What do you think?
Easter Sunday--a day to remember the resurrection of my Lord and a day when many unsaved/unchurched come and visit a church for one of their two yearly visits. This is a great opportunity for Christians to interact with people that rarely take the opportunity to visit. Many churches will add an extra service, extra chairs, and squeeze people close together in the pews to accommodate the visitors. My church decided to add extra chairs and to squeeze people into the pews.
As a Christian I am excited each year when Easter rolls around because of what Christ accomplished on this day. Now I am able to join Him in Heaven when I die. In addition, I am excited on Easter that many visitors will attend and get to hear the Gospel. This year I heard of a disturbing trend from some of my friends (who attend different churches). Some churches were adding additional services to accommodate the expected surge in visitors and asked their regular church members/attendees to go to an earlier service or to sit in a different room and watch the service by video. One of my friends who sings in her church's choir told me that her church asked the choir members to not go into the auditorium and sit with their families/friends when the singing was completed but to go to a different room. This was done to make room for the "C & E" crowd--Christmas and Easter only crowd.
I enjoy the Easter services. I love going and singing some of the great Resurrection hymns, listening to special music and Scripture reading, and hearing the Gospel preached. My pastor spoke from Romans 14:9 on the fact that Christ is both the Lord of the dead and the living because He is the only one to have conquered death (which allows us to join Him in Heaven). I also enjoy going to church and seeing visitors because this allows me to pray for them and to meet them.
This brings me to the point of this discourse. I disagree with what some churches are doing. I think that Christians must attend and be encouraged to attend their regular services. Jesus commanded us in the Bible to go into all the world and to preach the Gospel and to make disciples. He also went to where the sinners were to minister to them. When He was teaching, healing, and walking, He never asked people to move along to allow others to listen (in fact, the Bible tells us that is was completely opposite as there were crowds everywhere). In addition, typically the unsaved/unchurched rarely step into the church and this is the Church's opportunity to minister to them. Christ also showed this by allowing people to never be turned away, but ministered them when they came to Him. The church has the same opportunity and responsibility.
Now I know that some may disagree with me and of course you're fine to do that, but why must the Christian change their regular habits on Easter. Some may say that everyday should be Easter--they're right. To follow this logic, then why do we celebrate our birthdays, Christmas, or our Independence on a certain day? We do this because this is the day that is important for a certain reason. Easter is important because this is the day that Christ conquered death and provided salvation for the world and we must celebrate it on this day. Christians must welcome and minister the visitors when they come to their church.
I understand the real problem that many churches have because of limited facilities and their desire to allow as many people as possible to enjoy the services. I do want you to know that I have no problem with having an additional service, but to encourage people to change their worship times and to not be in Sunday School (because of the changed worship schedule) I believe is wrong. If the majority of people in the service are unsaved/unchurched, then who is going to minister and connect with them? What reason do they have to come back and visit if they only meet others that do not attend the church?
Well, I think I've rambled on enough, but what do YOU think? Do you agree or disagree? I'd love to hear your comments.
posted by soccerkcs @ 2:44 PM
4 Comments:
First, let me share my experience this Sunday. I was in an similar position this Easter Sunday. I was a visitor. Tara and I are still church shopping after our move to Denver and we attended a church for the first time. Even though we arrived 20 minutes early, we were still banished to chairs setup in the Narthex and had to watch the service via video. We did manage to catch Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus by standing in the entrance to the sanctuary just after the benediction. I was surprised by what a difference it made. I had realized that during the service I didn’t really feel apart of the service or of the congregation, but once I stepped into the edge of the sanctuary, I instantly felt connected. All in all, we were able adjust our feelings about our experience and to compensate for watching from the outskirts, and we well return to experience a real service. Was my experience impacted by sitting outside the sanctuary? Yes. But being a regularly attending church member, I could get over it.
You ask a thought provoking question. How much should a church member sacrifice on Easter Sunday to make a good impression on a visitor?
Is getting up an hour earlier to go to an earlier service too much? What about parking in the satellite parking lot instead of the main lot to make room for visitors?
I don’t think any church would say “you can’t attend the 11am service because of the C&E crowd”. From my experience, they usually encourage the membership to consider attending an earlier. Either way, it’s a personal decision. If going to earlier service means that you miss your Sunday School class, then maybe earlier service isn’t for you. The decision is up to you, and the church will not fault you for it.
