9 in 10 Evangelicals Don’t Think Sermons Are Too Long

Author - Umn ministry

January 15, 2022

Even with recent divides in congregations, survey finds high levels of satisfaction among churchgoers.

At a time when pastors feel particularly under pressure, here’s some good news from the pews: Evangelical churchgoers are pretty happy with how things are going at their churches.

Most don’t think the sermons are too long; if anything, they’d like to see more in-depth teaching from leaders. They aren’t bothered by too many messages about giving. They don’t think social issues and politics play an outsized role in the teaching.

That’s according to a new survey of evangelical churchgoers in the US, the Congregational Scorecard conducted by Grey Matter Research and Consulting and Infinity Concepts.

Around three-quarters are satisfied with their congregation approach to various areas of church life and wouldn’t want it to change, the survey found.

Among the findings:

85 percent are satisfied with the length of their sermons and how long the service runs.
88 percent are happy with how often the church asks for tithes and donations.
74 percent like the style of the service, while the remainder are split between some preferring more traditional and some preferring more contemporary.

“By and large, churches are doing a pretty good job of giving evangelicals what they want to experience,” the researchers concluded. The survey focused on evangelicals by belief who attend worship services at least occasionally.

Those who don’t think sermons are the right length are just as likely to say they want them longer as they are to want them shorter.

A 2019 Pew Research Center analysis found that average evangelical sermon is 39 minutes long, while sermons in historically Black churches tend to be longer, around 54 minutes. There’s no single answer for the ideal sermon length, but Mark ...