This was one of those Sundays when before you ever start, you realize that you’re probably trying to cram way too much into one service. Sometimes it just happens that way. We want to worship through music and song. We want to be challenged and equipped through the preaching of the Word. We want to have community and communicate things to our congregants. We want to celebrate missions and pray for outgoing teams.
The tension comes when all of this needs to happen on one Sunday, for whatever reason. We are held to a fairly tight schedule due to multiple services and the logistics of clearing a building and parking lot.
This Sunday was one of those Sundays. We had a longer-than-normal sermon (which we already knew, and was great). We had new members to introduce, several important announcements, and a missions team to send. Plus, we’d planned an inspiring time of ministry for response after the sermon.
Well, our service DID go a bit long – but it was worth it. At the end of the day, I’m sure we were the ones paying attention to the clock a lot more than those who came to worship. It’s a tension that has to be managed, and I think we did a good job with it this week.
Question: How do you manage the tension of time management in your services?