Some other examples of wisdom from the Bible that could also apply come to mind. The story of the feeding of the 5000. In order to keep the people there, listening to the message, instead of going home to eat, Christ took the sacrifice of the boy’s lunch and turned that into enough to feed everyone. Or maybe Zaccheous climbing the tree maybe a good analogy as well.
I think the bottom line is no one is making you change services. What and how much you choose to sacrifice is a personal decision. But forcing vistors to sit outside and watch on video will, I believe, diminish their experience.
I understand Rick's position, but I agree with Alan as well. Our pastor did not ask people to change for the C & E crowd. He asked us to go out of our way to be helpful and friendly. On a really big day, our members are asked (not required) to park in back,leaving the front places for teh visitors. Staff parks in back on Sunday mornings, and on big days, we are asked to park on the grass. It isn't a big deal at all.
If the focus of the church is growth, then the regulars are going to have to sacrifice their "places" of preference. If the focus is on salvations, the regulars must be there in order to do altar work, etc. If the focus is personal growth, the request may be different.
I question any church that tells its tithing members they can't come to their preferred service UNLESS it is for a special reason, AND they will get what they normally do (music, sermon, etc.) for their own personal walk. We are asked to be servants, but even the servants are fed.
Alan - were you banished to the Narthex because you were visitors or because you were too late to find seating because it was already taken? Remember the regular members have worked hard for this big day (or they should have) and also need to worship.
It is a touchy issue, and I see several different points.
I definitely agree that there is no easy answer--if there is an answer at all. My point is to raise the question and to discuss with others what they think.
Thank you for your responses--any others??
I, for one, can say that if I went to a church as a visitor and had a hard time finding a seat or was banished to a satellite room of some sort, I would most likely not return. In fact, I might not even stay for the service and go out to breakfast instead. I have done both in the past (granted, maybe for whatever reason I din't want to be there in the first place that day and was looking for any excuse to bail).
Is this rational behaviour? Probably not. But who's to say everyone who walks through that church door is going to behave rationally? I applaud Alan's attitude and good natured response, but I suspect he may be in the minority. I think we have a responsibility to make strangers who walk through that door to feel as welcome as possible. Don't give someone an excuse to leave if they are looking for one. I think we need to presume that every person that comes to that door has been led there by God for some reaon which He may or may not choose to reveal to us.
"Of course", you may say, "That's obvious. We should always try to make visitors feel welcome. I always make a point to greet them, be friendly, etc.." - and that's great, You SHOULD do those things, but I think that regular church-goers often underestimate the importance of a visitor being able to find a seat. In every church that I have ever attended on a regular basis, the regulars almost always sit in the same place. They don't have to worry about finding a place to sit, etc.. I think you all know what I am talking about. This is not necessarily wrong, but it can be intimidating to a visitor. It's very easy to give the appearance of some sort of "clique" without ever meaning to. I think on days when lots of extra visitors are expected it is not unreasonable to ask the regulars to step out of their normal routine or comfort zone to help make the visitors more comfortable.
What is the purpose of the local Church? Outreach? Growth? Fellowship? Edification? Moral Leadership in the community? Sure - all of those are fine answers, and you guys could probably come up with 100 more, but none of them are correct all by themselves. If the local church is completely focused on Edification and/or Fellowship, then the answer is easy - have the members do what they always do, and squeeze the visitors in whatever space is left over. Conversely, if the purpose of the church is strictly outreach, then sweep the regulars out of the way to make room for the visitors. I think either approach (grossly exaggerated for the purpose of illustration) is wrong. I would submit to you that the purpose of the local church is to Glorify God. If you are truly focused on how best to accomplish this, then I don't think you can go wrong.
If every member was focused on this, the church wouldn't even have to ask - Some would voluntarily go sit somewhere else, or go to the earlier service. Others would stay so that they could best minister to the visitors, etc. However, if we start looking for what WE can get out of it - whether it is convenience, personal enjoyment of the service, or maybe even the satisfaction of leading someone to the Lord - we are asking for trouble.
Just my $.02.
p.s. If I ever went to a church that "demanded" the regulars to do something different, or conversely sent me off to the Narthex BECAUSE I was a visitor and they were saving the "good seats" for the members, then I would not go back. I would suggest that both of these churches - even though they have treated me differently as a vistor - have lost sight of what is truly important. Fortunately, I have have never actually been in either situation, though.
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