Charles Stone > How Much Time Should a Pastor Spend on Sermon Prep?

How much time should we pastors spend preparing a sermon?

Recently I watched a video where a famous pastor answered that question. His response, “I study and read all the time and it takes me about one to two hours to put a sermon together.” Yikes! When I heard that I felt guilty because there’s no way I can prepare a sermon that quickly. I’m sure this pastor’s heart was right, but I wish he had qualified himself more. I doubt very many of us are that speedy. Here are some thoughts on sermon prep time.

In Haddon Robinson’s book, Biblical Sermons, he wrote that experienced preachers he surveyed spent an average of 16 hours preparing. That sounds more like it to me. That’s probably my average and I’ve been preaching for 25 years. Thom Rainer has an interesting post here from a survey pastors took.

So, how much time should you spend? It depends.

It depends on…

• how long you’ve been in ministry. If you been in ministry several years, you have a backlog of study material. If you haven’t you will probably need to set aside more study time. I did in my early ministry years.
• how well you’ve catalogued your previous study notes, sermons, and materials.
• how well you manage your time.
• what’s happening around you…sometimes unexpected family and ministry demands arise that require our time that we otherwise would have spent on sermon prep. No need to wallow in guilt when that happens.
• your personality…some pastors have the gift of gab and can ‘make up stuff on the fly’ , some of us don’t; some personalities require the preacher to process what he wants to say more thoroughly.

Here are a few ideas to consider as you answer this question for yourself:

• Schedule your study and prep time during your best, most alert hours.
• Set reasonable expectations. An hour or two is too little time for most just as 35 hours is probably too much.
• Use computer tools readily available. I own a Mac and use both Accordance and Logos. I rarely use paper books. These tools have made my study time more efficient.
• Trust God to use your faithful preparation. Seldom do ministry demands allow us to study as much as we’d like. We must do our best and trust the Holy Spirit to fill in the gaps.

How much time do you spend preparing your sermon?

Charles Stone pastors West Park Church in London, ON. In his 33 years in ministry in the U.S. he’s been a church planter, an associate pastor, a teaching pastor, and a lead pastor. He has authored four books including People Pleasing Pastors: Avoiding the Pitfalls of Approval Motivated Leadership (InterVarsity Press, 2014) and Brain-Savvy Leaders: The Science of Significant Ministry (coming April, 2015, Abingdon Press). His articles have been featured in several magazines including Leadership Journal. His education includes an engineering degree, a masters of divinity, a doctor of ministry, and he’s currently completing a masters in the neuroscience of leadership. He loves popcorn, going to action movies with his wife Sherryl, and living in Canada. He blogs at www.charlesstone.com