canceling New Years services

NewCreation435

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The weekend of New Years the church I attend decided to cancel Sunday services for that weekend. When I asked why they said they wanted to give the hundreds of volunteers who help out a break to spend time with their families. I think this is a horrible decision and has upset me. I wonder what you all thoughts are?
 

IACOBVS

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The weekend of New Years the church I attend decided to cancel Sunday services for that weekend. When I asked why they said they wanted to give the hundreds of volunteers who help out a break to spend time with their families. I think this is a horrible decision and has upset me. I wonder what you all thoughts are?

I don't know, especially if there wasn't going to be a Eucharist. Just about everything else that one does in church can generally be done licitly alone or with a few friends. I wouldn't fret too much over it. Some things aren't worth the stress.
 

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The weekend of New Years the church I attend decided to cancel Sunday services for that weekend. When I asked why they said they wanted to give the hundreds of volunteers who help out a break to spend time with their families. I think this is a horrible decision and has upset me. I wonder what you all thoughts are?
Did they provide alternative small group gatherings in houses or did they leave it completely empty?
I would not be thrilled with that decision if there were no alternatives.
I once attended a service where the pastor and my family made it due to a blizzard (we were close to the church). There was never a Sunday the church wasn't open for worship.
Yeah, I'd be bummed. Perhaps you can offer to preach and the congregation can sing acapella. (Old Mennonite still worship with no instruments but their voices. Melody and harmony. It's very beautiful.)
 

NewCreation435

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Did they provide alternative small group gatherings in houses or did they leave it completely empty?
I would not be thrilled with that decision if there were no alternatives.
I once attended a service where the pastor and my family made it due to a blizzard (we were close to the church). There was never a Sunday the church wasn't open for worship.
Yeah, I'd be bummed. Perhaps you can offer to preach and the congregation can sing acapella. (Old Mennonite still worship with no instruments but their voices. Melody and harmony. It's very beautiful.)

The church doesn't have a traditional Sunday School hour, but has small groups that meet during the week. The thing is, that the small groups all discuss the pastor's sermon and if there is no sermon then they probably won't meet either. The group I attend isn't meeting again until January 10. I was just planning on picking another church near me and going as a visitor that weekend
 

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I side with JSimms on this one. For any church to cancel worship on the Lord's Day in the absence of an emergency is, well, shocking. That's the #1 function of the church.
 

tango

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I typically wouldn't be thrilled at a service being cancelled just because, although a lot would depend on the exact nature of the church.

One church I attended for a time only had four musicians, who worked together as a kinda-sorta-band, and if they wanted a day off playing there was little else to use so the church played either Youtube videos or some drivel from IHOP for an hour. If a church has plenty of people to call on it's less likely that such a thing will happen.

At this time of year it seems a shame to cancel services but when Sunday falls on a day that people are likely to be away with their families and the church is likely to be too short-staffed to function effectively it doesn't seem like such a big issue to accept people aren't there. It certainly beats cancelling services over Christmas.
 

NewCreation435

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I typically wouldn't be thrilled at a service being cancelled just because, although a lot would depend on the exact nature of the church.

One church I attended for a time only had four musicians, who worked together as a kinda-sorta-band, and if they wanted a day off playing there was little else to use so the church played either Youtube videos or some drivel from IHOP for an hour. If a church has plenty of people to call on it's less likely that such a thing will happen.

At this time of year it seems a shame to cancel services but when Sunday falls on a day that people are likely to be away with their families and the church is likely to be too short-staffed to function effectively it doesn't seem like such a big issue to accept people aren't there. It certainly beats cancelling services over Christmas.

When I was preaching on Sundays I would preach whether I was sick or well. I remember one lady going to get a glass of water and gave it to me while I was speaking she could tell I was not feeling well. We didn't have but about 50 attenders and there wasn't anyone else who could speak on short notice. So, you do what you have to do.
 

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Perhaps the thing that strikes me about the decision is just how worldly it is.
Somehow there has entered an idea that the church serves as an entertainment center and thus the paid entertainers need a week off. How does that mentality enter a church? How do the shepherds of the flock get to that position of thinking they are merely entertainers who need a break? How do the sheep get to such a condition where they just shrug and move on?
Somewhere this leads to a much bigger issue that requires the body to understand what is the function of church? What biblical lessons can be culled from scripture in order to understand what meeting together means and what Christ expects?
I might ask the shepherds to consider this in light of the decision that is being made.
 

tango

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When I was preaching on Sundays I would preach whether I was sick or well. I remember one lady going to get a glass of water and gave it to me while I was speaking she could tell I was not feeling well. We didn't have but about 50 attenders and there wasn't anyone else who could speak on short notice. So, you do what you have to do.

You do what you believe needs to be done, but at the same time others will do what they believe needs to be done. If enough people are planning to be away that there isn't a large enough group of staff on hand to make a service work there isn't a whole lot of option. Truth be told I think if my church started stipulating that I wasn't allowed to spend time with family over the holidays because of church I'd be finding another church.
 

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After reading the title to this thread I checked our service schedule and there are four services on Christmas eve 5pm, 7pm, 9pm & 11pm. And two services on Christmas day 8am & 10am. Normally there are three services on a normal Sunday morning. I’ve always thought that four services on Christmas eve was a lot but we’ve only ever attended the 7pm service which is packed full even after extra chairs are set up in the sanctuary.
 

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The weekend of New Years the church I attend decided to cancel Sunday services for that weekend. When I asked why they said they wanted to give the hundreds of volunteers who help out a break to spend time with their families. I think this is a horrible decision and has upset me. I wonder what you all thoughts are?

