We’ve probably all seen the Twitter polls, Facebook threads, and Instagram chats about the age-old question – what is the perfect length for a sermon?
For some people, there’s nothing better than sitting through a 30-minute exegetical preach, notebook and Bible at the ready. For others, if it goes into double figures, it’s too many minutes! And arguably there isn’t much help from the Bible. On the one hand, we read in Acts 20 that Paul preached for so long that one of the listeners fell asleep, fell out of a window and died (the worst that has happened to me is a fellow snoring loudly at the back, but he stayed very much alive!). On the other hand, we read of Jesus at times preaching sermons that seem short and snappy.
I reckon it’s all about context, where and how we do our preaching. In my ministry, as well as the usual 25-minute Sunday preaching, I also use TikTok to preach in two ways. The first way is by ‘Going Live’ every Sunday at 8.30pm for TikTok Church, and the second is by uploading video clips of one-minute (or shorter!) sermons. This very different context requires me to try to be three things, I think: concise, cutting-edge, and controversial. And I must be right, because I’ve got three points beginning with the same letter.
Concise
The most popular videos on TikTok are the shortest. You can record up to three minutes but the shorter, the better. Most of the trending sounds and effects are best with a shorter duration, too, but more on these below.
