Friday, March 28, 2008

Looking Back at Good Friday (part 3)

Looking back at Good Friday there are two new things that we did this past year that encouraged me.  One was logistical in nature and the other was regarding programming.  Now these are not earth-shattering changes by any means, but for our team it prodded us to step out in faith a bit and it got us thinking differently to an extent. 

_dsf9327 First the logistical one:  It simply was adding a second Good Friday service this year with our regular time being at 7pm.  We have been doing a  Good Friday for a few years now with our attendance increasing annually to the point where in 2007 we were crowded at capacity.  A couple of the questions we wrestled with regarding a second service: 

What time should service times be?  For most people Good Friday is a full work day and if we added a 5:30pm service (which we did) or earlier -- Would people show up?  Would our volunteers be able to be there a couple hours earlier than that to prepare? Did we want to risk having the possible loss of crowd dynamics if the attendance was low?  Would having two service simply split the difference of the one, hence losing the energy of a maxed out service? We moved ahead regardless of these questions

.The outcome was incredible! Our attendance increased by 35% and the attendance was split equally creating two full services! 

Second the programming one: We decided to put our music teams off the stage.  This was a first for us.  Instead we filled the stage with paintings, candles and some floral decor to further accentuate the meditative feel of the service.  Now again questions arose ... Would it be awkward with the crowd seeing the team on the floor?  Would it affect the team's ability to lead or connect without having a direct face to face to contact with attendees? Now this would not be the norm -- I do believe having a visible leader to lead the congregation is a vital part of a worship service but given the nature of the evening I felt the change could work._dsf9383

The outcome again was great!  People loved having something visual to contemplate and to help them meditate on the significance of the cross and no one complained about not seeing the band.

In summary Good Friday 2008 was a real "Yeah God" moment in the life of our church.

Mar 28, 2008 2:18:30 PM | Leadership

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Looking Back at Good Friday (part 2 For our Good Friday service last week, in preparation for communion, we lead our church through a spiritual directive to add perspective to the experience. This past year we had three stations set up with large panels that listed a variety of sins written on envelopes. Attendees were directed to pick off the board the sin that either they have not given up yet; or possibly have not forgiven themselves of; or possibly they have come to identify themselves with. Reminding them that whatever the it may be, we need to remember that Christ went to the cross because of those sins in our lives and that we do not have to live under that yoke any longer. We put them in envelopes that they were then instructed to disregard the envelopes at the communion table or at the foot of the cross we had set up. We wrote those sins on envelopes because in it was a card that each person was to keep. The card had on it a key Bible verse that addressed that specific sin. Card was also to serve as a reminder of the depth of God's love. They were to reflect on that verse in their seats before we were to receive the communion elements together.
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