There have been some articles circulating round the internet recently about the time it takes to prepare a sermon. Some well-known preachers have opened the door into their study a little and allowed a little peek in. Fascinating, but I'm not sure all that helpful. Most of those interviewed are not in what I would call a normal church. They are pastors of churches, sure. I grant that. But whether it's a mega multi-campus church or as leader of a huge staff, that's not the situation most of us find ourselves in. 

Most of are preparing 2 or maybe more sermons per week. We're planning a mid week Bible study perhaps. We're spending time with people and have to fit in some extra prep for a funeral sermon unexpectedly. Some of us will have others to call upon to share that load. Most will not. That's real church for most of us. Even if we wanted a large staff team, it's out of our league financially and the church cannot sustain it.

In this setting, hearing that someone spends 25 hours on a sermon is not – to my mind – particularly helpful. Particularly if that's studying and preparing time, not counting prayer. It's not a ministry model that's sustainable for most of us in regular church ministry. And thinking it is, is immensely damaging. Dangerous in the long term. It's the same mindset that has us still tweaking a sermon at 2am on a Sunday morning.

Here's my news. Preaching is a spiritual task. There's a practical element to it, one we're very concerned with here at PT. We need to rightly divide the word of truth. But we are not producing finely honed and crafted masterpieces where every word, comma and construction would have to pass muster at a mega conference. Our people know us. We know them. Our preaching needs to reflect that relationship (where give and take exists) and acknowledge that preaching is supernatural. 

What does that mean, practically? Most obviously we would talk about the place of prayer. Indeed. But it also means that late nights crafting sermons to the nth degree, getting that heading just right by working over it again and again, is misplaced priority. I can always do that to a sermon if I wanted. But we need to bed promptly on a Saturday night and sleep soundly, confident that the effectiveness of the sermon is not down to the cleverness of a particular heading, but the work of a sovereign God.

Please don't mishear me. I'm not making a case for laziness or cutting corners. God forgive! Rather, I am saying that if we truly understand the nature of preaching we will be able to sleep soundly, knowing that crafting to the nth degree is not what we are called to do.