After two great years of leading Courageous Church since we launched in January of ’09, I find myself wrestling with a key question that I wrestled with for years…except now I am kind of on the other side of the fence.
Before we started our church here in Atlanta, I always thought churches were really making a series of strategic errors by pouring so much time, energy, staffing, and finances into Sunday morning. Jesus did not emphasize Sunday morning and was, in fact, often criticized for not being a part of religious services – choosing instead to help people in other ways during those scheduled times.
So, here I am, two years into it, and I confess…
Sunday morning has become the main thing of the church I lead. We have awesome small groups, but the bulk of our time, energy, budget, staffing, creativity, etc. is spent either preparing for or executing our Sunday morning services… and I think we do them well.
I love preaching and teaching. I love our worship leaders. Our band is phenomenal. Our volunteers are amazing. We serve a free breakfast. I L.O.V.E what we do together every Sunday.
Still though, for me, the questions remain except I am now asking them of myself.
- Am I best honoring God by pouring so much into Sunday morning?
- Does pouring so much into Sunday morning look like Jesus in the Gospels?
- If James 1:27 says “True religion that God loves is caring for widows and orphans” how does our Sunday morning emphasis express this?
- Is it the best use of hard earned money to pour so much into Sunday morning?
- Am I pouring so much into Sunday because it’s what other churches are doing or because it’s what God says in scripture and through prayer?
I am working through these questions now and have even started sharing them with the Lead Team of our church.
Feel free to give me your thoughts…
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Historically, saturdays were the days of the Sabbath…but under the period of grace, I don't believe God desires any particular day dedicated to Him..it could be tuesday lol…but I do however, believe that churches have over-emphasized sunday morning and have forgotten the work to be done during the week…because a church building can be built..yippee..but the real church is found in the heart of the people..the preaching of the gospel outside the walls is the most important thing…
Are you equipping people to do that? Don't get me wrong, lead by example.
Besides our profession, we should be living out the gospel in our community, but your call to being a pastor is specific to leading those God has called you to lead, part of that is prepping for Sunday allowing God to leverage your gifts and abilities to influence His people to minister to the community.
Thanks for what you do Shaun!
I think many Christians become so burderned with a "day" that they actually forget the Creator of all days. In a way, they prepare for that one day with sole focus. Tunnel vision can lead to as much stumbling and danger as outright blindness. I think it is important to keep focus and to have order and expectations in all ministries, but the most important thing is staying tuned to the mission (delivering the good news to all) so we don't become useless and ineffective. Jesus prayed, regularly and routinely, but He seem to do all other things as He saw needs. I've met too many people who gave up on church because they got tired of playing "Sunday Roulette", where Sunday was a big deal, but the rest of the week… well… dead. There are too many churches that resemble a wasteland of unused vessels.
Our people must learn to do good by meeting the urgent needs of others; then they will not be unproductive. – Titus 3:14
I think this is where much of the Church misses it. The role of the five-fold minister is to equip the people to do the stuff. The problem is that we rarely do that. We normally do a little of the stuff on Sunday, or we teach people about the stuff on Sunday. I look at Sunday as a time that the people come together and I equip them to do the stuff the rest of their week. This is the role of the organization, the local church. The people of the local church, including the pastor, then spend their week being salt and light in the world.
The organization pours its resources into training people. The people go into the world and act as the Body of Christ. To me, its really not that complicated. Don't come under some false condemnation because you discovered the very same thing Christians have discovered for centuries.
Mmmm, I come from a different faith tradition, but look at what the bible says about worship. We are also called to spend time in worship, and not just in doing stuff. There needs to be a balance of both. Maybe you are loving worship because that is time in God's presence?
That we can tell Jesus never incorporated, didn't have an office or a home to call His own. I guess the question is how far are you willing to go to really be like Jesus?
Pastor Shaun,
I believe this is a question of culture and expectation. In our culture we are conditioned to gather as a cooperate body on Sunday (or the weekend). Even the unchurched, nonChristian expects this from a church. I agree with Carl, there has to be a time of training, refreshing, and cooperate worship (see Heb 10:25). The social/community action is awesome, but like kmom said, there needs to be a balance.
Hi, Shaun.
In Lexington, we've got two "mega-churches" that seem to duke it out over which one is really spiritual. Our C&MA fellowship is pretty heady with lots of intellectuals from nearby universities, but obviously less time and money spent on lights, sound system (smoke and mirrors) than many smaller groups. But some of us have a longing for more intimate 'priesthood of believers' and we are beginning a church 'plant' with our fellowship's blessing of a 'simple church alliance', which is basically small groups that will periodically meet for 'celebration' but "do church" in our homes. Nothing against the big churches, but my own heart is with you that performance based churches with a band, speaker, offering, etc. may not be the way to go in these last days. Check out "thejesusvirus.org" for where the 21st century American church may be going.
I think the better question should be, "How can we make Sundays a better celebration of what we've being doing all week?" As a believer, I am always looking for ways of giving and getting support for doing the things that "prove" my love for God and people. If we use Sunday's as a platform for sharing and celebrating the work of the ministry that has gone on throughout the week, I think that the energy and effort put into Sunday is justified.
I think everyday should be God's day. Then "rest and worship" day is a time we come together for fellowship. Sunday may be a good day because no work or school and more people are able to hear the good word. But Saturday may be just as well. I have a question for Pastro Shaun…Do you have driver's that'll pick people up around the city? If so I'd love to come hear the word. I have been looking for a church home for my family but have not been moved by what I've seen. My sibling's are Jehovah's Witnesses, though I only like to label myself as a Godfearer. I grew up Baptist and so did my husband. I want to be a part of a simple, straight to the point congregation. Please let me know.
My opinion: those in the community who are spiritually "unresolved" and searching… THOSE are the people who are going to be the ones who are apt to wander into your church on a Sunday morning out of curiosity (a free breakfast! … or perhaps they've read your blog, or heard about you from your community involvement). So, in that VERY small slice of time on a Sunday, you have the chance to reach them… the chance to "plant seeds".
So, no, I don't believe that you can drop too much effort, money, time, etc. into planning for Sunday morning. It's the place to reach those who are searching, and the place where the believers come to get fed.
And, let's not forget, of course, it's the place where we GIVE worship to our King.
Sunday morning is a blessing – my favorite time of the whole week!
Hello Shaun: Sheila Griffin from your Emory Class 2010. I think that the integration of community and Sunday has to be maintained until the church is trained and anticipates being the church in the community. The embrace of the new is great but not automatic where culture and past experiences has programmed many to wait for Sunday to "be the church." i feel your frustration, but I believe if uyou keep pushing the model … more and more disciples will reach to the far corners of the earth from a powerful anchored family called "home."
This question is tough because our culture is conditioned to fund the "Sunday event" model. It suits our "what's in it for me, immediate gratification" payoff. From a leader perspective, it's the only model that most of us grew up being groomed in. To create another model takes more risk.
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