How much time devoted to the sermon?
At one end of the scale, I've seen 10 minute sermons where there might be one or two key points of reflection. On the other, I have heard 45 minute deep dives into a topic or passage with three or four key points and explanations and defenses of each point. And of course, have heard pastors speak for anywhere and everywhere between 10 to 45 minutes.How does one decide how much emphasis (in terms of tangible percentage of minutes) to place of the ministry of the word in communal Sunday gatherings?
What about the content of the sermon?
Some teaching pastors preach through the Gospel of John (or some other book in the Bible) and they do so for however many weeks or months are needed to cover the text they are teaching from.There are pastors who teach through a series of sermons lasting anywhere from 4 to 12 weeks. In the case of a shorter book of the Bible, they can preach the entire book. For instance, Paul's letter to the Philippians is just four chapters. A sermon series can touch upon every verse in every chapter of that book. But in the situation where the book is much longer, they may hit highlights of that book. If you were planning to preach the Book of Acts, which parts of the 28 chapters would you preach on if you do not plan to preach through every chapter?
In some churches, the pastor will teach topically. I'm sure we have all had the experience of seeing the church bulletin that contains a three or four point outline and under each point is two or three verses pertaining to the point thus yielding a topical sermon. I think Rick Warren is a well known example of this kind of preaching.
There are some churches, usually of the more liturgical variety, a lectionary guides the preaching schedule. For instance, the Revised Common Lectionary has a cycle of readings set over a three-year period. Supporters of this approach say that this allows the community to be exposed to a wider swath of God's wisdom found in the Bible because that is the intent of the lectionary. If the pastor can pick and choose the passages for preaching, they might gravitate toward favorite passages or favorite portions of the Bible and miss out on gems in lesser known or less popular parts of the Bible.
In the few times I've visited a Catholic mass, the readings in the service follow the lectionary but the sermon always seems to be drawn upon the Gospel reading. I suppose this could be due to the fact that the sermon leads into the administration of the Lord's supper, the culmination of the mass.
Lastly, I have encountered some churches where the pastor prays for a message for the upcoming Sunday. Thus, the message could be a text exposition or it could be a topic explanation or some combination of the two. And week-to-week, the text or topic will be different and unrelated.
The merit of the "pray for a message" approach is that when Paul and the other apostles wrote their epistles they were addressing a "problem" in the churches they were ministering to. They responded to the Spirit's inspiration to write to them something that will help them re-orient themselves to God's ways in light of their need or problem.
On the other hand, I have noticed the "preach to the need" approach can become "limiting" because of the experiences and personality of the preacher. A carpenter will always see nails to be hammered. A firefighter will see fires to be put out. A surgeon will see somebody to open up and operate upon. And so whatever background a pastor has, he/she might wind up preaching toward their "strengths" to the neglect of other matters?
Anyway, all of this to wonder aloud, if you are a preaching pastor and you happen on this blog post, how do you approach your preaching? What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of the approach you take?
May God bless the feet and words of those who proclaim Good News to the flock entrusted into your care and feeding!
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