A few years ago the Church at Rock Creek sent an attractive brochure into 85,000 central Arkansas homes advertising their new “fast-paced” 30-minute worship service called RC:30.  Fast worship is the consumer approach to the excuse that many people just don’t have time for church.  The service is divided up with 15 minutes of preaching, along with contemporary praise, prayer and an offering squeezed into half an hour.
            Reviews from area preachers and “pastors” were predictably pro and con.  Some saw it as “counterproductive,” while others felt that it would catch on across the nation.  I don’t know if such a prediction came true except in the expectations of many still today.
            Where does gospel preaching fit into the human fascination for brevity? Of course the length of a sermon is subjective and nowhere dictated by Scripture.  People have their druthers, and most prefer it to be like a shot in the arm – quick and painless.  The Lord is not timing his preachers in their proclamations, but he is gauging them (2 Tim. 4:2).
            It takes a great deal more study and discipline to make a sermon more immortal than eternal.  Brother Guy N. Woods typically kept his sermons to 25 minutes. He had learned under the tutelage of N. B. Hardeman that if one could not strike oil in 25-30 minutes he either had a dry hole or a dull bit!
            The Sermon on the Mount is considered the greatest sermon ever preached. You can read it in under 10 minutes. How long did it take Jesus to preach it? We don’t know. If he spoke at an average pace it might have lasted 15 minutes. Even if we consider the possibility that every word of his discourse might not have been recorded is it safe to imply that Jesus was considerate of people’s time and attention spans? If a preacher holds forth for 40 minutes, 15 minutes of which could easily be edited, he has wasted that much of peoples time.
            It isn’t as though I have not given some thought to pulpit brevity. Brother Woods’ example lingers in my mind, not so much as a rule, as it is thought provoking. For what its worth I have labored to keep my sermons on the shorter side. Whether or not it has been noticed is okay with me.
            In the spirit of a contemporary church’s plan, as mentioned at the beginning of this article, let’s give some thought to the art of the 15-minute sermon. If a microwaved sermon is what is required, just what might that require? Here are a few thoughts:

  1. Leave off old fashioned “book, chapter and verse” preaching. You might be perceived as boring and irrelevant.
  2. Dispense with heart-felt appeals for lost souls to obey the gospel (Rom. 6:17). People will be too busy checking their watches to care.
  3. Keep it light and airy; don’t get any heavier than current psychology might demand. People do not want heavy doses of Bible doctrine. Confine you appeals to inner needs and practical concerns.
  4. Eliminate practical application from scripture that might fit people’s lives. That would require a few minutes.
  5. Don’t think in terms of actually preaching. Rather, give place to small snippets, practical tidbits, and engaging messages.
  6. Never condemn sin. There is too much of that with which to deal.