Every Day is Sunday Morning.
This is the next installment in our ongoing “Large Church” series, which looks at guest services through the lens of the larger congregation: those with an average attendance of 800 or more. See the entire series here.
In an earlier article in this series, I proposed seven ways that larger churches struggle with hospitality. Struggle #4 is The relentless slog of the approaching Sundays. While every church has the every Sunday issue, larger churches with larger weekend structures can often struggle with how to “pull off the weekend.”
And that’s a reasonable struggle, right? If our role involves the care of volunteers and the design of the environment and the elements leading up to and out of the service and the communication plan on Thursday and shopping for the non-GMO pumpkin spice creamer on Saturday and other duties as assigned, it’s no wonder that we fall back on that infamous-but-awful saying of a pastor in the 2000s: “It’s all about the weekend, stupid.”
Or worse: if our role largely consists of reacting to other staff members’ decisions, we can spend Monday-Saturday in fight or flight mode, alternating between arguing or sobbing.
So how do we face the relentless slog of the approaching Sunday?
1. Put the weekend in its rightful place.
First and foremost, those of us in small churches, medium churches, and megachurches have to remember that it’s not about us. It’s not about our ability to “pull it off” and look good doing so. Neither is it about simply making it look good. No, the Sunday worship service is about Jesus. It’s about pointing people to Jesus. And yes, the larger church has lots of tools to do that (Assemble a guest services team! Focus the message! Provide supplementary resources!).
But we dare not elevate the methods and lose the main thing: everything we do should be a neon sign to the gospel message of Jesus and the life-changing relationship he offers. That will change the way we structure a Sunday, and it will change the way we personally prepare for a Sunday. (More on this in #7.)
2. Systematize a lot.
I’m constantly amazed at the local church’s addiction to innovation. We’ve convinced ourselves that this Sunday has to rank at least five points higher than last Sunday. And that means we’re constantly in the state of reinvention, creating bigger bells and whistles, and providing a superior experience because last Sunday is so last Sunday.
My question is, Why? Why do we have to reinvent the wheel? Why can’t we agree on the basic modules that belong in the weekend service, and make tiny tweaks rather than huge leaps? Why can’t some processes be boring? I’m a firm believer that we should systematize whatever processes we can, so Sunday is more about people.
3. Deputize a few.
In the last post in this series, I said that larger churches can typically afford to have one person who runs the “not on stage, not related to an age” aspects of the weekend. But even if you’re that person, recognize you can’t (and shouldn’t) do it on your own. You need a team around you.
So invest in some key volunteer leaders. Get them on the same page. Make sure that they’re being equipped to lead in meaningful ways. And hand off certain aspects of your week / weekend so you’re free to focus on something else.
4. Map your ideal week.
I know a couple of sports references*: “Cover the spread.” “The best offense is a good defense.” And while I may not know what they mean, I know that the latter lends itself to having a plan before the week begins.
That’s why I’m a fan of having an ideal week (posts here and here). That process helps me know what has to get done, and if the has to gets interrupted, well, it has to be accounted for before Sunday. Your ideal week may look different than mine, but you know the things that have to be on the schedule every Monday morning, every Wednesday afternoon, and so on. Get them on your calendar so you can get them out of your brain.
5. Have the hard conversation.
Maybe you’ve tracked with me so far. Perhaps you know a fellow staff member or two who are addicted to innovation and never met a last-minute idea they didn’t love. And worse, maybe that person is your lead pastor and you’re terrified to bring it up.
I’d gently encourage you to wade into those waters. If you’ve built a rapport of trust and a reputation for getting the job done, it shouldn’t be hard – in a calm moment, not when you just got handed another thing or when it’s Sunday morning and you’re freaking out – to have a conversation. Help your leader (or peers) know that you’re on their side, and you want their role to be successful. Let them know how you can make it better if you’re brought in earlier.
6. Help build a longer runway.
Part of the solution to #5 is to build a longer runway. While we have still not perfected this, recent years have seen major improvements in our own staff’s runway to the weekend. There have been brilliant people who have spoken into some of the “basic modules” (#2 above) and what is needed for each. What used to be last-minute decisions is now months-ahead (or at least weeks-ahead) discussions.
This doesn’t discount emergency pivots or Spirit-driven moments. The runway dictates a majority of the modules and helps lend structure to a Sunday. But the beautiful thing about a runway is, you know the standard landing pattern, and you know what you’re risking when you violate it.
7. Take the mission seriously, but not yourself.
To bookend this concept of the relentless slog of Sunday, I’ll end with one of our six staff values: we take the mission seriously, but not ourselves. Our team is incredibly serious about the mission. We’re not so serious about the role our talent or personality or what our get-it-done attitude brings to the mission.
Plans are going to go awry. Runways will sometimes be ignored. Our great ideas will sometimes get shoved to the side for a greater idea. And we can whine about it or sulk about it, or we can choose to recognize that we’re not the only member of the team. We can assume that our coworkers are smart and have good intentions, and know that it’s not all about the weekend (or our role in it). It’s simply about Jesus’ work in our congregation…and in us.
*True story: I planned to say “I know a couple of sports references” and then proceed to list three or four. Nope, turns out I actually only know a couple. Apologies to my sons, who tried to raise me better.
