Issue 08 Preaching and ComedyBlog | Funny you should say that
Funny you should say that
Author: Andy PeckPost Date: 13.09.16
Ahead of Preach and London School of Theology’s ‘Sermon of the Year’ competition, a piece of research came out about what the average congregation wants from the preaching slot at church.
Lots of media outlets picked up on the story, and Preach asked if I’d be happy to have a look at the research and speak to some of the popular press about what I thought of it. The research took me by surprise, to be honest. It was a poll of around 1,400 churchgoers who overwhelmingly expressed a preference for longer and meatier sermons. It seemed to suggest congregations want around 20 minutes of preaching, and encouraged preachers to not skimp on the theology and tread carefully with jokes and anecdotes. This is not good news for me. I’ll confess I sometimes pay more attention to the humour of my anecdote than the strength of my exegesis and I never preach over ten minutes, ever. Admittedly this often has more to do with having to rush off to another service than compassion
