The 'Evening Service': a thing of the past? (setting the scene)

A friend (and colleague) asked me whether the evening service slot was a declining and dying church service.

Another friend (who is also a colleague) told me that the evening service was a dinosaur and in his church had been laid to rest.

Yet another friend (and again, a colleague) - bet you're surprised I have three friends aren't you? - told me how they wished they had the courage to draw stumps and, 'Put the dreadful evening service to death!' The numbers coming were low and it was 'doing church because they'd 'always done it at that time!'

It seems that many of those around me are struggling with the numbers of people coming to an evening service on a Sunday. One colleague (an acquaintance) said recently that, 'If they didn't have to go to evening service they wouldn't!' What chance does any service (or perhaps church congregation have) if this is the attitude shown by the cleric I wonder?

The question many of us engage with is this: 'Are we are letting Church run in a rut that has it's origins in the monastic order of life and its reality in something done by rote and not relationship'... and if so, how do we change it?

When the followers of 'the Way' got going we kept certain times set aside during the day to worship God. These became a formalised part of the monastic life's worship, giving us: Matins, Lauds, prime, tierce, sext, none, vespers and compline (we have a local order which keeps it). This became condensed into the Matins (the daily office - the early stuff),  the Lauds (our main Sunday service) - Vespers (our evensong) and Compline (the ready for bed service) - a service which sometimes appears in the evening service slot.

So what's so special about Sunday? It was a day when most people were not working and so we broke bread together and made it a special day: Our mini Easter Sunday in which the resurrection was celebrated, the word was preached and the bread and wine offered. Just like every other day (many start each day with the daily (morning) office and end it with evening prayer or Compline - adding Communion too when they can) with the added benefit that it was a day set aside from the daily toil.

When I was a student we tended to go to an evening service on a Sunday. When I worked shifts I tended to go to the evening service because I worked on a Sunday. The Sunday evening service was for some  the forerunner of Fresh Expressions (a service put on by Christians for those who otherwise wouldn't be church). During the war years, it enabled those working on a Sunday on the war effort to come into fellowship and 'be church'.

I have always enjoyed the evening service slot because it has provided a time for me to charge my batteries and get ready for the week ahead. My experience of Sunday evening services varied from place to place:

+ In one place it was a light service with 'fellowship' afterwards (we had quizzes, talks and the like).

+ In the Baptist church in our town (Marlow) it was fellowship time. Sometimes all the church and
   sometimes the 'Young People's Fellowship' where we played guitars, had meaningful discussions,
   and chilled out. A place of safety and somewhere for the kids to go!
   (a lesson to be learned here already then?)

+ In St Helen's, Bishopsgate (as a student) it was note taking and then off to 'Mr Natural's Burger Bar
   (Ludgate Circus), where we would stay until chucking out time discussing the text and comparing
   notes from the service.

+ In the Pentecostal church I was part of, Sunday evenings upstairs were almost as popular as the,
   even later, service in the basement! Sunday evening service was a lighter, more relaxed and 
   focussed part of the day where thematic stuff took place and healing services and other stuff 
   happened.

+ In Holy Trinity Hounslow, it would be a celebration. The morning service was formal and a bit up
   the candle, but in the evenings it was sound teaching, good music and the fire falling!

+ In Christ Church, Ware, we would find ourselves in a light conversation and gentle music providing
   the setting for some real dialogue, the gaining of knowledge and becoming challenged.

+ Coming to serve my 'Title Post' I found myself in a very different place to anything I had ever
   experienced before. Here we had a pattern of Sung Eucharists and Evensong (with the occasional
   'Prayer and Praise'). Those who came were the people who had always come - and there were few
   new people added to their number - which perhaps accounts for the decline in numbers at the
   'evening slot'. They are all slowly being taken off the shelves that no one has restocked!

+ Moving to where I am now, having never had an evening service, I decided to offer one!
   During the Sunday slot we have done a variety of things which have included:
   Taizé services, Healing, 60 minute theology, Compline, Café Church, Prayer services (prayer
   stations, Labyrinths and the like), contemporary services, Celtic praise, courses and more besides -
   all to varying degrees of success inn terms of numbers, but always successful in terms of growth
   and praise (and surely that is the defining factor).

