It can be the environment.  It can be the seats and their position on the relative scale of personal discomfort.  It can be the ambient temperature.  It can certainly be the noisy and distracting child (parents should never underestimate the distracting power of a noisy child!)  The environment can certainly be a key factor in the clock-watching, shuffling, fidgeting, sighing and window gazing.

Some of these factors can be changed or avoided.  Some can’t.  But there is another factor that is not the environment.  This one can be changed.  You.

The preacher is a massive factor in levels of distraction.  Are people gripped and compelled to listen by well-planned, well-told, well-described, well-applied preaching?  Or when you preach are you background noise?  Most people (apart from children) will sit politely and many will even look in your direction, but don’t assume that means they are listening.  A significant factor in whether people sit gripped by the preaching or suppressing yawns and shuffling to see the clock is you.

Be sensitive to attention levels while preaching.  Listen and observe.  Perhaps even ask a few people if others around them seemed to be listening or not.  Then perhaps some tweaking of your preaching may be necessary.  It’s not all down to the preacher, by any means.  There is a massive Holy Spirit element that must be considered, even if this post is not focusing on that aspect of preaching.  So it’s not all down to the preacher, but it’s certainly not always the environment, either.