PRACTICE: our evening service is discontinued
This decision was confirmed at our leadership retreat this past weekend and in the holy conversation discussion with all those present at last week’s service.
In evaluating the service that we’ve offered for the past 5 months Monte noticed several things:
- the goals for which this evening service was begun: attracting new families and providing a worship context for people who do not already come or feel comfortable in the morning service,
- the goal for the music was to offer a different style than that offered in the morning. We now have different music in the morning service through the ministry of Pete, so this evening musical time is not a paramount need.
- The service was designed with families and young children in mind as a way to attract and engage them. What was observed was that this population was not attracted to this service, and that our morning service has greatly grown in terms of this very population.
- What was most appreciated in this new type of service was more the quiet style of worship and offerings of meditation, rather than the intended teaching and modeling of a different spiritual practice each week,
- Sunday nights seem to have been difficult for people. A retooled service, more focused on meditation, offered on a weeknight might better respond to the needs we’ve identified.
We are discontinuing the service to reassess what we need, want and can provide with the best use of our resources. We’ll then start again with a service that will be more focused around meditation, rather than different spiritual practices, most likely on a weeknight. Lina Foltz, Lane Stahl and Stewart Washington are helping in this conversation.
This isn’t a failure, but rather a successful risk of starting a new ministry. We talked about something new, and did it – even as it cost us financially and resource-wise. We are learning from our risk – not to keep risking, but rather to refocus our original ministry vision that corresponded differently to our perceived needs than we originally planned. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks!
Grateful for all of you and what God is calling us to
– Pastor Monte
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CAPC Oakland 