I will leave you to select upon what I have written - there is much more to consider here, but this hopefully lays some foundation and gives direction for us to move from. Hopefully I have started you thinking about your own experiences, because this is where you need to start from. 

Consider the merits and pitfalls of your own experience and use this to start drawing out some good and bad practice, remember who came, remember why you went (or perhaps didn't come - for this is equally important). After all, how can you move anywhere without knowing where you are and where you need to be travelling to?

Pax

It's good to see so many here for a Sunday evening!

Church Growth strategies: 'Be IT Savvy: get a website - part one!'

As always we start with a reminder of Hauerwas' comment: 

Church growth strategies are the death rattle of a church that has lost its way.  

Whilst social media is one of the quick and easy ways of getting your church, projects and/or special events noticed where you are (and even further afield), the pinnacle of being 'IT savvy' has to be found in websites. There are a number of ways of getting a 'web presence' (good to learn the language innit?) - but we'll look at three:

A 'traditional' website

Using Wordpress to create a website

A 'content management' website

The traditional model has pages that live on a computer somewhere and can be accessed by anyone who wishes to view them. Generally the site is managed by a 'web master' (who says us techies don't crave power?) and access to change things is very limited.

The Wordpress website is a cost effective and simple way of creating a website, it can have as many pages as you like and authority can be distributed so that people can edit and add information like news and images without having access to the whole (so limiting the ability to burn the thing down when they make a mistake).

A content management site looks like a normal site to those who visit but once the format is done then sections can be owned and edited by others. Some like to keep the main sections controlled by the web master whilst allowing church groups, wardens and  others to change their content as and when the need arises. This is an extremely powerful way of doing stuff when there are many who have sections that need keeping up to date as it pushes the work to those who have the local knowledge. One of the best products for this is Joomla.

So, all you need to do is find the URL (uniform resource locator - the www.name.whatever) you want to use, and you're sorted (the web hosting company will usually be more than happy to sort one for you once you know what you want).

GETTING YOURSELF A ''TRADITIONAL' WEBSITE

There are a number of ways of doing this and regardless of which you choose, here are some things you need to consider:

MANAGED PACKAGES - The easiest option because you find a layout that you like and have it tailored for so it becomes yours and then the same company 'host' it (this means that they keep all the techie bits on one of their computers (we call them servers) for you. This means that they do the backup (very important) and will forward mail to you (equally important because websites have to have ears to listen as well as mouths to proclaim). All you need to do is keep the content up to date.

This is the most expensive route but it is quick and simple and avoids some of the pitfalls that doing it yourself or finding an enthusiast in the church can sometimes present (more about that later).


WEB HOSTING - Here you have someone who designs the web site and then you upload it (put it onto the host company's server) so that it can be published on the internet. 

This is a simple method of getting in to the web business but because it splits design and hosting into two separate element, you will need to get involved with:


WEB DESIGN - A wonderful world of joy and fun when it works and a trip into the darkest places of existence when it all starts to unravel (makes sheol look like a holiday destination in fact). There are three options when it comes to web design:

i. Bring in an expert - someone who might cost you some money but will take the brief and produce something with a 'look and feel' that does what you want and makes you feel you have something to be proud of.

ii. Find an enthusiast in the church and get them to do the design with you. Now I have to say that this works well when it works well BUT there is often the problem with using someone 'in house' that they might take the brief but will often try to impose their own views or preferences and the like and so what if often found is an agreed design rather than a desired design. The second problem is that some of the sites I have had to go and rescue have been left locked when the member leaves or them and the dog collar, council or someone else in the church fall out with them! 

TOP TIP 1: Always get the username, password and any other relevant information that let's you access and control the site and store it behind a 'break glass in case of fire' panel. 

iii. Do it yourself - This is, for me, the most enjoyable bit of the whole thing but that's because I'm a techie type and enjoy 'hacking'* code but there's great pleasure to be found in getting a template and modifying it yourself using one of the proprietary software products out there and then uploading the finished item to your host. The problem here is that if you're the person who issues the brief, fulfils the brief and manages the site it can be something beautiful in your eyes and an abomination to those who come across it!

