Is worship a consumable?
My preaching professor, Dr. Joey Jeter, often reminded students that you should speak as long as you need to say a good word, but remember that people usually tuneout after twenty minutes.1 I know some 12-15 minute preachers. I know some 25-35 minute preachers. Dr. Jeter adapted to the typical time slot provided for the preaching or a keynote at an event. One congregation I visit every now and then have had words in their bulletin noting the worship service usually lasts 75 minutes.
It’s interesting to hear a person say that a concert they went to was a religious experience. I can relate. Some branches of Christianity have taken that sentiment and applied it to their worship service by creating a concernt-ish experience. For some, this is an onramp for Christianity and community we call “church.” Worship is, has been, an experience. Now, it is one of many marketed experiences. Maybe it’s always been that way.
Just the right length
Pop songs are 200 seconds long because the mechanical properties of 78 and 45 rpm records can deliver one song with decent fidelity of that length. They can’t handle ten minutes, and one minute is too short to charge for.
The number of books carried by a local bookstore was the right amount to balance paying the rent and satisfying most customers. And the number of books published reflected the fact that the only way to get a new book in was for the store to take one out.
Movies are long enough to justify buying a ticket, but not so long that the theater can’t have multiple showings.
Books are around 350 pages because pamphlets are too hard to sell and books that are too long are hard to bind and manipulate.
Sitcoms are half an hour long because two sitcoms an hour maximizes the possible audience more than extending one to double the length might.
The newspaper is the length it often is because the editors are balancing the time each subscriber can spend with it against the publisher’s desire to sell the most profitable number of ads. “All the news that fits.”
When technology changes the media, when distribution and consumption shift, the definition of just the right length shifts as well. Podcasts changed the length of interviews, Linkedin changed the length of a resume and YouTube changed the length of funny videos… the cycle continues.2
- That was advice offered in 1990 when researchers were beginning to note the shrinking attention span. Dr. Jeter also offered that preaching isn’t supposed to be entertaining, but it doesn’t hurt to tell a good story, have a compelling metaphor, and believe you have something important to say even if you are not sure you do. ↩︎
- Seth Godin, May 28, 2025. https://seths.blog/2025/05/just-the-right-length/ ↩︎