Structured Sunday Services & Crazy People

September 7, 2011 / Ben Reed / 10 Comments

Creative commons: Kai Blake

I’ve heard people say that a structured, time-sensitive service isn’t one that leaves room for the Spirit to work. Ever heard that? Ever said that?

The conversation starts innocently like this:

I wish we could have sung another song…or chorus…or verse.

I wish that _____ (my pastor) could’ve preached just a little longer. OR It’s over already?

And then you follow it up with this bomb

…because the Spirit needed just a little bit longer to work on ____. (or, sometimes if you’re feeling extra humble, you’ll say that the Holy Spirit needed a little longer to work on you.)

And for saying that, I call you a crazy person. Because that’s the only category you fit in right now.

“Why, Ben?” you say. I’ll tell you in 6 points.

6 Reasons to Structure your Sunday Services

1. It says it in the Bible.

Multiple times in the Bible, it tells us that all Sunday morning church services are supposed to last for 1 hour. Don’t question me on that. I went to seminary.

2. We pastors can’t work more than an hour straight.

Like “they” say, preaching a normal-length sermon is like working an 8-hour day. So if we have 2 services every Sunday, we work a 16 hour day. And if we, like we do at Grace, have 3 live services on our campus on Sunday, it’s like we’ve worked a 24 hour day. And you want us to do more?!? You walk a hard line, my friend.

3. How “bad” are you that the Creator of the universe can’t do anything in your life in a solid hour?

*I’m pausing here for dramatic effect, then peering judgmentally over the top of my glasses at you as they slide down to the end of my nose.

4. When you have multiple services on a Sunday, logistics dictates that you have some structured order.

After all, the next service, full of people ready to experience God, is coming.

5. Structure isn’t bad. Is it?

Since when has structuring something been considered evil? We see nothing in the Scriptures saying that limiting the length of a service is anti-Holy Spirit. In fact, we at Grace have found that people are more apt to engage when they know that there will be a planned start and stop time.

6. Structure doesn’t have to limit the Spirit.

To think that the Holy Spirit is limited by time is thinking very little of the Spirit. Can God not work in an hour? How much longer does He need? Does He need just a few more minutes to really do His best work? One more repeat of the chorus…one more killer illustration…one more winsomely timed video?

*image via Kai Blake

Church, Leadership

Church freedom holy spirit structure sunday time worship

Leslie Oden

We have a structured framework for our services too, and we’ve heard those same objections. We have two services, both 70 minutes. We believe that the Holy Spirit is WELL able to provide direction, guidance and inspiration to the Pastor and his staff as they pray, prepare and study for each message series. Is God less able to inspire us when we plan our yearly message calendar than He is on the day a message is shared? Is He less able to inspire the worship pastor or media arts team as they prepare a month or more in advance? Umm…I don’t think so. God knows who will attend each service, and is able to provide exactly what’s needed during the time we have. God is glorified in excellence, and it would be impossible for us to bring excellence to our music, message, and ministry without God’s involvement in our preparation.

It’s interesting to note that the ones who think services should be longer, more music, etc. are almost always mature Christians. Unchurched people, or those new to following Christ, feel awkward singing for a long time. That’s why we don’t! I personally LOVE worship, there can’t be enough songs in a worship set for me. But it’s not about me. Wouldn’t it would be great if the critics would spend as much time praying for God to touch hearts during our hour -long services, as they do complaining?! Yeah, that’ll happen….
- Ben Reed
  
  Leslie,
  I absolutely love your reply. I should’ve added numbers 7-8 to my list.
  
  7. The Holy Spirit works in the planning, too.
  
  8. If you’re asking for longer services, the services probably aren’t for you.
  
  Love it, Leslie!
Jason Vana

I had to fight that “no structure” mentality at my former church when we were between pastors. Some of the other board members thought we should plan a series, or even figure out what topics we should preach on in advance. If we planned a month in advance, it meant that we weren’t following God’s Spirit, who apparently only lets us know what He’s going to do two seconds before we are about to start.