TOP TIP 2: Always get the opinion of others when it comes to the look and feel of a site, the content and the pages - you only need a few opinions (go for people you can trust) but you do need them!

So there you are, you have a web presence! But what are you going to put on it?

Deciding what you want to have will have an impact on the sort of hosting you require.

Sermons, audio files and other downloads

If you would like people to be able to access and listen too sermons then you will need to ensure that you have sufficient space on the server. If you have other download (like videos, docent and other stuff) this will take up space too. When contracting for a web hosting service it's always a great idea to go a little bigger than you need rather than to go for the smallest and find that you end up crashing because you've run out of space.

Bandwidth

If you think of the connection from the server to the people who want it as being like a road, the larger the road the more traffic can flow along it. If you're going to be a small site then a single track will accommodate those who travel along it, but as you get more visitors and the cars turn into lorries taking sermons and videos away with them, then you'll need more lanes until you need a motorway to allow people to travel at a decent speed/

TOP TIP 3: One of the surveys I read recently told me that people wait no more than three seconds before 'binning' a site. If your site runs on a dirt track then much of the traffic will look elsewhere for an A road or, better still, a motorway! Bandwidth is important.

Images
If you have poor quality images then people will soon tire of your site and you'll find yourself reaching no one and paying (in time and money) for the privilege of not doing so! Try to use your own images wherever possible and where you can't then make sure you use images that are really 'royalty free' because otherwise you can find yourself with a big bill for breaching someone's copyright!

Being current
I went to a diocesan website this morning and found the article I'd been pointed to spoke of an event in 2011. So I snorted and closed the page (probably never to return). If you have a website and you want to put calendars and events on it - make sure someone keeps them current. It's a killer for those who come and a pain for those who maintain the site. Be warned!

There's much more I could write about here, but there is enough to get you thinking about church sites here and so I'll draw stumps and let you think a bit.

_______________________

I'm happy to answer questions and point you in the right direction with this because it's important that we are out there and more important that we are out there with good sites (and in a cost and time efficient manner).

Pax

____________________

* Hacking used to mean writing software using machine code - the term was later hijacked to mean illegally accessing sites and systems - being a 'hacker' meant something very different in the early days of computing (we were people who could hold a conversation, grunted as a form of communication and slept under our desks!).

I'm not impatient - I waited ages!

The number of people who tell me that being Christian isn't about doing stuff but about being. Now this really challenges me because recently I met someone who turned up for a service at a local church but it wasn't on because someone had got the roats wrong. Not this really challenged me and so I've embarked upon a little navel gazing which goes like this:

First select any one area of activity in the church and when it looks like whatever it is might not happen because someone hasn't turned up or has forgotten to do something. Once under way (or rather not) smile and standing back, watch what happens; for usually a few distinct groups will appear:

Absenting Folk - Who somehow manage to vanish before you've even looked up Just like the man upon the stairs - they're never there!

Tutting Folk - Who, as the name suggests, 'tut' that someone has failed to do whatever it was they were supposed to do. You'll never find them being tutted at for failing to do something they were supposed to do - often because they don't do anything!

Consuming Folk - Who come and seeing there's nothing for them to come to, leave (often mumbling about what a poor show it is that it's not happening, after all, they've been coming for years and it's 'always' happened)!

Flapping Folk - Who panic because something that apparently no one wants to do isn't happening.

If the area under scrutiny is something that's happened for years, you'll get to meet:

Traditional Folk - Who will tell you that ever since Jesus as walked the earth, St. Bumbles weekly old folk's scone and knackwurst tea dance has happened! Even through the wars!

To not happen is unthinkable - 'someone must should do it," they cry.

But who?

This is the question
for if all we are to do is to 'Be' with God
rather than 'do' with and for Him

- and there are too many who do too much and rest in Christ too little

- but if perhaps some of those who are excelling in the 'Be' areas of the Christian life
might just come and add their weight to the plough

then the furrows would be straighter
and longer
and the harvest would be bigger
and then we'd have more to celebrate
and so we could sit back
and rest in God
as more people came into the Kingdom
and,
having done nothing but love God for a while,
got up and added their weight to the plough
so that in the end there would be so many of us doing stuff
that we all be doing nothing!

