Fascinating bit of news from the academics at Durham University. According to the BBC they have unearthed radically different ideas about sermons following some research:
Nearly 100% of churchgoers "look forward" to sermons but only 17% think preaching changes the way they live, according to a survey.
Researchers at Durham University found 60% of churchgoers felt sermons gave them a sense of God's love.
Evangelical Christians looked forward most to sermons, with Roman Catholics wanting to be educated, Baptists converted and Anglicans entertained.
But different dominations disagreed on the ideal length of a sermon.
Many Anglicans wanted a sermon to last less than 10 minutes - although up to 20 minutes was fine if there was no "waffle" - while Baptists were happy to sit through at least 75 minutes. Catholics wanted their homilies to be completed within 10 minutes.
Baptists and Catholics were more enthusiastic about the Bible being mentioned in sermons than Anglicans and Methodists.
Sadly Methodists only get a walk in part in the BBC story. I'm surprised we are seen as being less enthusiastic "about the Bible being mentioned in sermons". Is it possible to give a "sermon" without mentioning the Bible? I'm quite astonished at that line.
One other aspect of this story that makes me think is the nuance of surprise in the BBC's treatment that churchgoers actually look forward to sermons. Isn't that an essential part of our worship? It is a core activity. Why shouldn't we look forward to sermons. Where have these people been.
I always look forward to sermons....well sort of....except when I'm giving them....and when **** ****** preaches.....then I try to work out how many different numbers are represented on the hymm board....I got 8 6s one week.....sorry, I digress.
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3 comments:
I have always liked listening to sermons. I agree with the "no waffle" comment. If there is no waffle, I'm happy to listen to a sermon of any length but I'll admit to skepticism that someone could preach weekly for 75 minutes every week and not be waffling. I agree too that I don't see how a person can preach without mentioning the bible. When people say stuff like this, I wonder if they mean that they don't want a 15-minute exegesis on the "real meaning" of this or that word in Greek.
I've blogged a bit about the CODEC report and some of the figures behind it. The Methodists only get a walk on part in the BBC - good job because the figures are not good for the Methodist responses...but it was only a PILOT study. See http://postmodernbible.blogs.com
Pete
Thanks Peter, I followed the link to your blog and thence onto the Church Times article. It seemed a fairly small sample - 193 respondents across 16 churches - and my sociology training from 40 years ago makes me think that statistically the results while possibly valid, may have been seriously "skewed".
The comment:
"Overall, 55 per cent said that their knowledge of Jesus was frequently improved by sermons, although the figure was far higher among Baptists (79 per cent) than Methodists (20 per cent)" Could sadly be true of the ministry of some Methodist churches. I've heard some very off sermons in my time especially when we've had students from the local theological college in Edgbaston!
However, if you know Mr Johns let him know that this sort of research is very helpful. I think we need more of it, if only to show where we might be going wrong and where - hopefully - we are going right!
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