Structure in our services is needed, otherwise it’s chaotic and disorganized and people won’t want to come back.
- Ben Reed
  
  Yeah, the Holy Spirit must be limited by time. I’ve heard similar stuff.
  
  You’re so right…structure is needed. Without it, people won’t want to come back.
Wendel Saboia

I really can’t tell if this post is sarcastic or if it’s serious. If it is serious, you’re seriously more entertained by structures and rule than by God. Yes, we need order, but to not plan for some flexibility is wrong in so many ways. I would also guess that a church that operates as structured as McDonald’s probably don’t experience much of what the church described in Acts experience. What? One hour is like 8 for pastors? Wow! Paul should have added that to the epistles. :-S
- Ben Reed
  
  I’m serious about #4-6, Wendel. I’m not advocating a service so structured that it’s oppressive. I am, however, saying that God works in the planning of services just like he does in the services Himself.
  
  We feel like we value volunteers (especially in our preschools areas) when we honor the hour that we promised them we’d worship in the main sanctuary.
  
  I don’t want structure where it inhibits the Spirit. But working to maximize 1 hour on Sundays, having people leave wanting more (which also gives us the chance to say that Sunday morning isn’t all that there is to ‘church,’ pushing people towards significant relationships in small groups), we’ve seen the Spirit work powerfully.
  
  And as Leslie also said in the comments, we’ve seen that ‘outsiders’ really value knowing what to expect on Sundays (i.e., time).
Wendel Saboia

I appreciate your reply, Ben. I seriously only realized that the post was not sarcastic after reading the comments. I’m all for preparation and order, what I was not following was that structure is a matter of leadership choice, and I have a hard time to make it into theology. I personally prepare for my worship sets (I lead worship), but I have some flexibility from leadership as I don’t always get all the fine details during preparation, and even if I feel like I did, God might want to work something. I don’t use that as an excuse to either justify lack of preparation, or lack of flexibility. Sorry for being argumentative, but it is only fair to dialogue if there is a spot for comments on a post. So, here’s how I read this:
1. I probably need to look up my concordance, as I don’t see the 1-hour limit on my bible. Can you enlighten me? The argument about “I went to seminary,” (some people call it cemetery, with all the respect)… but that doesn’t entitle anyone to hold the truth in such a puffed up manner. I can give various examples of an over 1-hour “service”or worship time in the scriptures.
2. Yeah, I expressed how I feel about the 1:8 hour ratio… I wouldn’t call that theology.
3. When it comes to intimate times with God, if I were so inflexible to not allow Him to work in me as He pleases, I would probably not experience His tangible presence. God can work on someone in one minute (guy in the Gate Beautiful), or it can take days (Paul), people are in different places, but the service needs to be one size fits all, it has nothing to do with how “bad” God would be. Volunteers could plan to be flexible, if that meant serving God a few extra moments if that was the case. If one needs to be so seeker friendly that a few minutes would matter to a visitor, who’s that visitor that is not fit for the Kingdom (Christ has a lot to say about that in the Gospels). Again, a matter of leadership preference… so one should take the responsibility for making the decision and not thinking that different opinions or desires are ungodly – everyone is entitle to theirs, but it’s not up to them until they are the ones leading, right?
4. Totally agree… again, a matter of choice, as one could also justify adding some padding for planned flexibility, or not.
5. Yes, yet there’s not a discussion on whether it’s good or bad both ways. There’s a discussion of order, but I don’t think Paul had a vision of our modern church/concert-styled/oratory/warehouse-building services when he instructed the Corinthian church about that.
6. The workings of the Spirit in the scriptures don’t even deal with how many choruses, or videos, but our Master spoke with people giving various illustrations, even to the point that people were flocking for days, and staying hungry (fed the thousands with bread and fish), I would repeat what I said on #3.