And then we could look at what Jesus paid
and see that from the paucity of our little faith
we have achieved much in the world for,
through,
by
and with Him
who is the Saviour of the world!

Anyone willing to join me sow the seeds for the next harvest and reap the harvest that demands our attention today?

And the title? When I asked the person who was complaining that the service didn't happen those were the words they used:

'I'm not impatient - I waited ages... but no one came or did anything!

So I left'

Church - Arrivals and Departures

This week I was blessed by some people who were keen to see their church grow and one of the issues that caused some pain was the comings and goings, and oddly despite the pain of caused by loss, it was the gain that brought forth challenges and questions.

'How do we get new people in? . . . How do we get them to stay?' . . . How do we get them to become disciples? . . . How we make it so they don't feel uncomfortable when we stand, sit, kneel or do other stuff? . . . what does this mean for those who want to maintain a traditional church rather than all these 'seeker friendly' things?''

And on the questions went on, and the pain, frustration, fear and feelings of pressure was obvious and, to be honest, rather challenging (for me too!). Here are a few thoughts on the question which may (or perhaps not) be helpful:

Bringing them in
One of the problems is that so many churches, congregations and fellowships have this amazing idea that people will just come in because they are there. If only this was true; but at least some of those asking the questions were under the impression that they needed 'bringing in'.

Roll up, roll us, come and see the show
Another problem is that some put on 'Seeker Services' which have the very best in preaching, welcome, music, refreshments and the like; then having hooked them (or so they think) abysmal service is restored. Do this and you'll not only lose them the next week but you will have an almost impossible task to bring them back again (once bitten - twice shy). And regardless of the 'God will bring them in' words, God might but we can chase them away too!

Keep it honest
If your services are pants then change them! If you make them attractive, efficient, enjoyable, then the current members will be happier (well I know I would have been in some churches I have been in had they done this) and what's on offer will be winsome and appealing too (just don't ditch liturgy, theology or practice to do it ;-)  ).

Getting them to stay
Simple really, make them feel at home and engaged with. If you are someone who wants choir, organ and the like then you're probably not going to stay in a heavy metal church and vv. But, if you can endure the music and the preaching and service and people are not off-putting then you're 40% of the way in! (10% knowing of the church, 10% being invited to a service, 10% for finding you liked the people and what went on another 10% and the final 10% for not feeling:
i. pressured
ii. ignored
iii. conned

How do they becomes disciples
Here's a tough one (for many) because the answer is that we become disciples and model it for the new people. The real sadness is that so many want newcomers to become what the existing members aren't (and if by some chance they do, they often get jealous of the 'zealots') without being committed themselves. Well they often are committed, but to their roles, positions, opportunities and the like - and guard them fiercely. Bring them in - work with them - encourage them - show them what being part of the body is by being it!

But we're traditional
And that's not a problem, after all, that's what the church was for years. In fact some have a problem with the worship band, happy clappy, exuberant styles and feel more comfortable with 'proper church'. That said, King James Version and too much of the Thees, Thous and God knowest stuff and you'll queer the pitch somewhat!

And we're Rad man!
Great, you can bleed the air our of our radiators (you do have a rad' key don't you?).

Seriously - bleeding edge church can be great but dumbing down, amplifying up and the like doesn't make it  relevant, and that's the key. Meeting people where they are not where you want them to be. Contemporary worship and an end to liturgy isn't the answer, because at the end of the day there's still the sacred and sacramental to be dealt with (isn't there?)

Stand, Sit, Kneel (fetch?)
Not a problem - you say, 'We stand to . . .' or, 'We sit (or kneel) to  . . .'
If you tell people what you're doing then, generally, they do it.

This is something that clergy encounter all the time when they arrive at the crematorium or church for funerals, weddings and baptisms. Even if the rest of Christendom thinks it's weird, as long as the people in service are happy and know what they are doing (why helps as well!) - crack on and enjoy relaxed and informed people.

The key to it all is for us to put ourselves in the newcomer's place and engage in some critical questioning narrative  - here's a few for starters:

How would I feel about what's happening if I were a newcomer?
Why should I come in?
Why should I come back?
How do I fit in to the place, people and stuff?
What does it all mean?
Where do I sit?
When do I do stuff (and why)?
Who's here to help me?

(Make up your own)