Archives for 7.28.08

how we came to have an afternoon service

Over on Chris Anderson’s blog, we were discussing various ways in which we try to elevate the tone for our communion service. In the discussion, I mentioned that we have an afternoon service rather than the ‘traditional’ Sunday evening service. I thought it might be of some interest to give a little background to our practice. It might motivate some innovation for others as well.

We have always desired that the services of our church be ordered according to our mission of soul-winning and disciple-making. The ministry drives our services rather than the services our ministry. At least, that is our ‘high sounding’ goal.

Some years ago (2/29/2004), my family and I were scheduled to be a part of a missions conference in California. As our schedule dictated, we decided to leave town on the Sunday afternoon. Our folks decided to move our evening service to just after lunch so that we could get away and so that we could all enjoy a potluck fellowship dinner between our morning services and the afternoon service.

Our ‘one-time’ event was so popular that ‘Seminar Sundays’ were born. From that time forward, we made the fifth Sunday of the four five Sunday months in the year a fellowship Sunday, with our service order as follows: Worship at 10 am, Bible study/Sunday school at 11:30 am, ‘Soup and Sandwiches’ at 12:15 pm, and an Afternoon service at 1:15 pm. That is essentially the schedule we follow today.

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