Finding True North #18: Why Do We Do This Again?

This morning at North UMC, I led the prayers and sang with the choir on the offertory anthem. Joining myself, Kevin and Brian in worship leadership was 13-year-old Alyssa Welch, who served as our lector for the day. Alyssa has a voracious appetite for books and highly recommended a few fantasy bookss to me between services, but that's beside the point. With the candor of a tween, Alyssa said something before the 8:30 service that was funny but also prompted me thinking about not only North Church itself but the church at large—maybe even life in general.

Back story: NUMC has 2 Sunday morning services, at 8:30 and 11:00 a.m. The 8:30 service averages not quite 150 people on a good day, the 11:00 more than double that. I have learned two things about these worship services since being here: one, that the two services are basically two different churches; and two, that the people who attend the 11:00 service are baffled by the small, subdued character of the 8:30. This is amusing because Barbara, my awesome host, attends the 8:30, so frequently when 11:00-attending church members ask who I'm staying with, they draw a blank when I respond. It's also helpful to me to be staying with Barbara, because I understand that the people who go to the 8:30 actually like it being quieter, less crowded and calmer than the 11:00 (noting that both are traditional, high liturgy services). End of back story.

Moments before we walked into the first service, Alyssa poked her head into the sanctuary, observed the 70-80 people who were seated at that point and turned to us with a simple question: "Why do we do this service again?" The pastors and I laughed, in part because that question has actually come up in meetings (which, ironically, have always involved all 11:00-ers). Alyssa was asking a pretty obvious question: why, when so few people attend, do we bother holding an 8:30 service?

The first thing I've been thinking about in connection with this question is how distinct the two worship services are at North. Because I live with Barbara, I know why some people prefer the 8:30 service—I suspect at least some would not attend the 11:00 if the church were to consolidate (not that that's an option, I'm just speculating). This sort of disconnect is inevitable in any large, multi-service church, especially ones where the character of one service might appeal more to certain people. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but I am an advocate of cohesiveness and connectivity wherever it is possible, so I'm curious what other churches with a situation similar to North are (or aren't) doing to encourage a broader sense of communion among folks who may not be physically in worship at the same time. Even at North, the services aren't complete islands—for one thing, service time of choice is not the only classifying factor in the church, but also the Sunday School classes and various outreach ministries do bridge the gaps.

That was the more mundane line of thought prompted by Alyssa's comment; more broadly, I think "Why do we do this again?" is a great question to ask of anything and everything in the church (or in life). This should be true not only of things that are off base somehow but also of things that seem to be going well. Alyssa asked a question that plenty of 11:00-ers have probably at least thought if not said, but let's take her cue and apply it across the board. Why do we do the 11:00 service? Why do we send youth teams to Haiti? Why do we run a thrice weekly soup kitchen? Why do we have Sunday School? The answers to such questions would be as varied as the people giving them and more, and there's no correct answer, but what we should be listening for in responding to any of these questions is the place of God in the answer. Is God the source and goal of whatever it is we're doing? Is God even a part of it?

If God is working in a low-attendance service, let's keep having it. A better-attended service may actually have less God in it if it becomes a matter of convenience or social interaction or what have you. (I don't see that as an issue at North, just pondering in generalities here.) Let's hang on tightly to Alyssa's question: "Why do we do this again?" Hopefully, whatever it is, we do it to glorify God and build up one another.