(Or, for the full title, 5 Reasons why most church events in the western world* should always finish at the advertised time)

1. Bible says “Do not lie” (Exodus 20:16)

Therefore, finish when you said you would.

2. It normally makes the event better.

You can almost always do what you need to do in the time you said you needed to do it. Being disciplined about the finish time forces on you questions about what to cut, what to sharpen and thus leads to better quality events.

3. It builds good faith.

When church events finish at the advertised time all of the time, it builds good faith. People will come to more of your stuff if the stuff that they do come to finishes on time. (Same reason that, if you really have more that 25-30 minutes of stuff to say in a sermon, you are always better to put that excess “gold” content into next weeks 25-30 minute sermon instead of  bumping up this week’s to 40 minutes. Plus, you often discover in that week that the ‘gold’ was, in fact, a kind of cloudy bronze.)

4. It puts events in context.

It’s very rare that the person who comes to our stuff has been loafing around all day just waiting for it to start. People are students, workers, carers, leaders. The have normally come from something and often are going to something–even if that something is a sorely needed sleep. Every night they are out at something church has put on, they are not also home with their children, visiting their lonely friend, reading the scriptures, having the neighbours over for dinner, helping at a soup kitchen. By finishing at the advertised time we acknowledge that obedience to God does not equal attendance at church events. It acknowledges all of life as the theatre of obedience.

5. You should always finished at the advertised time so that sometimes you don’t have to finish at the advertised time.

Sometimes the Spirit is moving, the moment is now, and this event needs to go longer that advertised. You’ll know when that is, and, if you have a track record of finishing on time, people will trust you for those rare times when the sermon needs to be longer, the prayers need to keep going etc.

*Obviously, in most parts of the majority world, this post is totally irrelevant. Ignore at will.