This is one of those unanswerable questions: How short can a sermon be and still be a good sermon?
Tonight, I “gave the message” at a Lenten evening service. After an issue last year with a speaker who went on for 40+ minutes, the instructions were sent out – keep it 5-10 minutes.
Since the service is followed by finger food, cookies, and other goodies, the congregation is ready to go.
My message was brief. I did not time it, but it was certainly much closer to 5 minutes than 10. It was a sermon on the phrase “our citizenship is in heaven” from Philippians 3. It felt complete to me, but certainly could have been expanded or more developed in phases.
After the Lenten service I heard various reactions. Some praised the brevity for getting the point clearly across and then letting it be. Others said – or suggested – it was incomplete or more needed to be said.
Since you were not there – and I did not record it – you can’t chime in on that, but I am curious about a related question.
What is the shortest good sermon you have every heard or delivered? How long does a sermon have to be to do its job well?
I am a part-time local pastor serving 
The doctrine of original sin is surely more humbling to man than the opposite: And I know not what honour we can pay to God, if we think man came out of His hands in the condition wherein he is now.
I think the shortest sermon I’ve ever delivered was probably about 8 minutes. That’s about standard for Anglican services in the UK and it’s the length I preached when I preached at our united Anglican/Methodist congregation.
I found these 8 minute sermons often more difficult to prepare than 20 minute sermons for the very fact of needing to get to the point. If you actually communicated a point that people “got”, perhaps there is nothing at all wrong with leaving more needing to be said; that may give more room for the Holy Spirit.
I’m pretty sure I was too short. It was one of those cases of it feeling much more meaty on paper than in the delivery. (Here is the problem with not preparing a full manuscript, too. It is easier to fool yourself on that point with an outline.)
But it did get me thinking about sermon length. Short as it was, I still had several laity who felt it was just right. Now, that may be a bad sign about their tolerance for sermons, but it got me thinking about how much we need to say to really do our task.
I’d say just trust your own instincts and chalk it up to a learning experience.
I do think that a short sermon with one point that leaves people thinking can be A Good Thing. However, I *do* think it’s a difficult task and I do believe that the shorter the sermon, the more difficult it will be to prepare.
Reading between the lines here, it sounds like you think you probably needed more preparation?
We’re all unique in how we preach, but I *do* type out a full manuscript for my sermon (it may be easier for me because I have a semi-photographic memory and once the sermon is finalized, I know where everything is.) But then I practice it at least three times and just “speak the contents”. I preached yesterday and, by the time I looked down at my notebook, I had to turn two pages. But I really need that full transcript for my own preparation.
I don’t know you but I get the feeling that, like me, you are a preacher because you are a writer? The full transcript may help.
All your conclusions here are right on.
The best advice I’ve ever heard about a sermon is this: have a good beginning and a good ending… and keep them as close together as possible.
My brother-in-law’s advice about preaching is: “Stand up, speak up, shut up”.
He has a large collection of one-liners like that. I think he should have been a stand-up comedian, myself.
Generally I would say the circumstances and context really determine what is appropriate. A Lenten evening service on a weeknight with refreshments to follow, a short reflection or meditation is probably spot-on, but inappropriate for a Sunday morning service even in the same congregation. An 8 minute average in England can be just right there, but would obviously be an abysmal failure in Dallas, Texas or China or Africa – the contexts are just so different. Serving here in Indiana, we tend to split the difference for a normal Sunday morning, with about a 17 – 20 minute message working out pretty well (although I know some UM congregations here in Indiana that have been cultivated to expect a 35 minute message because they have had some really good preachers who could hold their attention for that long).
I realize I didn’t really answer the question – I preached a reasonably effective sermon in 10 minutes one Sunday when we really fell behind and still had communion to observe. However, I don’t feel that could be sustained weekly.
One other thing about context – the denominational culture may have alot of influence in this as well – I have yet to attend a Catholic Mass anywhere in the world in which the homily was longer than about 10 minutes, and some were shorter. On the other hand, I have never been to a Pentecostal service in which the sermon was less than 20 minutes.