Another way that launching a new church is different from working in an established church is that Wednesday nights don’t suck anymore. Wednesday nights are the thing about my old life that I miss the least.
A dirty little secret among many church staffers is that Wednesday night is their least favorite night of the week. Why? Because they have to carry on mid-week programming that doesn’t fit into the overall mission strategy of the church and therefore no longer makes sense to them. Yet the church remains committed to Wednesday nights because there is a vocal minority (increasingly vocal and increasingly minor) that would flip out like a demoniac sitting next to Jesus on a bus if changes were to be made.
I know there are exceptions. No need to write a comment about how well your church does Wednesday nights. I know there are some of you out there. My guess is that the reason Wednesday nights are great at your church is because you’ve connected your mid-week programming to your overall mission. Good for you! Rock on! Ignore this post!
But there are many who die a little death every Wednesday around 7 pm. Even more so if the Wednesday night programming is followed up by a marathon elders/board meeting that can easily swallow the opening monologue of your favorite late night comedian.
I’m writing this post on a Wednesday. You know what I’ll be doing tonight? After having dinner with my family, I’m going over to a friends house to play some poker. A few guys from Fulcrum will be there. Hopefully a few others will be there as well. It’s a great opportunity to hang with some friends, meet some new people, and lose my lunch money.
I’m looking forward to it.
Not because I’m a great poker player, but because it’s a kind of party that fits into our overall mission.
We like to call it “going all in” for Jesus.
Related Posts:
The Hardest Thing You Will Ever Do
The Flinch Reflex
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons
No Comment.
freedom feels good doesn’t it.
It amazes me how that for years we have put pressure on people and even used Scripture to prove that people were lost if they did not attend. What’s the point of that anyway?
Thanks for sharing your heart and your freedom. I can’t wait to see he fruit of what God is doing in our community with the little group of people we’ve started with. I can’t wait to participate in intentional, missional focus of God’s dream in my life. I see Him working in so many ways. Your blog is an encouragement to that end.
Please pray that our “churched” culture won’t stand in the way of what we are trying to do for God. Pray also that the people we get involved are passionate, sold out people who are willing to do whatever the Father calls us to do for Him. To step outside of the world of church into the world is kind of scary at this point, but exciting all the same. It is the cry of my heart!
Hi, my name’s Sam, and I’m a recovering Wednesday nighter.
Though I haven’t been on staff at a church that had Wednesday night activities in eleven years, there are still times when part of me cringes just saying the word “wednesday”.
Freedom. It’s nice.
Wade,
As you said, there are exceptions. I have been going to church on Wednesday night my whole life and I still look forward to it. I will say that if Wednesday night here were as it was when I was a kid I don’t know that I would enjoy it quite as much. But at Northwest we do some very meaningful things on Wednesday night that don’t happen at other times. We have a great ladies class that the ladies just won’t miss. We have an intentional men’s class where leaders are being developed and we really dig into scripture. There are things we would be worse for if Wednesday night.
I know you asked us not to do this but I just wanted to point out one example of it being done well. That is the point. Don’t do anything for God unless you intend to do it well. I do owe some of this thinking to Mark Adams and a comment he left on my blog today regarding this. It got me thinking about what we are doing at Northwest and what I appreciate about it.
after i was released from my ministry position i started playing poker at a downtown cigar bar. Some of the best fellowship i ever had.
Matt,
How enhanced would those men’s and women’s meetings be if there were held somewhere else in the community, where the lost, hurting, and broken people of your area are already spending time?
Wednesday nights don’t kill me nearly as much as Sunday night, and I am a 51 year old traditionalist at heart. Sometimes I want to pull my hair out and I have plenty of it. One think that I realized a long time ago is that change in an established is slow to come if at all. You have to build a good deal of trust first. To me a Sunday night service is like serving week old leftovers for dinner and expecting everyone to get excited.
Wow Wade…you are always so forthright in your thinking…you did go there with the sacred Wed. night thing didn’t you? Only you could set it out there and let the chips fall where they may. I was laughing out loud as I read it..and some of the comments. To you I say Rock On! Much love to you and the family…always
I thought we had to have a service on Wednesday night. Isn’t it in the same verse that says its a sin for the Church to split up and meet in homes on Sunday night?
I do really enjoy the Bible Study time though. But can we please stop meeting in the auditorium to offer an invitation that no one has EVER responded to???