If there is one mistake we are most susceptible to here at Grace it is the error of trying to do too much. Believe it or not, if we are going to be effective as a church at genuinely accomplishing our purpose of meeting people where they are and moving them to where God wants them to be, then we are going to have to say “NO” to many things that are really good. In other words, we can’t do it all and also do it effectively. It is better to do fewer things well than to do many things with mediocrity.
We very much use this philosophy when it comes to our Sunday morning service. The more varied aspects we throw into our Sunday morning worship services, the less effective we become in accomplishing what Sunday is all about. Our purpose for each and every Sunday morning is “LIFE CHANGE!” As a result, we only include on Sunday mornings what will help us in presenting the principles from Scripture with the goal of each and every person leaving church that morning different than when they entered. From worship, to musical specials, to the theme-set up, to pre-service slides, to videos, to announcements, to dramas, all the way to the preaching, we are trying to hit one bulls-eye with each and every service…LIFE CHANGE!
That is why we are very strict on saying “NO” to many requests we get about Sunday’s services. We don’t just say “NO” because we think all of these things are necessarily bad. In fact, just the opposite is true. Most of them are very worthy things. However, we only have 75 minutes. Our goal is LIFE CHANGE. The more we add other things into the service, no matter how good they might be, the less effective we become at communicating the main principle from Scripture which results in changed lives.
As a result, we don’t use our Sunday morning services to focus on patriotism unless that happens to be the theme of the entire morning service. We don’t use our Sunday morning services to cover political issues. We don’t use our Sunday morning services for missionary reports and updates unless it fits the theme of the morning from Scripture. Nor do we use our Sunday morning services to make announcements about specific areas of ministry within our church unless it is a church-wide function that deals specifically with the purpose of our church.
Now that doesn’t mean that we think these things are unimportant. Patriotism, politics, missions, and all of the different ministries within our church are very good things. Yet, if we add all of these elements to our Sunday morning services, we become less effective at focusing on that morning’s principle of Scripture that can produce real change in the life of every person who is in attendance.
Our Sunday morning worship services are the “hub” of our ministry. We touch more people on Sunday mornings than anything else we do. We have one goal for each and every Sunday morning…LIFE CHANGE! We are committed to making sure that we protect that purpose even if it means saying NO to many other things that are good!
We very much use this philosophy when it comes to our Sunday morning service. The more varied aspects we throw into our Sunday morning worship services, the less effective we become in accomplishing what Sunday is all about. Our purpose for each and every Sunday morning is “LIFE CHANGE!” As a result, we only include on Sunday mornings what will help us in presenting the principles from Scripture with the goal of each and every person leaving church that morning different than when they entered. From worship, to musical specials, to the theme-set up, to pre-service slides, to videos, to announcements, to dramas, all the way to the preaching, we are trying to hit one bulls-eye with each and every service…LIFE CHANGE!
That is why we are very strict on saying “NO” to many requests we get about Sunday’s services. We don’t just say “NO” because we think all of these things are necessarily bad. In fact, just the opposite is true. Most of them are very worthy things. However, we only have 75 minutes. Our goal is LIFE CHANGE. The more we add other things into the service, no matter how good they might be, the less effective we become at communicating the main principle from Scripture which results in changed lives.
As a result, we don’t use our Sunday morning services to focus on patriotism unless that happens to be the theme of the entire morning service. We don’t use our Sunday morning services to cover political issues. We don’t use our Sunday morning services for missionary reports and updates unless it fits the theme of the morning from Scripture. Nor do we use our Sunday morning services to make announcements about specific areas of ministry within our church unless it is a church-wide function that deals specifically with the purpose of our church.
Now that doesn’t mean that we think these things are unimportant. Patriotism, politics, missions, and all of the different ministries within our church are very good things. Yet, if we add all of these elements to our Sunday morning services, we become less effective at focusing on that morning’s principle of Scripture that can produce real change in the life of every person who is in attendance.
Our Sunday morning worship services are the “hub” of our ministry. We touch more people on Sunday mornings than anything else we do. We have one goal for each and every Sunday morning…LIFE CHANGE! We are committed to making sure that we protect that purpose even if it means saying NO to many other things that are good!
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