Another Obstacle to Creating Community in the Local Church—Time Constraints

This week let’s move on to another common obstacle to community in the local church—time constraints. Some cultures are not very time conscious; America is not one of those. We Americans put great emphasis on time. Most everyone carries some type of time tracker, whether it be a watch or phone. Our homes are full of electronics that tell us the time. In our kitchens alone, there may be three to four digital clocks. It is a very rare individual that has no idea what time it is or can’t find out within seconds. 

So, church leaders are mindful of time on Sunday mornings, as are the people participating in their church services. As I wrote several weeks ago, most people coming to a worship service won’t tolerate it going over 90 minutes. And often a service can’t go that long because there is another one scheduled that has a specific starting time.

With having no more than 90 minutes to work with, leaders must choose how they are going to fill the time. It really comes down to priorities and two that are always included stand out as significant time consumers—worship through music (on average 20-30 minutes) and sermon presentations (30-40 minutes). You don’t have to be a mathematician to conclude that those two priorities take up 70 minutes out of 90. Thus, only 20 minutes are left. Those minutes are typically filled with announcements, offering, Communion, and/or prayer. 

None of these are bad, but if the goal is to create more opportunities for community building around the Word of God and true fellowship, then our priorities have to change. Who determined that a worship service should look like most of them do these days? It seems that it is merely a template that’s followed because it is considered THE template for a worship service.

I want to challenge that approach. It is not proscribed biblically. The elements are proscribed: preaching (II Timothy 4:2), singing (Ephesians 5:19), prayer (I Timothy 2:1), offering (I Corinthians 16:1-3), Communion (I Corinthians 11:17-34), but they are not proscribed in intricate detail. There is much freedom in how they are included. Is there anywhere in Scripture that commands a sermon to be 30-40 minutes long? (We do learn the potential effect of long sermons in Acts 20:7-12!) Is there anywhere in Scripture that sets the amount of time devoted to singing when believers gather? I haven’t been able to find any. Let me know if you have. Yet, in practice, we act as though there is and we can’t deviate from it.

Time constraints are real and leaders must navigate them. However, there is much more freedom than has been presumed. Shorten the sermon to 15 minutes and you have freed up 15-25 minutes to use to encourage community among the people. Reduce the time of singing to 15-20 minutes and another 5-10 minutes are freed up (A worship song doesn’t have to be 8 or more minutes long to be meaningful and powerful). Just by these changes, churches can have an extra 20-35 minutes to appropriate to getting people interacting with one another. There is still preaching and there is still an opportunity to worship the Lord through singing, but there is also now the opportunity to interact with your brothers and sisters as you discuss together applications of the Word that was preached, share testimonies, pray together for one another’s needs, and perhaps take Communion together. Imagine how this might transform your church! 

For this to happen, church leaders will have to be open to changing from the norm. They will have to prioritize interaction over passivity. They will have to acknowledge that a 30-40 minute sermon isn’t necessarily more effective than one of much shorter length in getting people to apply it to their lives, particularly if the shorter one allows for time to discuss its points and applications with others.

Leaders will also have to be willing to risk losing some people because of these changes and creating some temporary turmoil. Many people oppose change because the status quo is comfortable and doesn’t require much of them except entering the church building once a week. A move away from the status quo will cause a reaction. They will cautiously or enthusiastically embrace it, they will stay and incessantly complain about the changes, or they will leave and go to another church that will make them more comfortable. There is no way to make changes and avoid this. This is why leaders must be committed to prioritizing community and application of the Word and be intentional about making the adjustments to help fulfill that.

Next week, I’ll discuss the reason I believe people are content with the status quo in their worship services. Until next time. . .

© Jim Musser 2026