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How Long Should I Preach?

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This week’s Church Leader Insights has a focus on preaching.

Preaching is a core element of every church’s worship and upskilling this element of your ministry is vital for pastors.

These posts will help and encourage.

How Long Should I Preach?

I find many pastors, especially younger ones, are regularly wrestling with this question.  The pressure to answer can be self-imposed, or forced by those in your church who complain your sermons are too long.  The problem is there does not seem to be one right answer.

The answer to this question largely depends on the kind of pastor you are, the quality of preacher you are, and the kind of congregation you serve.  In light of this, here are 3 principles that might help you answer this question in your particular context.

A pastor should determine the length of a sermon…

1) Based on where your people are, not where you think they should be.

We should always challenge our folks to grow.  Yet, I hear of many pastors preaching sermons at a length they know is overwhelming the majority of their congregation.  The reason…to push their people to be able to listen to God’s Word for the amount of time the pastor thinks they should be able to listen.

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15 Things Young Preachers Need To Know About Seniors

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This week’s Church Leader Insights has some excellent thoughts for preachers. Plus there’s a superb article from Akos Balogh, one of my favourite Australian bloggers.

Check him out. He’s intelligent, kind and he will get you thinking.

15 Things Young Preachers Need To Know About Seniors

“They will still bear fruit in old age. They will be full of sap and very green…” (Psalm 92:14).

All generalizations are false. Including this one.

Every rule has its exceptions. Including this one.

Even so, I’m going to make some general statements about seniors.  Readers will think of exceptions. But by and large, these statements have been found to be solid and trustworthy throughout long years of ministry.

One: Seniors are not against change; but they dislike abrupt change.

There are no 1948 Packards in your church parking lot.  No 1952 DeSotos.  But the seniors driving those Camrys and Corollas did not one day trade in that Packard for the Toyota. There were a series of incremental steps in between–like, first buying a 1955 Fairlane, then a 1962 Chevelle, followed by a 1972 Bonneville, and so forth.

I quote Rick Warren who said, “Do not use the word ‘change.’ Say ‘experiment.’  Because if this doesn’t work out, we’ll try something else.”

Two: Seniors are not against innovations in the worship service; but they dislike overdoing it.

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10 Essentials That Show You How To Preach The Book of Revelation

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There’s beast in there.

And a dragon.

A woman who sits on seven hills.

And a guy riding a white horse with a sword coming out of this mouth.

OK we’re getting into some strange stuff here. And it’s all from the book of Revelation.

Last year I preached a two part series on the last book of the Bible at our home church and am doing the same series at C3 Church Joondalup in April.

Now not many people call Revelation their favourite book of the Bible

Most people love Psalms. Philippians rates pretty high because it has so many famous verses and who doesn’t love John?

However, Revelation is difficult to love primarily because it’s difficult to understand and we generally find it hard to love things (and people) we don’t understand.

My First Foray Into Preaching Revelation

Nearly twenty years ago I preached an 8 week series on Revelation. Then a few years ago I took our young adults on a journey through Revelation over the course of a year.

Now while it’s not my favourite Bile book (it used to be Hebrews but Acts is up there now) it fascinates me.

I love showing people how to interpret the book of Revelation and even more importantly how to understand it.

How To Preach The Book of Revelation

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14 Reasons Why Pastors Avoid Preaching About Money

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The atmosphere was colder than an arctic winter.

Palpable hostility was written all over some faces.

Yes that’s right.

I was preaching about money.

It was the first series I’d ever done on the ‘forbidden’ topic.

I know that preaching about money is one of the topics that pastors avoid and even hate.

Here’s 14 reasons why pastors really don’t like addressing this topic.

1. Fear of Failure

Money is one of the two topics pastors prefer to avoid. The other one? Sex.

The money territory is peppered with landmines which are hard to avoid.

When pastors get on this high wire they know that there’s a high risk of failure.

They could say the wrong thing, sound the wrong note, look the wrong way or drop the ball because of nerves and the (occasional) hostile face.

2 They Don’t Want To Be That Guy

That guy is a prosperity preacher.

That guy is a pastor who always prattles on about money.

That guy is the pastor who seemingly fulfils the proverb “the church is only after your money”

And no pastor wants those labels.

My Recommended Preaching Resources For Pastors

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Occasionally I think back to my first preaching experiences as an immature, just saved 19 year old.

I went to Bible College 5 months after coming to Christ.

It was a live in, intensive 4 month course and every weekend we were sent to afflict, sorry bless, churches with our singing, testimonies and preaching.

I hate to think about the suffering I inflicted on those poor people who had innocently turned up to church expecting to hear something substantial from the word of God.

I was all heat and not much light.

Today, I’m a much better preacher and my improvement owes itself to a number of things including some excellent resources I’ve accumulated over the years.

Preaching Resources For Pastors