Changing to a New Sunday Schedule

By: Senior Pastor John Schmidt

We will have two new times (9:00 a.m. and 10:45 a.m.) for Sunday activities beginning on February 7, 2010. 

The new Sunday Schedule is:

  9:00 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.           Mosaic                                  Sunday School -  Adult, Children, Student  

10:15 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.          Fellowship Time

10:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.          Mosaic & Traditional            Sunday School  - Adult, Children    

     Why change the Sunday schedule?

     As we continue to focus on seeing God’s vision for our ministries, both as a church and as individuals. I believe God cares deeply for the people around us who do not know him. At Central we share His concern, and want to see more people come into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. It has become apparent to the Session and senior staff that obedience to the vision of God will bring some changes in our Sunday morning schedule.

Central Presbyterian Church has always been committed to serving the people God has called us to reach with the gospel. This has led us to invest ourselves in offering options in worship style, excellence in preaching and music, strong support from Children’s Ministry, excellent facilities and convenient hours. We’ve added services, changed services, and built new facilities repeatedly in the past - all in order to reach people with the good news about Jesus and help them grow into maturity as his followers.

At the present time, we offer both of our contemporary services outside of the hours that national experience has shown to be the best for serving most people (somewhere between a 9 am and 11 am starting time for worship). That means our largest worship space has no service during the prime hours of outreach. In addition, our traditional service is nearing capacity. Our current schedule does not allow for a fourth service on Sunday morning. We could offer an afternoon or evening service, but it is not likely to provide much opportunity to reach many new people with the gospel.

At the end of 2007, a task group of the Session was commissioned to look at the issue of improving our capacity to minister in the “prime hours” of Sunday morning. In early 2008, they presented the following schedule as the optimum choice for maximum use of space and simplicity for the congregation.

I believe the new schedule honors both traditional and contemporary worship, it preserves the opportunity for families to be involved in Christian education on Sunday, it simplifies the schedule of Children’s ministry (from three different times of programming to two), and maximizes the availability of our space in the mid-morning hours. It also allows a greater fellowship time for our congregation and visitors than we have at the present. Eventually, it could lead to a possible 4^th service at the 9 am hour.

This schedule was presented to the College of Elders (all of our elders, even those not now on Session), as well as volunteers in worship, connecting, and Christian education related ministries. Feedback and concerns were presented to the Session and staff before finalizing a target date to launch this change.

Some Challenges

Of course this change will create challenges. We will have greater challenges in providing adequate parking and a smooth traffic pattern between services, and we need to provide preaching at simultaneous events. Even though most families will find this to be a more convenient schedule, some people who like the earlier or later hours, or who benefit from there being three hours of programming on Sunday will lose something that has served them well. These issues are being addressed and we are confident they can be worked through.

The new schedule will also affect preaching.

When Will the Change Occur?

We will launch the new schedule on February 7, 2010. More details of our plans, as well as other important information, are in the FAQ sheet on our website. Please pray as we move forward with the many details we need to cover to make this transition a success. Pray, too, for the many faithful volunteers and key leaders who will need to make decisions about how they will serve in these new circumstances. And consider prayerfully how this new schedule may allow you to serve the body on Sunday mornings!

Change is never easy. What makes it worthwhile is the call of God that invites us to join him in reaching a lost world. What a privilege it is to take our part in sharing Christ with the world around us!

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