The loss which comes from now waking up for church

In general, if you’re young and somewhat independent, the likelihood of you attending church in the evening increases.

As the years pass by and you progress through the life stages - especially marriage and having children - your chances of migrating to attending church in the morning rises.

The reasons are sometimes purely logistical.

You don’t want to stay out late on a Sunday night since you’ll have work tomorrow.

Your schedule over the weekend is more available on a Sunday morning.

Your young kids can’t stay out too long after sunset.

Your church only has a children’s ministry for your offspring in the morning.

Due to the point above, there will be others in the same life stage as you in the morning.

But, the transition from the evening service to the morning isn’t always one that is navigated well.

And leaving the later service for the earlier one can come with an associated grief.

You lose connections - both pastoral and friendships.

You lose routine - everything from “your” car spot to “your” seat.

And, while you also gain from the transition in the morning - a wider mix of ministry options, a wider spread of generations, usually an increase in attendance - the losses from the evening are still real.

While I was in ministry, it was usually unspoken - but expected - that inevitably the young adults who were married would migrate to the morning service.

But, often, these losses don’t get acknowledged.

The necessary productivity of downtime

Creating assessments.

Marking assignments.

Writing reports.

Parent/teacher interviews.

As a teacher, every year has its regular busy periods.

School scripture.

Youth group.

Sunday mornings.

Sermons and talks.

In vocational ministry, there’s a predictable cycle of work.

But, then again, both have their quieter times.

Predictably, these mainly revolve around the school holidays.

But, these down times serve an important purpose.

Rest.

Prepare.

Achieve.

This last one is essential.

Now that I’ve conquered the report writing mountain for 2023 (with just a lazy 170 reports) I have a few significant tasks to knock off before the term winds down.

And, now is the time to get them done while I have a little more time on my hands.

Why?

Because it helps downplay the idea that teachers or those in ministry have a limited work schedule and, before you know it, the limited window of downtime will slam shut and the predictable busyness will kick off.

Christmas devotional

Last week I wrote a contribution for the Advent resource the church I attend with my daughters is collating. In short, it’s a mash-up of a few Tiny Bible Bits. Here’s my devotional…

Where have you seen God this week?

For the best part of a decade, in every church service I led - which was most Sundays when I was a youth minister - I would ask the following question to the congregation.

In the big and the small, the extraordinary and the ordinary, where have you seen God this week?

For the first few weeks the responses would be short and hesitant.

But, over time, the congregation would become used to the question and become more comfortable sharing where they had encountered God outside of the weekly church service.

To be blunt, my agenda behind the question was for those in church to open their eyes.

I wanted those in the churches I worked for to expect to see God throughout their week and begin actively looking for Him outside of the two hours they were in the church building.

Sometimes the stories shared were inspirational.

Sometimes the stories showed the church in its best light as people wonderfully supported and encouraged each other.

At other times, the stores were simple.

A sunrise.

A conversation.

Something someone saw online.

And the nature of my question allowed for this.

For God is seen in both the big and small.

Jesus can be encountered in both the extraordinary and the ordinary.

We see this in the gospels.

Jesus raises the dead and releases the tormented.

Jesus feeds the masses and heals the sick.

But Jesus also teaches while He travels.

He has a conversation by a well while His disciples are off gathering food.

We see can see this in the Christmas story.

The birth narratives include lowly outcast shepherds and choirs of angels.

We find a guiding star pointing towards a filthy manger.

We meet an unwed mother and the Promised Saviour.

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to travel to Rome.

As you would expect, while there, I went to a lot of churches (there are reported to be 900 in the city!). Amongst all these churches we visited were the four great basilicas of Rome, including St Peter’s in the Vatican.

One of the points of a cathedral is to be big and extraordinary.

They are designed to take your breath away.

In that place, you are to encounter God by the size and extravagance surrounding you.

And yet, I’ve also sat in a small church in Seaforth.

And God was just as present.

In the big and the small.

The extraordinary and the ordinary.

Where are you seen God this week?

Where will you see Him in the story of Christmas?

Should a healthy church expect a boomerang generation?

I mentioned in this post that I returned to visit my home church a few weeks ago.

Between the years of 2002 and 2016, the idea of returning to my original church wasn’t a reality. I was in vocational youth ministry. I had my own church services to run.

Now, I could return back to my spiritual nest.

Of course, what I’m going to ponder is context specific.

In some places, living expenses will demand that grown-up youth will - in all likelihood - never be able to return to reside in the suburb of their spiritual rearing.

But, in a world where housing prices aren’t spiralling out of control, would returning generation be an expectation for a congregation.

Should some, when they are within easy driving distance, be drawn back to the place they first encountered Jesus?

Should a church expect that those who were sent away due to transitioning life-stages, inevitably return?

Of course, this isn’t why you do children’s or youth ministry.

And, undoubtedly, this is a horrible evangelistic strategy if it’s all you’re relying upon.

Nonetheless… is a boomerang generation a sign of a healthy church?