Scrapping the Sunday Service

Horizon is going to abandon its Sunday morning service and move to a Saturday-Only weekend service later this summer.

We're going to have a trial run on Saturday, June 16.

We thought about adding a Saturday service and keeping our Sunday service, but it soon became apparent that adding a Saturday service would add more than twice the amount of work, something Mark Beeson, pastor of Granger Community Church, warned me about this past fall.

So I prayed and told our Management Team that I thought a Saturday-Only service would be the way to go.

Lots of reasons, but mostly because our culture has shifted and most people aren't going to add something to their already-busy weekends on Sunday mornings. Folks already have Sunday morning habits that add to their rest and relaxation (call it Sabbath-keeping for the time being), and aren't likely to change those habits to include going to church. If that was the case, then it would already be happening.

Even church-going people are being squeezed by the increase of Sunday morning activities that are being added to their schedules.

I'm going to journal our journey to Saturdays-Only and beyond. I'm sure there will be plenty of learnings to pass on.

As I said in a congregational meeting a little while back when we introduced the change, there are two good reasons why going to Saturday-Only is a bad idea: First, it's change and, second, "What will people think (especially other Christians)?"

But our goal is to join the Lord in His redemptive mission of having everyone participating in the "eternal kind of life" and we will do what it takes to get the message out. If that means meeting on Saturday nights so more people will come, then that's what we'll do. If the culture shifts again and Sunday mornings become again the time when the most people will come, then we'll move back to Sundays.

"Keeping Sabbath," a day of rest, is a lost practice for most Christians. We are just as consumed by busy-ness as those who do not follow Jesus. Something's amiss about that.

By going to Saturdays-Only our hope is to give a Sabbath back to those who follow Jesus. Sunday becomes a time to build relationships, rather than strain them. Husbands and wives spend some time together (going to church and then dinner or a movie on Saturday night and then spending Sunday morning talking and relaxing together). Children get to sleep in (and parents, too, maybe!). We get to have a conversation with our neighbor, rather than spending Sunday morning in church. The possibilities are endless.

We'll see how the journey to Saturday-Only goes. Hang on for the ride.

May the Lord be glorified; and may more and more people enter "the eternal kind of life" that is given through Jesus.