November 18, 2003
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Time is flying past so quickly that I must be having fun!! I really think that as time winds down to its final days that it must be speeding up (or am I just getting old?).
Our Saturday Night service at church was started as an outreach to reach a new generation and was quite a draw to young and old alike whom did not appreciate the traditional type church service but also had no interest in the “charismatic” type services. Somewhere along the line, the service lost its vision and just became an alternative service to the two Sunday Morning services. The attendance has been declining, especially when it was decided the same sermon should be preached at each of the services. This has been a bit of a divisive point lately as the older (in time, not age) members where suspicious that Saturday Night as it had once existed was turning into a rogue group or a church within the church. On the other hand, those who had been involved in the outreach the service offered where becoming disillusioned that we had ceased to offer outreach to cater to the group who prefers church with a “rock” type setting. After a lot of praying, the Saturday Night Pastor has gone, with a couple of other interested parties, before the board at the church and gotten their approval to once again lean towards the outreach type of service. I have, myself, as has my wife, sort of vacillated back and forth between the reasoning of the two groups, seeing the benefit of both types of service but now that the decision has been made, I see that God has had His hand (or “Hand” as in Holy Spirit) in this decision and I’m getting quite excited as to the prospects of once again reaching out to those who have been dissatisfied and/or hurt by the church and need somewhere to find the peace that we only find in the shadow of His wings. I believe the Saturday Night Pastor said it best when he said that the Saturday Night service was started as a great idea (he wasn’t involved at the time) but it had no plan and when the personnel started to change, there was no consistency to the vision. I once heard it stated that if we are to accomplish anything, we must first have a goal in mind and then we need to have a plan to get to that goal. For those of you in some type of ministry, be sure you have a goal in mind and a plan which has been clearly stated and shared with others so the ship doesn’t get cast adrift and flounder if and when you are gone.
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Comments (13)
Yes, time seems to be flying to me, too. I thought it was because I had kids!
Time flies.. when you're... having fun.. Or so they say. I think time flies just because God wants it to. haha
Have a great rest of the day, Dale!
May the Lord bring in a great harvest and flourish the work of your hands.
God bless you Dale. Have a good evening.
We went throught that process, only we never really got the "outreach" service off the ground. We were originally going to have it be an X-Gen outreach held in the fellowship hall as opposed to the worship center. As the attendance at the two main services was dwindling, the Eldership graciously offered the worship center during the 2nd service hour (when our original service was scheduled). This succeeded in turning the service into a "contemporary" service with the senior minister delivering the same message as the first. (Truthfully, the original schedule was so that the senior minister wouldn't be able to preach at the X-Gen service.)
The next thing that happened is that the Eldership viewed what was happening--skyrocketing attendance at the contemporary service and lot's of complaining from the traditional service attendees--and decided that two different services could potentially split the church. Therefore, we would "blend" the services, which served to chase people away once more.
Thankfully, God got us through all of that bickering, and we got the focus of worship back where it belongs: On God. Now we're growing again.
HIya!
I clicked on something, then clicked on something else, then clicked on two more things, and ended up here.
wow.
-RAD
My church kind of had that problem, and now we don't have the alternative service. It was a bummer, because I was really involved in it. Now I feel more separated from my church. Like it's just where I go on Sunday mornings, listen to the pastor, and go home. Praise God I have my college services and my college group that meet during the week. I think I would have lost touch with God otherwise.
is o/ "lol"?
hmmm, lol is a very overused and overrated phrase if you ask me...
Are you a youth pastor?
-RAD
Does that mean people who receive Christ during the Saturday service would be assimilated to the Sunday services? And would the Sunday service people be tempted to just pass on the outreach 'job' to the Saturday service people?
Lord, Your wisdom will bring life. I pray that You'll guide Your people and give them the faith to trust You for the impossible. For Your glory and Your Kingdom, we pray. Amen.
This is a much needed ministry, You are right that there must a vision, a plan, a structure to focus the outreach. I have concerns that in too many churches decisions on what will be done, how it will be done, and who will do it (as be in charge) become power plays rather than decisions reached after much prayer on the part of all involved. I pray that God will bless this renewed effort to minister to those who are not comfortable in the traditional church setting.
Carol
Great that you have re-accessed the outreach plan for the Saturday night service! AMEN to that!!! You were on my mind a lot as I was in the 6th Consultation on Cooperative Parish Ministries meetings all weekend here in St. Louis. We had an outstanding musical group to undergird our times of worship, headed by a Rev. Warren Booker from Mississippi or Tennessee, can't remember which, and his group rocked, rolled and blues'd us throughout our time together. Have you ever met Rev. Sharon Schwab from the Western Pennsylvania UMC Conference? She gave a lot of fine leadership to times of worship during the Consultation as well, and was the communion celebrant at our Rural Chaplains certification service. Hugs, Claudia
certainly the goal and the plan must be together... and both are needed to stay the course. It's shown through in putting together the book even.
I pray everything will work out according to God's perfect plan, and that good will come from this.
sometimes it gets very difficult like you said.....but ultimately, it is our faith in the Lord that counts a lot, not the type of services at churches. I am happy at all services in all churches as long as it is in praise of the Lord even if it in an foreign language which I do not understand at all...
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