The weird and wonderful world of Sunday Morning.

Getting the right mix for our Sunday morning services.

Getting the Sunday morning service right is an important part of how we are viewed by outsiders and visitors. It is the shop window to who we are and who we represent, Jesus.

In the last few blogs I have discussed the need for the building we inhabit- the bricks and mortar, to reflect the vision and culture of the senior leader. For church buildings to reflect the right image, a church that has flaking paint, is run down and tatty, smelling of damp and mould, is not the image that we want to show people. I have also discussed the need to get our preaching right, to preach with passion and enthusiasm. To present the love of Christ to a dying world. Not for us to be boring and irrelevant. These two things are part of what we feel is essential to the way that we present church.

However before I discuss the Sunday morning service let me present what I believe is church.

Church I believe is made up of five essential elements, one of which is our Sunday morning service. 

First and foremost I believe that church is about Christ. He is our only constant and our total devotion. Twenty four hours a day seven days a week not just Sunday Morning. Church is about our commission “Going into the whole world” it is a co-operative mission with the Holy Spirit and therefore is not just a Sunday morning event. Church is about connectivity, who we connect with have fellowship with who we make part of our lives in and through the workings of the church. This brings about a framework of accountability. It is important for Christians to connect with other Christians.  Church is about congregation, the men women children that attend. The Bible say “that as iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.” Lastly church is about celebration, it is our highest priority to come and worship Jesus.

The mistakes that a lot of churches make is that they try and incorporate all these elements in one Sunday Morning service. In doing this we end with disorganisation rather than organisation. We have too much content and no real focus. Who gets top billing?- the guest speaker who has come all the way from Australia or the United States, if Jesus is our highest priority our total focus, then he should be the centre of our attention.

I am reminded of a story that I alluded to in an earlier blog. Where a friend bemoaned the fact that he wanted more Holy Spirit inspired meetings and Christ centred preaching in our churches and the fact that he didn’t see much of it in today’s church. I can sympathise with him but what he actually wanted was: Preaching for over an hour, mostly preaching about the end times the anti-Christ the devil and how the world is going to end. He wanted prayer lines for healing and other of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in evidence. Old time country and western gospel music. 20 minutes of praying for people to commit or rededicate their lives to Christ. 10 minutes of announcements for up and coming events. In general his own church started 5 minutes late and went over time by 10 or 15 minutes. Is there any wonder then that my friend has 25 people in his congregation and that he still meets in the front room of his home. That after 30 years in ministry the only thing he has to show for it is that he gets a twice yearly invitation to preach about end time stuff in another country.

What my friend is forgetting is that church is made up of all five essential elements that I have laid down. That all leaders and members of our congregations need to represent Christ who is the centre of our lives not just on a Sunday Morning but throughout the week. That everybody is excited about bringing others to church to hear and see people who have a Jesus centred culture, celebrate and worship a living God. During the week those same congregation members are meeting and connecting with other Christians, meeting needs, praying for each other- whether it is for healing or some other issue. Encouraging and ministering to one another through the Word of God. And even leading others to Christ through work in the community.

If we believe that the Sunday morning service is the shop window to our churches and to who we are. Then the Sunday morning service should be a place where we are happy and excited about inviting people to church. When non-believers and non-Christians think of church they think of cold auditoriums, bad acoustics, stain glass windows and boring liturgy and even worse preaching. So an excited people who see church as vibrant and celebratory are a surprise to them.

Sunday morning services should be no longer than 90 minutes, why? Because we are aware of the time issues that people in this busy world have. That many people work six days a week and want to spend Sundays with their family. There should be a detailed run sheet to ensure that everything will stay on time. As a rule preaching should be no longer than 30 minutes. A well-crafted message that has been well prepared on relevant issues will always be welcome and show visitors that you understand what they are going through. Christ centred praise and worship should be presented in vibrant, relevant ways with contemporary music. Music that is relevant to today’s society, music has changed through the ages. Music should not be for more than 30 minutes. This leaves 30 minutes that can be used for prayer and an opportunity to commit to Christ, praise reports news and announcements. These last things should always be Christ focused, Jesus must be praised at every opportunity. The whole of Sunday morning service is a celebration of Jesus Christ. Even afterwards during coffee and tea visitors should be welcomed and invested in to show that we are serious about what we preach.

Let us show the world that we can be professional and that everything we do is presented with a spirit of excellence.