Again, I’m not being apologetic to non-structure at all, but I just can’t understand it to be a matter of theology, but of leadership choice. And in my “insignificant” opinion, I think the leader must simply take ownership and responsibility for it, and if someone does not like it, they either must understand that there are many ways to solve an equation and that equation needs to be solved by someone, who’s the leader. Many people have issues with authority… again, if they can’t be taught and be corrected, how fit are they for the Kingdom?

Since you added:
7. Yes, He works in prep time, and He might want to work our submission during the service.
8. This sounds like “My way or the highway” to me. I probably would not feel very welcomed with a response like that from a pastor. A well tempered response explaining that this was a well thought of decision would seem much more loving coming from a pastor.
Thanks… I only wrote this because I care, not because I need to talk. Feel free to delete it. I just thought a good argument can be good food for thought.
- Ben Reed
  
  Wendell…just to be clear, in response:
  1. I was joking. It’s not in the Bible that our services need to be 1 hour. I was completely kidding about the whole “don’t question me because I went to seminary.” Complete joke.
  2. Though I have heard it said (and though I would also agree that when you preach a sermon, it often feels like a whole day’s worth of work (8 hours) is packed into a sermon because you’re pouring all of your energies towards it), I was also kidding at this, too. Just doing some silly math…if “it’s said” that preaching a sermon is like working an 8 hour day, and if you have 3 services/Sunday, then doing the math, that = 24 hours. Preach a longer sermon? We don’t even have that many hours in a day. Again, just a joke.
  3. My original #3 was a joke…sort of. 🙂 If we were having a conversation, the subtle joke/jab would’ve been felt not as a condemnation, but as humor. But I agree with you as you fleshed things out on this.
  
  You’re right…it’s a matter of leadership choice. You’re also right…the leader must take ownership and responsibility for it. And I also like what you said about building in extra time. A 1 hour, 30 minute service can be planned. But a 1 hour service that extends to 1 hour, 30 minutes can frustrate volunteers and those in the congregation…especially when that happens on a regular basis.
  
  #8 was a summary of what was stated, so that statement, with no context, does sound less-than-pastoral. I’d never state it like that, but would walk someone through the principles behind why I’d ever lean that direction, helping them understand why we structure our Sunday services the way that we do, and how Sunday services are really a front-door environment for us. I’d want them to also understand that Sunday isnt’ all that there is, but that small groups is the “living room” environment where we encourage people to be vulnerable and pursue authentic relationships.
  
  Hope that makes sense. Maybe you’ve still got some push-back, and I welcome it if you do.
Wendel Silva

“and if someone does not like it, they either must understand that there are many ways to solve an equation and that equation needs to be solved by someone, who’s the leader. Many people have issues with authority… again, if they can’t be taught and be corrected, how fit are they for the Kingdom?”
Sorry… king of run-on sentences when writing online here! 🙂
I meant to say they either have to understand about the equations deal, or simply be frustrated…
Ryan Tate

There are things I agree with and things I don’t. But I would only add that those who feel that Sunday morning structured services don’t provide for and meet all their spiritual needs should remember that this time is less than 2% of their week. As discples we can’t expect 100% of our Spirit-filled times of worship to come from this 2%. Perhaps the other 98% of our week should be structured, or not-structured, in a way to let the Spirit move. Than we wouldn’t get so bent out of shape about what happens and what doesn’t happen on Sunday mornings.

The questions we’ve asked ourselves are, “What is our large gathering for? What is NOT our large gathering for?” This helps form our expectations and it also helps plan for both structure and flexibility. One of our core values is: Structure always submits to Spirit.

This is a good post, Ben. It sparks conversation, response, questions, and deep thinking on what God is telling us and what we’re doing about it. Thank you.

Structured Sunday Services & Crazy People

6 Reasons to Structure your Sunday Services

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6 Reasons to Structure your Sunday Services

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