Friday Night Worship Service
On February 2nd at 6:30 PM, we're starting a Friday night evening service in the chapel. I'd like to invite you to join me. Yeah, you probably have some questions.
Do we have a chapel?
Well, no. And yes. Pastor Josiah plans to turn our Fellowship Hall into a slightly more inviting space with paint and expensive curtains. We also have some decorations, and we'll turn the room and face the other direction. We'll set up rows, but we'll have some tables in the back reserved for families with small children.
Is it a Bible study or a worship service?
It will be a worship service, although not the same as our Sunday morning service. We won't have the announcements or the kids' sermons. We won't be collecting an offering or taking the Lord's Supper. We will have Scripture reading, a devotional opening and call to worship, an acoustic worship set, prayer, and preaching. While the sermons will be a little longer and include more information, it will be awkward if you raise your hand to ask a question in the middle of it. I will be preaching the Word of God.
How long will it last?
My preference would be that it becomes a regular, ongoing service. That being said, we are starting with eight weeks and will evaluate how it's going at the end of those eight weeks. We'll start with the book of Revelation, and eight weeks will get us through chapter 3, which is a natural shift in the book and an okay place to stop or press forward. If you mean, how long will the service last? I am anticipating about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes.
What book will be preached to start with?
If you read the previous question, you saw that I'm starting with the book of Revelation. Yup. Why? Because blessed is the person who reads the book (Revelation 1:3), and the purpose of the book is to encourage and comfort the reader in light of the difficulties of our crazy world. I believe we could use the encouragement.
From what theological persuasion will you preach?
While I am a reformed, historical premillennialist, and will preach from my convictions, I intend to provide a wide breadth of views on navigating through the book. We will remain within our Statement of Beliefs. I hope we all learn a great deal from the journey.
Will there be childcare?
No. Unless someone (or a group of someones) could be highly committed to providing this service for your brothers and sisters. We plan to have tables in the back reserved for families with small children so kids can color. Rows will be ahead of the tables.
Will it be recorded or live-streamed?
No. First, I think there is a healthy value in being present. Our Sunday morning service is available for those who can be present, but Friday night will be different. While the gospel will be present in the sermons and guests are encouraged, this service will be less evangelistic and more discipleship-driven. Second, we plan on keeping the tech side of the service simple. The music will be unplugged, we won't have microphones or speakers, and even the song lyrics will be printed on a bulletin-style sheet. It might do us all some good to get unplugged from our tech and plugged into worshiping and hearing from God for another hour.
Why do we need another service?
If you're asking this question, I encourage you to come and see. There was a time when a church had a Sunday morning, Sunday evening, and a Wednesday evening service. That's threefold more times the Body of Christ was worshiping, fellowshiping, praying together, and sitting under the preached Word of God. We've traded that in for more sports and movie time. That's been a costly move in our country, and I am praying that maybe some in our church might welcome another hour of the week to devote themselves to God corporately. We'll see how it goes in the first eight weeks. Maybe we will only do it for eight weeks each winter? We'll see.
Can I invite my friends?
I hope you will! What if they are a member of another church? While I would love to see them get highly plugged into the ministries of their own-faith families if they are available and want to join you, bring them along.
Will there be coffee and snacks?
If you bring them, there will be for sure! I'm not sure. Pastor Josiah will feel this out, and we'll do what works best for the participants. If you'd like to help provide this hospitable work and help clean up, please chat with Pastor Josiah.
Will others be preaching or leading worship?
I certainly hope so! Pastor Josiah will likely preach twice, and Robbie once in the first eight weeks. It opens up doors for me to work with both of them. Robbie would love to see our other musicians help or even lead worship. And I'm hopeful we could have others pray, read Scripture, or offer the devotional call to worship. I suppose we'll see.
I hope you'll consider joining us on Friday nights.
For the Kingdom!
Pastor Bryan