Will the 10 Minute Homily Be the New Normal?
“…. pastors have recognized that it’s challenging to listen to a typical sermon of 20-40 minutes online and they’ve shortened their presentations accordingly. Now some of their parishioners are saying they like it!” - CLeaders
No.
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
I’ve transitioned to Zoom SS meetings since the Pandemic started. I’m thinking of calling them the Covid-19 Lectures… One thing that I’ve noticed is that I’m not tied to the clock nearly as much as I was when I had to stop in time for people to get ready for choir and the regular morning service. My lessons have gone longer, and I’m been in the 50 minute to 1 hr range, whereas before, 45 min was about as long as I could go before people started to leave. Doing SS online has enabled some people to attend who couldn’t normally, because they were involved in nursery or other children SS classes. So, I”ve been picking up people and going longer. I’m not that great of a speaker but I do study hard and try to provide good content. My thought was that I wasn’t going to cheapen what I was doing, just because I wasn’t doing it at church and in person. My class is getting full lessons and the feedback I’ve received has been positive.
Just sayin’. :^)
Seriously, my take is that zoom/WebEx make it far more clear than in-person whether the pastor has organized his thoughts well and practiced. My guess here is that many pastors are learning the hard way that when you cannot look out the windows, you’re far more on the hook for good organization and content.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
Discussion