Tag: worship

Posted in Grace, Ministry

The fifth one is on us

Posted on by William Douthwaite

A few weeks ago, I met someone who didn’t attend church much, but came to worship with us one Sunday. I’m not sure how, but we got talking about the punch cards he carried in his wallet from various places he liked to eat. You know, where you get it punched every time you come in, and then when you have a certain number of punches, you get something free.

For some strange reason, I thought, “I can do that.” I made him a “frequent worshiper” card for our church. “Attend four worship services, and the fifth mass is on us!” I laminated it, punched out one of the church logos for the Sunday he was here, and sent it with the usual letter thanking him for worshiping with us. I haven’t seen or heard from him yet, but I hope he found it as amusing as I did.

Afterwards I got to thinking, “What would it mean for worship to be ‘on us’?” I mean, we give freely because of all God has freely given us. I guess it could mean you didn’t have to put an offering in that week. Or maybe you could get something from the plate when it was passed around. Although I wouldn’t recommend it. Our ushers are pretty tough.

Actually, this isn’t such a unique idea. We have churches in our community that have given out gas and coffee gift cards to first time visitors. Some will take you out for ice cream if you bring a friend to youth group. My idea was meant to be taken lightly, but hopefully it will help strengthen the connection with this individual.

Posted in Rant

Why aren’t you going to church?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

From time to time, I call people who are members of our church who do not attend worship at our church. I guess I should say they rarely attend worship. It’s always an interesting conversation. I don’t have to tell them why I’ve called. They immediately know. As soon as I say, “Hi, this is Pastor Douthwaite,” they interrupt and say, “You know we were just talking about you, and we were just talking about how we need to get back to church, and even though we’ll be out of town this weekend, we’ll be there the following Sunday.” All in one breath. A scripted response. They know exactly what to say. At least they think that’s what I want to hear.

Even though all of our members promise that they will remain faithful to the church, even to the point of death, from my experience there are always a few families that haven’t attended in over a year, and that includes Christmas and Easter. Even if they begin to attend or their names are taken off the membership rolls, other families will take their place. I’ve concluded that this is just part of the nature of the church.

Of course, in some of these conversations, I learn why people don’t go to their church. They travel. They or their children are sick. They have guests from out of town staying in their homes. They worked a lot over the past week and are too tired. They were re-tiling their floors. There was a soccer (or baseball or football) game. They had a rough week. Imagine using all those excuses for not going in to work. I imagine you wouldn’t have that job very long.

Reasons for not attending I never hear are, “We don’t like you or your church. We disagree with what you believe. We aren’t getting anything out of your sermons. We don’t like the music.” Could it be that most people join a church without any intent of actually attending on a regular basis? Perhaps we do not clearly express this expectation.

Posted in Ministry

Advent midweek worship

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Tomorrow is the first of our midweek Advent worship services. They are part of our worship tradition in my denomination (Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod) and my congregation (Shepherd of the Coast, Palm Coast, FL). But they are not a part of most people’s lives. In other words, few show up.

I believe that if you didn’t grow up with this tradition, it wouldn’t even occur to you to show up at a church for a Wednesday night worship service during Advent, Lent or any other time of the year. Even if it’s heavily promoted, the idea is a hard one to sell to busy people who figure they get enough religious input on Sunday mornings.

But I like it. I like night services. Things look and sound different to me. Rather than being at the beginning of the day, it’s the end, before bed, and our thoughts are on the day past, rather than  the day or week ahead.

This year, I’m going to try and be less formal and more conversational with those who are there, most of whom will be the choir and the youth group, who are there every Wednesday anyway. I want to hear from people, not just talk at them. We don’t do much of this, but it’s worth a try. I’ll let you know how it goes!