The Middle of the Week

How many of you attend or lead a church that still has a Sunday night service? It's been 20 years since I last had the privilege of attending it. If you still have one, it's a blessing for your people. But for the rest of us, it's long gone. Why? A rearrangement of people's priorities is probably a big reason. And nowadays, it seems to be creeping into the mid-week service. Fewer and fewer are attending the programs on Wed night. The world has too many attractions and distractions that compete with people's time. I pray that we don't lose Wed nights. In our current culture, one or two hours of worship and learning on Sundays just isn't enough to keep us strong.

My church used to have a multitude of home groups throughout the week, as well as programs for all ages on Wed night. Home groups have gone away, and Wed night's attendance is way down. I tell myself that quality is better than quantity, but the empty seats still bother me. What's working for you?

It's easy, at least for me, to dwell on how vibrant and well-attended the mid-week service used to be. But things have changed out there, things that we may not have much control over. As I said in the post above, there are too many attractions and distractions out there that we are in competition with. What to do - what to do?

I dusted off a list of self-evaluation suggestions that I first came across a few years ago. In brief, they are:
- Evaluate everything you're doing right now
- Make sure your kids programming is relevant
- Try something different
- Involve attendees in the decision-making
- If you have a meal, do it with excellence
- Offer quality programming for adults
- Explore other nights for programming

There's one thing on that list that we really haven't attempted..."Try something really different."

What if everyone gathered together in the sanctuary at the beginning of the evening, perhaps just for 5-10 minutes? And each group (kids, teens, adults) took a turn on alternating weeks at sharing something with the other groups? After that, we'd break off into our different groups. The younger people might be thrilled at making their voices heard, getting a shot at ministry, and feeling like the church was THEIR church, not just their parents'. It might need a name, perhaps Generation Outbreak or Generation One...GO, for short.

Yeah, whatever it is, we need to try something really different.