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What time is your earliest service?

 
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Post What time is your earliest service? Ernie Long
I wanted to start Sunday School at 9 am, but was told that was too early and no one would attend. So, we start SS at 10 am and service at 11. I drive around our town and see the Lutheran, Methodist, Catholic, and even the Baptist churches start at 8:00 or 8:30 am.

What am I missing? Why are Pentecostals unable/unwilling to come to church early or is it just my church? Embarassed
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3/25/17 9:56 am


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Post c6thplayer1
Our services start at 9:30. No problem with anyone at that time. Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology
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3/25/17 10:40 am


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Post bonnie knox
Our church starts Sunday school at 10:00 and worship at 11:00. (Sunday school classes stop at roughly 10:45.)
The churches in the community I grew up in followed the same schedule except they usually dismissed around noon (except for the predominately black churches which seemed to go all day long).
Somewhere in the 90's or so, it became popular for the Pentecostal churches to lengthen the "praise and worship" and extend the services to 12:45 to 1:00. The churches that have early services seem mostly to be the ones which have 2 morning services in order to accommodate a growing congregation or else a diverging preference of music (i.e. contemporary or traditional). The other variation I've seen is that churches sometimes eliminate Sunday school altogether and start at 10:30 and go till noon.
I did attend one church which changed its starting times several times. I don't think it benefitted anything to be changing it back and forth. Our current church has taken surveys about changing the starting time since our pastor seems to think if we started earlier more people would come to the poorly attended evening services. So far, most people have wanted the starting times to remain the same, and I doubt starting earlier would help evening attendance.
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3/25/17 10:51 am


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Post Cojak
bonnie knox wrote:
Our church starts Sunday school at 10:00 and worship at 11:00. (Sunday school classes stop at roughly 10:45.)
The churches in the community I grew up in followed the same schedule ...


Around my home town other denominations start earlier. They do not know the scripture. It must be in there somewhere Sunday morning service is SS=10AM +/- a few minutes and worship at 11AM +/- a few minutes. Also services should end according to scripture at noon!

Seems to be that way always has been probably will be for 10-15 years when us old fuddy duddies die off. LOL

Seriously in our area the churches that have Sun even services seem to increase by those from other COG congregations who have no Sun nite service.

I have noticed our pastor seems to skip some Sun nite services for many reasons. (My wife stays up on our home church because she is up some phone tree, what ever that is!) Embarassed Smile Cool
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3/25/17 3:42 pm


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Post Old Time Country Preacher
9:30 for SS, 10:30 MW. Acts-pert Poster
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3/25/17 3:47 pm


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Post Da Sheik
Early service at 8:45. SS at 10. 2nd service at 11 am. My predecessor was a tremendous leader and very progressive. But if I have one complaint, it's the way he set us up to be two different churches. Our early service is branded as the "contemporary" service- praise band, modern music, much younger attendees. Our traditional service features choir, organist, and pianist. Very few younger families attend the 11 am service. The attendance is about the same for both, but our facility could easily accommodate both groups in a combined service (we have a combined service each quarter).

The irony is that most of the people who come at 11 are up with the roosters. So for them, it's not a matter of the time being inconvenient. It's simply a way to hold on to tradition. I have learned to pick my battles. This is not something I care to start a controversy over. I enjoy both services. I do feel sorry for our associate pastor, music minister and sound tech though, because they have to listen to my sermon twice in the same day Laughing
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3/27/17 11:13 am


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Post bonnie knox
Quote:
The irony is that most of the people who come at 11 are up with the roosters.


That made me laugh. Chief Charging Battery gets to church an hour and a half to two hours early to open up doors, turn on lights, start coffee, etc. (and perhaps pray for his reprobate wife). Needless to say, we drive separately. I always figured the line separating winners and losers in this world is the line between those who can get by on little sleep and those who require at least 8 hours, lol.
Our praise team practices at 9:00 am.
My son is on the praise team at another church, and they practice at 8:00 am on Sunday mornings.
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3/27/17 11:21 am


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Post Da Sheik
bonnie knox wrote:
My son is on the praise team at another church, and they practice at 8:00 am on Sunday mornings.


Ours does as well. Another pet peeve of mine. They're often still rehearsing just moments before time for service to start. They used to practice during the week but felt that doing so on Sunday was a way to hold leaders accountable (no rehearse/ no participation). I don't think it has been effective though, because I see band members still coming in late or skipping practice, but they ascend the platform anyway. Ok, I need to stop hijacking Ernie's thread. Embarassed

So to get us back on pointe: Ernie, the answer is that Pentecostal church folk are often rigid and resistant to change.
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3/27/17 11:36 am


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Post bonnie knox
Moreover, people in other denominations are resistant to change as well. However, people will accept change if they believe the payoffs outweigh the inconveniences. That probably brings up the question of why you want to change the time 9:00. [Insert Acts Pun Here]
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3/27/17 11:41 am


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Post bonnie knox
Quote:
They're often still rehearsing just moments before time for service to start. They used to practice during the week but felt that doing so on Sunday was a way to hold leaders accountable (no rehearse/ no participation). I don't think it has been effective though, because I see band members still coming in late or skipping practice, but they ascend the platform anyway.


At our church (and my son was on the praise team at our church for years), the praise team practices on Thursday nights AND Sunday morning. They are supposed to start at 9:00 on Sundays and be done before Sunday school starts at 10:00. It was disruptive when they weren't finished by 10:00 and the loud music emanating from the sanctuary could interfere with the conversation in our adjacent classroom.
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3/27/17 11:46 am


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Post Da Sheik
I'm always disappointed when people don't respect others. I know it's not perceived as spiritual, but our current structure demands certain time constraints. When we have guest speakers who don't respect that, they don't get invited to come again. Are there exceptions ? Sure. But I expect people to be mindful of others and their ministry. It's hard to teach Sunday school with drums and guitars booming just feet away.

