Podcast Episode #505
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We are starting to see more and more churches offer alternative worship service times. Today we discuss the when, where, and how of this trend.
Some highlights from today’s episode include:
- Sunday has become less and less sacred in our culture. To many, it’s just another day of the week with no significance.
- Duplicating your Sunday morning service on Sunday evening is often the easiest way to add another worship service option for those in the community.
- Many of our scheduling norms in churches is a holdover from times when U.S. was an agrarian society.
- Alternative worship gatherings allow you to train up more leaders in your church.
The nine points we discuss are:
- The number of Americans working on Sunday is growing
- Theological issues must be settled
- Re-purpose Sunday night
- Do a community survey
- Try at test service of six months
- Use alternative services as equipping stations for leaders
- Keep it simple
- “Multi” is they key word today: multi-site; multi-venue; multi-days
- Staff these services wisely
Resources mentioned in today’s podcast
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Use of multiple worship service times (but not necessarily multiple venues at the same time) is one good way to exhaust ministry (and non-ministry) staffers and thereafter to produce inefficiencies in the group (assuming the group has accepted the Bible’s important mission actually to sustain carrying out together year after year). Developing believers into mature evangelical Christians is a better idea. Instead of focusing almost exclusively on 101-kind of activities (sit-n-soak), focus much more often on 401-kind of activities (stand-n-serve)–ones that will lead maturing Christians back to corporate times of praise and worship for all they personally witnessed God do through them while actively engaged in 401-kind of activities. 101-kind of activities are essential to assimilation and motivation of individuals in the group, but 401-kind of activities are essential to adaptation (i.e., taking the mission to the streets) and goal achievement (baptisms, ministry evangelism, needs met, etc.) of the group by those individuals.
When trying out new ideas, the issue of volunteers missing their current activity (such as a bible class) is hard to overcome. Not only that, those volunteers that are now gone, make the current activity even smaller in number. Jokingly, who does the choir sing to if everyone is in the choir?
The struggle is real for the small congregation rural church.
I think Thursday night service would be a good option.
Think outside the box on this multi service time. It could be a family service (No child care or no worship team or choir, just worship leader).
People today want real, authentic experiences at church. The church itself (not Christ but the church body/members/elders) are more concerned with the fluff then the attendees. The attendees just want to experience Jesus in a corporate environment.