its teaching?
- Do I want apply the same pattern of compromise that I desire in sermons to my personal holiness?
Depending on your answers to those questions, you might need think deeply if you actually have placed your faith in Jesus as the only way of salvation and submitted to Him as Lord over every aspect of your life.
[1] Throughout this essay I will use “8 minutes” as that was the time given by Sam. I realize that others may not argue for such an extreme position, instead arguing for 10, 15, or 20 minute sermons; much of what I say will also apply to them, but to a slightly lesser degree.
[2] On this point, see Bruce, F. F. The Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990, pg. 389; and Guthrie, George H. The NIV Application Commentary: Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998, pg. 443.
[3] Emphasis added.
[4] Jackson, Maggie, and Bill McKibben. Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age. Prometheus Books, 2008.
[5] The type of attention necessary for extended contemplation on a singular subject to the exclusion of all else, the kind of attention by which we various options/arguments in our minds and come to thoughtful conclusions/decisions. Executive attention is necessary for deep thinking and rational judgment.
[6] The type of attention which alerts us to something new in our environment. Alerting attention is necessary for noticing changes and reacting quickly to them, such attention is extremely important in hunter gather cultures where a small change might just be the thing that kills you if you do not notice it.
[7] Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death. New York: Penguin Books, 1986, pg. 86.
[8] Op. cit., pg. 44-45.
Servant of the Sovereign 