Good for them. Maybe they need more ppl to do stuff.
 

tango

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Perhaps the thing that strikes me about the decision is just how worldly it is.
Somehow there has entered an idea that the church serves as an entertainment center and thus the paid entertainers need a week off. How does that mentality enter a church? How do the shepherds of the flock get to that position of thinking they are merely entertainers who need a break? How do the sheep get to such a condition where they just shrug and move on?
Somewhere this leads to a much bigger issue that requires the body to understand what is the function of church? What biblical lessons can be culled from scripture in order to understand what meeting together means and what Christ expects?
I might ask the shepherds to consider this in light of the decision that is being made.

Why is it worldly to give people time with their families? Can't people spend some time with their families without somehow being regarded as "paid entertainers", or expected to do the same thing every single week without respite?

Even Jesus went away from people to be alone. If we really want to demand people serve and serve and serve until they burn out and resign, with nobody willing to take their place because they can see the process of burning out unaided, go right on ahead and demand people give up everything to play guitar in church on Sunday morning.

Having seen a visible difference in my pastor before and after he went on his (well-earned) sabbatical break it's clear that even church leaders need a break once in a while. As for the primar function of the church, if I recall Jesus told us to go into the world and preach the gospel rather than going to an old building every Sunday and singing some hymns.
 

Albion

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You do what you believe needs to be done, but at the same time others will do what they believe needs to be done. If enough people are planning to be away that there isn't a large enough group of staff on hand to make a service work there isn't a whole lot of option.
How realistic is that? Plenty of small churches conduct meaningful worship services with only a handful of people in the pews. And for them, it matters.

If this particular congregation numbered only ten or so people, there might--might--be the problem you are referring to, but I doubt that that is the case. The reason given for cancelling services was so that the members could spend more time with their families, after all. It was not that there wouldn't be any people to attend if services went ahead as usual. The reason that churches conduct worship on Sunday is because that is considered to be an obligation and was the practice of Christians as described in the New Testament. It's not like cancelling choir practice.
 

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That they even volunteer if they have families.
I knew one pastors couple who always dumped their kids w a woman cause they had to serve the ppl in the church. Family is your first ministry.
 

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Why is it worldly to give people time with their families? Can't people spend some time with their families without somehow being regarded as "paid entertainers", or expected to do the same thing every single week without respite?

Even Jesus went away from people to be alone. If we really want to demand people serve and serve and serve until they burn out and resign, with nobody willing to take their place because they can see the process of burning out unaided, go right on ahead and demand people give up everything to play guitar in church on Sunday morning.

Having seen a visible difference in my pastor before and after he went on his (well-earned) sabbatical break it's clear that even church leaders need a break once in a while. As for the primar function of the church, if I recall Jesus told us to go into the world and preach the gospel rather than going to an old building every Sunday and singing some hymns.
There are many other teachers in the body. The shepherd is not just one. The church does not have to shut its doors in order to have leadership spend time away from the building.
The pastorate is a calling and an anointing from God. Quiet time can be taken without neglecting the ministry. To shut down and lock out the sheep from gathering together because the leaders all want a collective break seems quite odd and selfish and ultimately out of step with the pastoral role.
Again, what is the biblical model of leadership? Did Jesus abandon his disciples and tell them he just needed a break from them all so he could spend time with his kin?
 

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There are many other teachers in the body. The shepherd is not just one. The church does not have to shut its doors in order to have leadership spend time away from the building.
The pastorate is a calling and an anointing from God. Quiet time can be taken without neglecting the ministry. To shut down and lock out the sheep from gathering together because the leaders all want a collective break seems quite odd and selfish and ultimately out of step with the pastoral role.
Again, what is the biblical model of leadership? Did Jesus abandon his disciples and tell them he just needed a break from them all so he could spend time with his kin?

Yes He left em all. He had to pray. Spend time w His Dad.

Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray.
 
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NewCreation435

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Perhaps the thing that strikes me about the decision is just how worldly it is.
Somehow there has entered an idea that the church serves as an entertainment center and thus the paid entertainers need a week off. How does that mentality enter a church? How do the shepherds of the flock get to that position of thinking they are merely entertainers who need a break? How do the sheep get to such a condition where they just shrug and move on?
Somewhere this leads to a much bigger issue that requires the body to understand what is the function of church? What biblical lessons can be culled from scripture in order to understand what meeting together means and what Christ expects?
I might ask the shepherds to consider this in light of the decision that is being made.

I have expressed my unhappiness to church leadership about this. Not that they will listen to me, but I shared my thought to them
 

Imalive

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They're volunteers, so they can say no.
What they did in small churches where I came, if the pastor was sick and the cheapos didnt pay so they couldnt get a guest speaker, they'd have a 'everyone has something' meeting. LOL that was most of the time a nobody has anything meeting.
 

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Yes He left em all. He had to pray. Spend time w His Dad.

Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. 23 And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray.
He didn't tell the people on the mountain, "Sorry, but I am taking a break. Go home to your villages because I am spending time with my family."
No, he fed the people and preached. He didn't say, "I will not do what God called me to do today cause I need a break. I will come back to it next week, cause I want to spend time with family." He didn't send all the disciples home to spend time with family and suspend the ministry.
 

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I have expressed my unhappiness to church leadership about this. Not that they will listen to me, but I shared my thought to them
This is the correct first step in addressing an issue. The overarching thing is to pray for our leaders so they might make biblically informed decisions rather than worldly decisions.
 
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