As usual, I’m about to do something controversial. We’re going to cut our corporate gatherings down to only two Sundays each month. Starting in May, we’re going to gather for prayer, worship and teaching on the first Sunday of each month and we’re going to gather for breakfast and fellowship on the third Sunday of each month.
Aside from the practical and logistical reasons for doing this, I can only say that I simply sense the peace of God about doing this. There seems to be something stirring in my soul, regarding adjusting our weekly and monthly schedule for 21st century ministry.
For eight years we’ve been trying to do everything we could to meet the demands of the incredibly busy schedules of today’s families. We kept adjusting the schedule by meeting on Fridays or Saturdays. Then we tried meeting later on Sunday afternoons.
However, fluctuating, rotating work and school schedules have caused the attendance pattern to remain the same: only five to ten people have been able to attend each week.
The past two weeks, my wife and I have been praying together and talking things through on how to adjust to today’s world of family and ministry. I believe the Lord gave us the simplest solution. Instead of trying to do MORE to meet the demand, we are to do LESS; a lot LESS.
Instead of trying to gather EVERY Sunday in laborious attempts to catch a few people in our net, we are cutting back to just two corporate gatherings each mont,h even as we continue to push our internet church outreach on Wednesdays.
We will still accomplish our mission of following the early church pattern of providing:
1.) apostolic teaching,
2.) fellowship,
3.) breaking bread and
4.) prayer
The first Sunday gatherings will be for prayer and teaching. The third Sunday gathering will be for breaking bread and fellowship.
The other Sundays of the month will leave every family and individual the wonderful opportunity to connect with their own families. It also gives everyone some true Sabbath rest periods to recover and refresh for their own personal life journeys.
For too long, we pastors have driven our congregations and leadership teams to the brink of emotional, mental and physical exhaustion with the relentless schedules and demands of the ministry. However, Carol and I are intentionally and deliberately moving in the opposite direction. We are allowing the Holy Spirit to work in the hearts and homes of the people who attend Urban Life Church.
By moving to this lighter and more manageable schedule, we believe that it will actually improve our attendance and appreciation of the calling and purpose for Urban Life in Harrisburg, PA.
So, here we go again… launching into another radical move!
Many people may not understand it. Some may even feel that we’re making a big mistake. It may seem that we’re making people and families more important than God.
To which I say: we are trying to show that the people and their families are more important than the ministry. They don’t need the ministry to find God. If we help families get stronger, then they will help build the ministry. And the ministry will never become more important than the family.