Ernie, you mentioned you were "told" that a time change wouldn't work. Is this the consensus of the congregation, or the rigidity of an individual? Tell the truth, you just want to beat the Methodists to Cracker Barrell right ? Laughing
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3/27/17 12:09 pm


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Post Cojak
Da Sheik wrote:
I'm always disappointed when people don't respect others. I know it's not perceived as spiritual, but our current structure demands certain time constraints. When we have guest speakers who don't respect that, they don't get invited to come again. Are there exceptions ? Sure. But I expect people to be mindful of others and their ministry. It's hard to teach Sunday school with drums and guitars booming just feet away.

Ernie, you mentioned you were "told" that a time change wouldn't work. Is this the consensus of the congregation, or the rigidity of an individual? Tell the truth, you just want to beat the Methodists to Cracker Barrell right ? Laughing


I love it when a little levity is added. But seriously I am enjoying this post. Cool
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3/27/17 6:04 pm


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Post We used to have our early service at 9 brotherjames
And our later service at 11 and finished at 12:30. Praise team practiced at 8 am. Each service was 1 1/2 hrs. Then we built larger sanctuary which could accomdate all the church and then some but we had some who insisted on having 2 services, same start time as before. Was tough on our worship teams though. So, for about 1 yr we tried starting at 9 and doing announcements, offering and preaching til 10. Started worship service at 10 and second preaching service at 11, getting done at noon. Finally, we got tired of all the movement and some people leaving at 10 and went to 1 svc. Practice at 8:30 -9:30. Ss at 9 to 9:45, worship starts promptly at 10 and we finish usually by noon. We also have a coffee fellowship in one of our lobbies from 9:30 -10. Acts-celerater
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3/27/17 7:22 pm


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Post Ernie Long
Da Sheik wrote:
I'm always disappointed when people don't respect others. I know it's not perceived as spiritual, but our current structure demands certain time constraints. When we have guest speakers who don't respect that, they don't get invited to come again. Are there exceptions ? Sure. But I expect people to be mindful of others and their ministry. It's hard to teach Sunday school with drums and guitars booming just feet away.

Ernie, you mentioned you were "told" that a time change wouldn't work. Is this the consensus of the congregation, or the rigidity of an individual? Tell the truth, you just want to beat the Methodists to Cracker Barrell right ? Laughing


I didn't survey my people, but I asked a retired pastor who had pastored for 40 years what his thoughts were and that is what I shared. I had surveyed my people in the past on other issues and for the most part their reply was, "Whatever you think is best".

The worst part is Cracker Barrel is 45 minutes away.
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3/28/17 9:43 am


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Post Da Sheik
Ernie Long wrote:
I had surveyed my people in the past on other issues and for the most part their reply was, "Whatever you think is best".


Sounds like this wouldn't be a tough transition for you. The retired pastor's opinion of what does or doesn't work is what it is. His opinion. What are your reasons for wanting to change the time(s)?
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3/28/17 10:37 am


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Post Da Sheik
BJ, I can relate to your story. Before we remodeled our sanctuary, we had to totally break down the whole platform setup in between services. It was exhausting and time consuming. We have a (relatively) new sanctuary now, with plenty of seating, but our 11 am group won't budge on consolidation. Acts Enthusiast
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3/28/17 10:41 am


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Post Cojak
Da Sheik wrote:
BJ, I can relate to your story. Before we remodeled our sanctuary, we had to totally break down the whole platform setup in between services. It was exhausting and time consuming. We have a (relatively) new sanctuary now, with plenty of seating, but our 11 am group won't budge on consolidation.


That traditional thing will solve itself in about 15-20 years, hang in there my friend. LOL You will be a very good OLD pastor! Smile

I talk of my peers (68-85) about our services, 'This is the youngster's day (20-55) we had ours." I always have to smile when I hear, "You are right...... BUT!......
1. the music is crazy and loud. God isn't deaf.
2. Where do they get these songs?
3. Are you more Godly if you stand for 30-40 minutes singing the 7-11 songs?
4. Nobody speaks in tongues anymore! You couldn't hear them if they did!
5. I think the preacher get's his sermons from a sermon generator on the computer.
6. Our musicians have some type computer programming them, God can't get into that!

Funny honestly. These are truly good folk. We were programmed for years with a certain style/type of service. We got to meet the men who wrote the songs in the 'convention books'. We related to the stories the songs told.
I told a good friend of mine, I love a 55chevrolet. When I retire I am going to have one to drive on Sundays, but for my REAL car, I want a newer one.

Sorry to take so long... Embarassed But I do understand a pastor's consternation over such a situation. Shucks, just enjoy it! Cool
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3/28/17 11:54 am


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Post Da Sheik
Cojak wrote:
That traditional thing will solve itself in about 15-20 years, hang in there my friend. LOL You will be a very good OLD pastor! Smile


I already am Laughing

I'm afraid my successor will have to be the one that leads them into the Canaan of consolidation. Maybe at least I will live to see it, even if I don't experience it Razz
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3/28/17 2:11 pm


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Post Our Musicians are Paid and Clock In FG Minister
We have 7 musicians and they are all paid and must clock in. If they are late, they get docked. Works great!

Rehearsal at 7:30
First Service 8:30
Second Service 10:30
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3/28/17 3:02 pm


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Post Re: Our Musicians are Paid and Clock In Nature Boy Florida
FG Minister wrote:
We have 7 musicians and they are all paid and must clock in. If they are late, they get docked. Works great!

Rehearsal at 7:30
First Service 8:30
Second Service 10:30


Wow - I used to be on that schedule too - but we did it for free.
I'm going to sue for back pay.
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