I experienced university chapel where the speakers had 10 minutes and still were not engaging, relevant, or concise. It is not taught in evangelical seminaries.

That wasn’t meant to be a reply to Shannon. It was supposed to be a new comment. Sorry.

Do you think there’s something worth reflecting on in the fact this is one of your most commented on posts? Sounds like you got some pretty heated responses in your other platforms too? I’ve only had a quick look through your other posts in this forum and this article already scored almost twice the responses of the others I’ve seen? I’d be keen to hear your thoughts.

I loved your statement from your post about the table sermons “For a start, any teaching that occurs at a table church should happen in the context of myriad ongoing gospel conversations within the congregation throughout the week. Teachers should not only teach at the church meeting, but be involved in relationships where conversations about the gospel are central all week long.”

I was quite stirred up by your “the Shaping of things to come” and “keep Christianity weird” – I gave this to a colleague who found God and loves Him but can’t cope with church culture and he found the book releived this uncomfortable tension for him and opened his mind to church possibly being different to what he was seeing. He followed me to the car after work with a long list of questions once he’d read the book. He’s never done that before. That was a blessing to be part of that. Thank you.

You talk in your books about consumerism in the church context. What do we need to be careful of in this conversation in that regard? A 10 minute sermon because people prefer it sounds like bending to consumerist mentality? You did say “I think the homily can only work if the necessary supporting learning materials are made available to congregations, and accessed by them.” But is there more?

By divine chance, the Protestant service’s focus on the sermon as opposed to the Eucharist in Catholicism was one of the main topics of conversation with my boys this morning (16 and 15 years old) and God seems to have brought me to this post tonight for a reason.

Thanks Mike.

Mike S- So, when you talk about “ego” and telling a minister to shorten “his” sermon, are you insinuating that men have larger egos than ladies? 😉 And, are you saying lady ministers would be more flexible with and not find their identity in the length of their sermon? 😉
Or, are you one of those people that believes only guys can/should preach?
Just looking for clarification. 😉

It’s become common form to communicate with an opening monolog, guests to chat with, photos and short videos, a musical guest. Makes sense to me.

There is one ego behind the pulpit, that is true. I struggle with it every day. But just as true is that looking back at me are many many more. May God continue to shape His church so that it better reflects His glory…

I’ve had a mixed response on my socials about it. To be clear, I’m not *telling* ministers exactly how many minutes they should preach (one was infuriated that I was “mandating” the length of his sermons, as if I could). I’m simply asking the question, based on the feedback I’ve heard, as to whether people will want to go back to 40 minute monologues when they’ve quite enjoyed 10-15 minute talks with opportunity for reflection and discussion.