Do Sermons Really Have Impact?

"Nearly 100 percent of churchgoers look forward to sermons, but only 17 percent think preaching changes the way they live," according to a recent study from the CODEC Research Center at St. Johns College in Durham, U.K. The CODEC report, "The View from the Pew," is based on interviews with 193 Anglicans, Catholics, Methodists and Baptists from 16 different churches.
The research also discovered that:

• Many Anglicans wanted the sermon to last less than 10 minutes, but up to 20 minutes was fine if there was no "waffle."
• Baptists were happy to sit through a 75-minute sermon.
• Catholics wanted the sermon to be completed within 10 minutes.
• Sermons were seen as being very good at teaching about God, the Bible and "being comforting," but needed to do more to "motivate and challenge" people to look at the world differently.
• Sermons seem to encourage Christian reflection, but not Christian action.
• Nearly 17 percent felt sermons did actually change the way they lived.

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