Touching Base! Part 37

One Service Is A Breeze

So how did you like going back to one service last Sunday? I can hear some saying, “It was great to see people that I didn’t even know came to Bethel. It is so much easier doing ministry or organizing ministry for just one service…”, “I feel like Bethel is a much warmer, friendlier church, easier to get to know people with one service…”, “It feels like the good old days...” However, I can hear others saying “I like the 11a.m. slot a lot better…”, or “I like the 9 a.m. slot a lot better…”

If we are honest, our likes and dislikes for the one-service format often comes back to what suits us best. Agree? We analyze and evaluate based on what it did for me, or how it fit or how didn’t fit into my expectations. I can say from personal experience it is so easy to solely base the perceived success of an event based on how I feel. However, I think you would agree with me that this kind of thinking is dangerous. It results in the world evolving around me. The results are very “I”-centered, “me”-focused, “you”-fixated.

The next several months of single services will represent relative ease to what we are used to. However, as September approaches we will once again rally up our energies and jump back into the world of two services. What is our motive for doing so? To accommodate the returning students and vacationers? To frustrate those that think Jesus attended a single-service church and thus we should maintain what Jesus did? To burn out our workers and spread our people-power thin?

Our motivation must not root itself in comfort or some kind of misguided bent. It shouldn’t even find its source in wanting to be the biggest and the best. Our motivation must be primarily focused on honouring what Jesus said about making disciples. We must be willing to stretch, sacrifice, work hard, be challenged, get out of bed a little earlier, dig deeper for more people resources because making disciples matters more than our comfort or our preference. We believe that Sunday morning services represent a great starting point for aiding us in making disciples. That’s what it’s about, that’s what we need to be about!

Single services a breeze? You betcha, in comparison to two. However, it’s not always about what’s easier or what is more comfortable. Jesus said “make disciples”… and we agree.

How about you?

Mark