Weekend-Free Church

Text relating to the Vision Conversation at The River this Sunday: 

1 Corinthians 9:19-23

This coming month is a special one to me and my family. It marks the five-year anniversary of our leaving Kansas City and moving to Ellensburg to start The River Community Church of the Nazarene. Wow... five years. In some ways it seems like only yesterday. But in most ways it seems like it has been 20 years... at least I think I've aged 20 years (and gained 20 pounds!)  :-)  It's like Ellensburg is caught in a time-warp continuum that slows down actual time. I'll have to consult my Star Trek handbook... but maybe that means the earth revolves around the sun slower here in the Pacific Northwest? Hmmmm... anyway, next month we celebrate five years since stepping foot in the little town both Jill and I once called home. For me, it was my hometown from birth till I turned 25ish. For Jill, it is the place she attended high school... nothing more. She stubbornly refuses to claim the Burg has her hometown!  :-)

Anyway... It's been a wonderful, awesome experience. And yet, it's been the biggest challenge we've ever faced before... ever... either as individuals and as a married couple. Who wouda thunk...? We've somehow made it this long in the ministry! Obviously, the folks at this church haven't figured out how nuts we  are... I guess love really is blind!

Nevertheless, in celebration of our five-year mark... we at The River are looking to stir up the status-quo once again. We've seen some amazing things over the years... we've made some great friends, and accomplished some fun projects, and experienced some powerful manifestations of God's Spirit in our midst. We've lost a few people along the way (who would've ever guessed not everyone would appreciate our unique style?)... and ultimately we've grown and evolved into a tight-knit group of Jesus followers, who love God and love one another. All in all, we love our church body... and hope and pray we can continue to do ministry here for a very long time to come.

But after such a long time back in my 'hood' preaching the Word and hoping people will repent and believe in Jesus as Lord and Master of their lives... and after keenly observing a direct relationship between the weather outside and butts in the seats of our Sunday morning services inside... I have come to a startling realization: People want to worship God together... the disciples of Jesus really do want to gather together and sing, pray, wrestle with Scripture, give, partake of Communion, baptize, laugh, cry, serve... and they really do want to experience God in the community of other believers. However, many of them don't want to do so if it cuts in to their other lifestyle priorities. What other priorities you ask...? Well, anything good and some even not so good... things like family gatherings and visits, baseball games, camping trips, water-skiing, hiking, shopping, snow-shoeing, swimming, basketball games, track and field events, football games, tournaments, visiting friends, marathons, 5ks, shooting, hunting, out-of-town vacations, boating, fishing... do you get the picture? We live in an area of the world where you can experience an almost endless variety of outdoor experiences... and let's face it, weekends are a premium in calendars jam-packed with work, household chores, kids' activities... so the idea of attending a 1-2 hour Sunday morning worship service - even if the basic desire is there - can all too easily get kicked to the curb when competing with so many other important activities. How do we deal with such powerful competition?

One day a couple of years ago... a guy rode into town on his big ole Harley, and stepped up to the coffee bar at The River (which used to be open during the week), and asked, "I'm looking for Jeff Harmon. Is he here?"


"Yes," I said... a bit hesitantly (hey, he's a big guy!), "that's me."


Geez... as it turned out, we talked all stinkin' day about ministry stuff. Something like three hours later... after taking this mystery man in leathers to Rossow's to experience the essence of Ellensburg fine-dining... Jim Carlson got back on his Harley and continued his ride back to Spokane. But the things he planted in my head that day have never gone away. He raised the crazy notion that people have so many other priorities on a typical Sunday... maybe a progressive church like The River should consider offering a mid-week worship service and see where it goes? Think about it... how many students leave for home on the weekends? How many people work on Sundays? How many of our own people take off for the lake (or the city, or the hills, or the...) for the weekend, and would appreciate a mid-week service, so they could enjoy their weekend without the associated guilt of missing "church"? How many people are allergic to Sundays, but may consider a mid-week worship service? Hmmm... good questions. What if we stopped doing what everyone else does (just because)... and paid careful attention to how the culture functions in this little corner of the world? What if we stopped doing the "religious" thing... and, like Paul, "Become all things to all people so that by all possible means I (we) might save some." 

Oh... but is it right to move the high and holy event of worshiping God to a mere weeknight, just to accommodate the busy (and sometimes slightly off-center priorities) of people who seek (in theory) to be sold-out disciples of Jesus Christ? Is it okay to mess with the "Sabbath" rest of Sunday morning worship? Would people really come to a full-blown worship service on a Thursday night in this town? What would that do to Sunday morning gatherings? Would we abandon Sunday morning altogether... or have two services? If we had two services, wouldn't that mean we have two churches meeting under the same roof? How would that work out? Holy cow (pardon the pun... but sometimes we have to look at our sacred cows and be ready to slaughter them)! This is confusing, huh? Is it right? Is it acceptable to God? Would it be successful? (Just what defines "successful" in the church, anyway?) Is a mid-week service worth the effort? Is it worth the risk? What would other churches say ? Would they be offended? Would they steal our thunder? How the heck do we know whether this is a good or bad thing for us?

My answer: Let's ask Jim. He'll be our special guest this Sunday... and I for one would love to hear his take on how we could go about reaching more people for Christ in this town. Personally, I love the idea of letting people do their family thing... or their sports thing... or their camping thing... or whatever, without the typical response of heavy-duty pastoral guilt (and fear of what it would mean if people actually had options for worship). But IF we give it a shot... then the real questions would begin. You know, questions like HOW? How do we stretch our already limited resources? How do we promote it to the community? How do we know how to measure the results of our trial? How long do we conduct this grand experiment? And the list goes on... and on... and on.

Got some of your own questions to ask him? Great... git yer butt to Sunday service this week... (ya, I know it's June and the lake is calling... but make the sacrifice, ok?)... and be ready to stretch your thinking in terms of what it means to be a Christ-centered community that is willing to become all things to all people for the sake of the gospel. And one more thing: Bring your best Mexican dish... 'cause after the service, we're having an all-important church meeting... and a Mexican-themed potluck for the ages! PLEASE don't miss this service if at all possible, okay? Don't worry... there are plenty of other Sunday services you can bail on this summer... especially as the weather gets nicer!  :-)

See ya'll then!