Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "What Are Valid, Orthodox Approaches to Outreach?":
Good comments, Greg! Refreshing: "1.2.3." That's it! That's "all" you need to do as a pastor.
The elders committee at my parish want to go from two services to one because for various reasons we have been shrinking in numbers. The pastor's opinion is to keep it at two because with the choice of two services more people will be in contact with the Word, giving more opportunities for the Word to work. Fewer choices for Sunday Divine Service times usually means fewer people in Sunday Divine Service, taking away more opportunities for the Word to work.
The elders want one service so that we can have a feeling of being full and vibrant again and that will generate enthusiasm, which will lead to growth.
Comments?
Oh, and what about whether the service or Sunday School should be first? And at what time?
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GJ - Once we bought pews from a Shrinker WELS church, because they spread out their pews to hide the loss of members.
One ELCA church turned the worship area 180 degrees. I told the pastor that was great because he could say, "I really turned this church around!"
Combining services usually means losing those who like the time they picked before. More broadcasting of the Word means more fruitfulness.
I don't know when Sunday School should be. I do think parents should train children to sit quietly through the whole service. Times vary with the location. We don't need canon law on that issue.
By the way, when some pastors read the last chapter of Thy Strong Word, they said it changed their entire view of pastoral ministry. I said essentially what I did in the earlier post.
In the name of success, Lutheran churches have given up the two approaches guaranteed to be effective because God's Word is efficacious:
1. Preaching and teaching the Word.
2. Taking the Word to people's homes.
Effective can also include making people angry, alienating apostates high and low, inciting adulterers to riot, etc. The Word and the holy cross go together. That is why, perhaps, so many avoid the Word in favor of entertainment.
7 comments:
If those elders managed a McDonalds they'd only be open from 11-1 and 4-7 to catch the mealtime rushes. It's more efficient that way.
I'd adamantly maintain the second service, add a Bible study, and offer to preach a third mid-week.
Where does Sunday School fit in? Right between the services so that parents can go to adult Bible study and the kids can get a lesson too.
I remember one elder who was always belly-aching about the Pentecostal circus tent one mile down the road that seemed to always fill their pews. This is just another way of saying that attendance numbers mean more that faithfulness to the Word.
Greg, you said, "Effective can also include making people angry, alienating apostates high and low, inciting adulterers to riot, etc. The Word and the holy cross go together. That is why, perhaps, so many avoid the Word in favor of entertainment."
That is EXACTLY what happened at my church (the one debating two service/one service). I'm glad the Word of God defines faithfulness as holding to the truth of God's Word, not numbers and statistics.
Unfortunately, the pastor of that church will not likely get a call because when the District President presents names at call meetings, he also includes membership, divine service, and Bible class statistics associated with that pastor's ministry. The calling body won't touch him with a ten foot pole. Also, most WELS parishes want "a pastor under 35 years old who is good with outreach and youth" (District President quote).
Number 1. Ask your people about how many services to have. It sounds like this is a decision between the elders and the pastor. The people need to be involved. I have a hunch that an every member visit to gain input would increase attendance so that two services are viable.
Number 2. How full is the church in your better attended service? If it is over half full, keep the two services.
Number 3. If one service on Sunday morning seems like the right number, add a service on a weekday. I have a Wednesday evening service, the same as the Sunday service. About a fourth of our people attend on Wednesday. Also, if people are out of town on Sunday, they have the Wednesday option.
4. The time of Sunday School (and Bible Class) is immaterial. For a successful Sunday School, the pastor must visit the families with children during August and remind them of the importance of Sunday School for religious education and for confirmation class readiness. A note in the bulletin or newsletter that the new Sunday School year is going to spart the Sunday after Labor Day is not going to motivate many parents or any children.
5. A vibrant congregation is a congregation where the people love the teaching of justification by faith. Take that away, the church will flounder. Have the spirit, the church will be vibrant and exciting.
"Also, most WELS parishes want "a pastor under 35 years old who is good with outreach and youth" (District President quote)."
Really? It seems to me like most calling bodies are looking for a man with 20 years' experience, which leaves the new men high and dry. There are still men from last year's seminary class who have not yet received calls because the same five congregations keep doggedly calling men with experience, none of whom are interested in taking those calls. How will the young men gain experience if they never even make it into the pastoral ministry?
Also, youth is no guarantee of being good with the youth. Some people mesh better with older folks or small children...and isn't ministry to the youth still the same ministry? Same law, same gospel, same sin, same Savior. "The youth" can see through attempts to entice them into church by blatant pandering, and they despise it - as indeed anybody who is outside the church despises such blatant pandering as "seeker services" etc. I did a lot of canvassing this summer and I found that trying to "nice" people into the church or the kingdom of God does not work. A clear, upfront proclamation of law and gospel (in that order - often only law) got a much better reaction. We were able to cut to the heart of the matter right away and place God's Word squarely on the human heart. You can't "nice" people into the kingdom or coax them. You have to kill them with the law and revive them with the gospel, period.
"In the name of success, Lutheran churches have given up the two approaches guaranteed to be effective because God's Word is efficacious:
1. Preaching and teaching the Word.
2. Taking the Word to people's homes."
Judging from their behavior the Word is efficacious when repeated ad infinitum to members. How about the unchurched?
Chuck'n Change likes to outsource the work of our Lord. That takes money and removes the distasteful responsibility from himself.
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