Back in March I asked the question: How Necessary is the Weekly Worship Gathering? We had a good discussion in the comments. Several months later, I find myself making plans for September 12th when The Fulcrum Community will launch weekly large group gatherings. In a future post, I’ll give my reasons for why a weekly large group gathering is still a good idea in this neck of the woods, but first I want to invite you into a discussion the Fulcrum team has been having over the past few weeks.
One of our biggest concerns about a weekly gathering is that it can quickly become “The Main Event” of The Fulcrum Community. If we are not careful, it will become the primary way we evaluate our success (How many showed up and how much money did they give?), it will dominate our budget (How much did you say that zip line and fog machine cost?), it will absorb energy that could otherwise be spent building relationships (We can’t have dinner with the neighbors tomorrow night, we’ve got a worship planning meeting!).
My question today is: How can a church have a weekly worship gathering without turning it into The Main Event? How do we communicate that all the other activities and environments associated with our community are just as important as what we do on Sunday morning?
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons
For now, I’ve put our dream of “Passion Community” on the shelf. Part of the reason for that is, in our area, “The Buckle of the Bible Belt,” it’s hard to have a conversation with people about starting anything that doesn’t look like “church.” I have had several ask me, “What will we do on Sunday?” If they’ve not asked me, they have hinted to the fact.
It’s funny to me that many will say, “When you get ready to start something like that, call me.” But when I call, it’s just too much work, to different, and not enough like what we are used to.
Sunday ought to be only a PART of the celebration of what God is doing for you there–not the ONLY celebration. So, one thing you might do is incorporate celebration into more than just a Sunday event. Many churches are doing Saturday night gatherings to help this. Just a thought.
My heart longs to be in a place like you are. Innovating, stretching, and just down right shaking up the system must be a blast. I know there are discouragements. That’s the way it is for soldiers of the Kingdom, but it’s got to be good.
I long for that kind of kingdom to break into our world here. Till then, it’s “church” as usual for hundreds. But for those of us who are set free, we seek new ways to be kingdom. God bless you brother.