Imagine yourself a juror in a courtroom. You sat through the trial listening as closely as you could. Now the judge is giving the jury its final instructions. For more than an hour, the judge drones on about legal theory, using terms you do not understand. You know what the judge is saying is important, but are you able to concentrate the entire time? Are you able to remember what he said? Are you able to apply what he said to the case you have just heard?
The sad truth is most people cannot.
Researchers say the human mind is able to process between 400 words and 500 words a minute, but no one talks that fast. Even “fast talkers” fall in the range of about 125 words a minute. That is one of the reasons why people listen with only about 25 percent of their brain. That means the other 75 percent is processing other data. It might be what the defendant is wearing or the movement of the prosecutor or the noise in the hallway.
Then factor in that only 7 percent of a message communicated to a listener by a speaker involves the actual words spoken. That is right — only 7 percent, researchers say. Voice quality, facial expressions, gestures, movement, understanding of terms — all of these impact how much is heard and processed by a listener.
There is more. The average adult attention span is between 17 minutes and 20 minutes. The maximum period of concentration for most adults is 50 minutes. But concentration falls off after 20–30 minutes. Most people are able to remember only about three facts from an hourlong lecture, according to a study at Scotland’s University of Dundee.
How much of the judge’s instructions have you actually heard? How much will you remember when the jury begins deliberating? Not much. Studies vary but most indicate that one will remember between 5 percent and 20 percent of oral communication, depending on the abilities of the listener.
That is not very comforting for one whose future is in the hands of the nation’s justice system or one serving in that system.
Now transfer yourself to Sunday worship as the pastor stands up to preach. You are there because you want to worship God. Your pastor is a good preacher, and you want to hear the sermon. How much are you likely to hear? To remember? To live by?
The answers to those questions depend a great deal on the pastor’s delivery. Baptists are often criticized for being the only Christian group that judges a sermon on how it is delivered rather than on what is said, but there is a lot of truth in that observation.
Fifty-five percent of what a listener receives is impacted by nonverbal communications — appearance, movement, gestures, facial expressions, etc. — we are told. More than a third is from voice quality, including consistency between words and voice tones, etc. Obviously how a message is delivered is important.
Unfortunately Baptists sometimes have equated “show” with “substance” as illustrated by the story of the preacher who wrote on his outline, “Point is weak. Shout.” The bitter truth is that without substance, show loses its appeal.
And what does the average adult attention span say about the length a sermon should be? What does listening ability say about the pace of a service? What does the 75 percent of the brain not listening to a speaker say about the environment for worship?
What does the average ability to concentrate and remember say about the hourlong sermon with 10 points and 50 subpoints? The pastor preaching such a sermon may evidence his rigorous study. He may share all the things that are meaningful to him from the Scripture passage. He may even impart numerous insights about the needs of the church. But the average Baptist adult remembers three things from a 50-minute lecture. That means most of what the pastor says is lost and almost all of what he says after 20 minutes is lost.
Preachers use lots of ways to help people remember what is being said. One of the oldest is alliteration — using words that begin with the same letter or sound to highlight each major point.
More recently, preachers have joined other public speakers using pictures, slides, PowerPoint or other visual aids.
Some do it because it is trendy. And there is research indicating a positive response by listeners to those using visual aids. It seems to imply confidence and preparedness by the speaker.
Most preachers do it because it increases communication. Several studies indicate that communication — the transfer of meaning from speaker to listener — nearly doubles when visual aids are added to oral communications. Of course, there are pitfalls. The visual aid has to be appropriate to the topic. Otherwise the visual aid creates conflict and becomes a stumbling block to communication and understanding. Visual overstimulation can be another problem.
Just putting words on a screen does not always result in increased communication. And writing notes can be a stumbling block to communication because when one is writing, one is not listening. Notes become a trade off. They help emphasize one point while detracting from other content, experts say.
Still visuals work and the reason is obvious. Visuals open up another mode of learning. One study said it this way: “While the field is still evolving, researchers have shown that significant increases in learning can be accomplished through the informed use of visual and verbal multimodal learning.”
In some Baptist churches, use of visuals in the sermon has become a point of contention. That is unfortunate. Just as pastors should be informed about the length of their sermons by information about attention span, concentration and recall, church members should be informed about communication, understanding and retention by the use of visuals.
Sermon time is not a time for a pastor to call attention to himself through style or content. It is a time to help worshipers experience God through faith in the risen Lord Jesus. Let us hope members share that goal and are willing to use tools like visuals to help the sermon penetrate the hearts and minds of all, including their own.
True worship depends on the presence of God’s Spirit. But understanding the dynamics of communication allows pastor and members to build for true worship rather than unintentionally putting up stumbling blocks to worship.
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