FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
As we have been looking at I Cor. 9:19-23, we have concluded that Paul’s heart was to do “whatever it takes” to come along side as many people as possible to share the Gospel with them. Paul was passionate and intentional about sharing Christ with all people. We have been looking at our church and trying to be as intentional as we can in connecting with as many people as possible with the Gospel. Therefore, over the past few weeks we have been surveying our church family about starting an early Sunday morning service that is contemporary and geared more towards young adults. I hope every member of our church family fills one out. It allows us to see if it meets a need in our church family and gives us an idea of what the breakdown of each service would be. You are not locked into one service and are free to come to which ever service meets your need on any given week, but the survey gives us an idea of where to start. In this blog I wanted to answer some of the most frequently asked questions.
1. Why are we considering a contemporary early service?
The simple answer is that we believe that it may meet the needs of some in our church family and may give us the opportunity to reach people that we are not currently reaching.
The longer answer is we want to be more intentional about reaching out to young adults. We are truly blessed to have a strong multi-generational family of faith but with that being said we are not reaching the 20 something’s like we believe God wants us to. Culturally speaking the 18-30 age group is not being reached by the church in America. We are in danger of missing a generation for Christ and this should not be acceptable for any Great Commission minded church. In my at least semi-educated opinion churches that do reach young adults either offer only a contemporary/less traditional worship venue or at least a contemporary/less traditional worship option.
We have been blessed to reach and minister to hundreds of people with our current blended worship format and want to continue to do so with all our energy and effort. We will continue to offer this service at 10: 40 a.m. The contemporary option allows us to reach out to people that we are currently not reaching with what we are doing right now. This new format gives a more intentional approach to connect with every age group in worship: 8:30 a.m. cotemporary, 10:40 a.m. blended and 5:00 p.m. traditional. We must always be reminded that a new contemporary venue is no guarantee that we will reach new people. Each of us must continue to reach out, invite, love and serve people. We want Olivet to be a place where people from every age, race, background and life experience feels needed wanted and loved with the love of Christ.
2. Will Young Adults come early?
Good question. The simple answer is we don’t know unless we try. I believe as a church we have to be willing to try different things to reach people. If it is effective, build on it. If not, punt and try something else that might be effective. Remember the message never changes but methods do.
The longer answer is that we did not want to offer the contemporary service later because we would be asking 600-650 people to change something that already connects with most of them. This schedule actually allows you to stay in the same worship and bible study class if you choose. The only change is Sunday School/ Bible study will move 30 minutes later to 9:30 a.m. and the blended service will be over 10 to 15 minutes later 11:40-11:45 a.m.
Secondly, we have talked with some churches that offer an early contemporary service. They have found that many young adults come early because their kids wake up early anyway and they can be at worship and bible study and by 10:30 a.m. have the rest of the day with their family. Also, having two services gives all of our church family options about coming early or late based on what may meet the needs of their family that particular week.
3. What About Child Care Early?
We will have our nursery and extended session but the specifics will be determined when we get the results of the survey. That is why it is important for everyone to fill out the survey.
4. What About Parking?
As always we encourage those who are physically able to park away from the building, to do so. It is not only a great opportunity to get a little exercise but we want to keep our handicapped spaces available for those who need it and our guest parking available for our guests. We want to keep our parking closest to the building open for those who need it. We hope to have volunteers in the parking lot to assist with this process.
5. How Can I Help ?
We need volunteers to help with child-care, greeters, parking, sound/video and in the coffee shop. If you want to help with child-care early, contact Debbie Cook and she will eventually let you know the plan. We are blessed at Olivet to have so many people with a servants heart. I have had several people come to me and say, “I will be here and help in whatever service, in whatever way that I can?” Amen. I love that servant attitude. That is an attitude that will make a difference in the lives of people.
I am thankful to be the pastor of a church who is willing to be like Paul and do “Whatever it takes” to reach out to all people with the Gospel.
Pastor Scott