Time for worship

Church sermons can sometimes be similar to wheels — the longer the "spoke," the bigger the "tire."

Pioneer-era church meetings were outright brutal. No air conditioning, no soft seats, and the meetings could go on for hours — with few deadlines.

One hour appears to be the most common length for most Sunday worship services today, local ministers say. Add in one hour of Sunday School and most faiths have about two hours of meetings each Sunday.

"The trend is to keep meetings shorter," said Pastor Steve Goodier of Christ United Methodist Church of Salt Lake.

His worship services and Sunday School average about 60 minutes apiece.

But he admits some committee meetings of church members can last significantly longer.

"It's worship on Sunday and service on the rest of the week," Pastor Goodier said.

The church's building is practically filled up five to six days a week with various church services and activities. Meetings cut back each summer, during vacation season.

The Rev. Mike Gray of Salt Lake City's Southeast Baptist Church said one hour is about the average in his faith.

"Meetings can be too long," he acknowledged.

Sunday worship goes about 60-70 minutes and Bible study one hour.

He said attention spans aren't what they used to be.

"In today's instant generation, it's hard to go much more than an hour," he said.

The Rev. Gray said he relies on power-point presentations and visual aids to keep members' attention during sermons.

"We're very visual," he said.

Giving members a printed outline of his sermon seems to help, too.

The Rev. Art Ritter of First Congregational Church of Salt Lake said worship services normally last a single hour each Sunday and he's satisfied with that. His church comes from the Pilgrim tradition, when church meetings would go on for four hours straight — and worshippers would still come back later on Sunday for more.

First Congregational does hold more meetings during Lent than the rest of the year.