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Tristin Wicks
Comp 2 (11:00)
Regina Blake
February 25, 2015
Reduction of Service Time
Going to church nowadays seems to be a waste of time for many people, especially
Generation Y. Church attendees, trying to stay awake, listen to the pastor preach for what seems
like a lifetime. Looking down the isle, it is evident that people are either texting or on social
media. Annoyed by the long service, younger generations tend to get distracted easily. The
pastor, his voice booming, doesn’t seem to notice how long the services are. Continuing on, he
soon looses the focus of his entire congregation. The problem is this: church services are too
long. In order to get Gen Y to attend church, pastors need to shorten the entire service. If pastors
reduced services, then more people would attend church. Shorter services would mimic the
principles of good teaching, help Gen Yers stay attentive, and open the door for the use of
technology in the church.
Reduction of service time would imitate good teaching, which has proven to be effective.
Educators have begun to notice that Gen Yers learn best in short class sessions. Some schools
have accepted the fact that lecture times need to be shortened. “Lectures can in fact be divided up
into shorter, sub-15 minute sessions, and be delivered outside the classroom” (Khan). Teachers
realized that the best way to reach their students was to adapt to change. It is possible for
teachers and pastors to get their points across in a small amount of time. Drawing out long
services or lectures will push Gen Yers away. If educators shorten lecture
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time, then students will learn more. “Teacher effectiveness depends on the ability to adapt
instruction to the needs of today’s learners” (Reilly). Good teaching leads to more involvement
in the classroom. This concept directly relates to the solution of shortening church services. If
churches implied good teaching by getting the point across in a short amount of time, then more
Gen Yers would attend. St. Paul’s, a church in Florida, started to imply good teaching by
“promising to get a generation with limited attention spans out the door in as little as 30 minutes”
(Solomon). This concept has worked for this church, and they found that “about 40 parents and
kids have attended each week since the service started last month, and participants even include
