If you've been around Grace Church the past year or so, you probably know about our Fifth Sunday worship. If this doesn't sound familiar to you, we've been offering a different kind of service every time a month has a fifth Sunday: we welcome a guest band to lead us in singing more contemporary praise songs, and the overall feel of the service is more casual.
As mentioned, we've been holding these services for almost a year now, and I think it's time we began considering the future of this style of worship at Grace. There is an interest in continuing it in some form, and I'm trying to come up with ideas. While not everyone loves having a band in the sanctuary and would prefer we continue singing the beloved traditional hymns, there is sentiment out there that we should keep offering alternatives for those who would like to see the continued evolution of modern worship forms.
I've presented this in other places, but this blog post may catch a different audience of both members who'd like to make their opinion known, and of non-members seeking an experience on Sunday morning that speaks to them. All are welcome to weigh in.
That said, here are the options I've identified for the future of Fifth Sunday worship:
1. Keep doing Fifth Sundays as is, no additions or other changes.
2. Do what we've been doing on Fifth Sundays, except more frequently. Probably once a month.
3. Add a second, earlier service either in the sanctuary or cafe, 9:00/9:15 am or earlier. Less formal, same style of music, probably shorter (45 minutes). Maybe once a month to start, and if interest holds move to more frequent. 10:15 worship stays more or less as is.
4. Everything in 3 except some other time of the week, like Saturday or Sunday night.
5. Just make Fifth Sunday the norm every week. I at least had to list it.
6. Just make Fifth Sunday go away. I know you're out there and I acknowledge that this kind of worship is not everyone's preference.
3 and 4 would take the most extra coordination and change, but if people other than just me are willing to pitch in and help make it work, I think we could do it.
Whether you've been attending Grace Church for some time or are still wondering about whether to begin, which might you choose?
Christ's peace,
Pastor Jeff
