ReCreation Second Service
beginning November 29, 2015!
I’m sure that you all have been wondering what’s up with the second service. We’ve been laying a lot of groundwork since I began my job in March, and we expect to do a “soft launch” of the second service on November 29, 2015. We have a launch team of around 20 people, and we’re aiming to have about 60 people attend the Nov. 29 service. We’ll then aim to have a big “launch” next fall where the goal will be to have 150 people attending. At this point, the only difference between the “soft launch” and the “launch” is the number of people we’re aiming at. We want to give ourselves time to experiment with our approach and gain feedback and adjust before setting things in stone. We also want to ensure that our focus remains on outreach throughout the year.
The structure of the Sunday gatherings will be varied, based on a lot of research that I’ve been doing about what kind of spiritual activities are natural for most younger folks. Our Sunday rhythm is going to be as follows:
First Sunday of the Month - Worship-oriented gathering
Second and Fourth Sunday - Discussion-oriented gathering
Third Sunday - Service/Mission oriented gathering
Fifth Sunday - Lament oriented Worship Celebration.
Each of these types of worship gatherings meets a different part of our spiritual needs, and the variety will help us to focus in on each thing at a time dedicated for that purpose. The worship style in the worship-oriented gatherings will be an experiential, liturgically oriented style. You’ll have to come and try it out and see what you think!
Before our launch date, we’ll have two preview Sunday gatherings. The first will be on September 27 at 10:30 a.m. in the fellowship hall, and it will be a discussion-oriented gathering. One of the main goals of this preview gathering is to test how sound travels between the basement and the sanctuary to determine if we can run the two services simultaneously. The second will be a worship-oriented gathering, and it will be on October 25, time TBD. A full calendar of events is available on our church website under the outreach page and hanging on the information pillar in the Narthex.
We will also be having two bridge events–one October 16, and one in mid-November. The goal of these events is to invite back our guests to a relational activity to continue building into those relationships. Stay tuned for more information on these!
We’ll be looking for a great deal of feedback in these early months, so please feel free to pass on responses or reactions to what we’re doing. However, please remember that we are trying some new things to make our church hospitable and natural-feeling to people who might not have attended church growing up. It’s not going to be a traditional church service.
Next month in the newsletter I’ll share our ReCreation “dream statements” about the type of spiritual community we are forming.
Until then, please feel free to contact me with questions or comments.
Thanks!
Anna
