New Service Times FAQ's

New Sunday Service Times will begin on February 7, 2010.

What is the new Sunday Schedule?

  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                  

See also Changing to a New Sunday Schedule.

Why change the Sunday schedule?

This schedule honors both traditional and contemporary worship; preserves the opportunity for families to be involved in Christian education on Sunday; simplifies the schedule of Children’s ministry; and maximizes the use of worship space during prime hours. It also allows for greater interaction between members of the body who currently do not cross paths on Sunday mornings.

Central Presbyterian Church is committed to serving the people God has called us to reach with the good news about Jesus and help them grow into maturity as his followers. 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. At issue now is the strategic use of our most important ministry hours.

Research and national experience has shown that the best time for attracting guests into worship is starting a service between 9:00 a.m. and noon on a Sunday. Currently we offer both of our contemporary services outside of that window, leaving our largest worship space empty for the prime hours of outreach. In addition, our traditional service is nearing capacity and our current schedule does not allow for a fourth service on Sunday morning.

How did we come to this particular decision?

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 above schedule as the optimum choice for maximum use of space and simplicity for the congregation. The Session accepted the report but put off further discussion and discernment until key issues could be addressed.

In 2009 pastors, staff and volunteers began to work again on the particular issues that would need to be addressed to move forward with this plan. The schedule and a more finalized version of implementation plans were presented to the College of Elders, as well as volunteers in Worship Ministries, Connecting Ministry, and Christian Education ministries. Feedback and concerns were presented to the Session and staff before finalizing a target date to launch this change.

Why not hold a Service Saturday or Sunday Night?

We seriously considered this option; however, the experience of other churches has shown that these efforts usually bear much lower attendance for the same effort on a Sunday morning.  Additionally, an unseen cost of a Saturday or Sunday service is the load on staff and volunteers, alike. The church must duplicate all of Sunday support ministries for these new services (Christian Education, Connecting and Guest Ministry, Ushers, Worship Ministry, Preaching, cleaning the building, etc.) In addition, it still doesn’t deal with the issue that our largest space is empty in the prime hours for attracting guests.

Why change in February?

The church ministry year closely follows the academic year, with August/September and January/February being the best times to begin new programming. Visits from new residents to Baltimore, college students, and people just “church shopping” seem to cluster in these months. We know that a February change in Chilren's Minstry affects the make-up of classes and teaching teams, and this may be difficult. However, the desire to offer this new level of outreach to our community sooner rather than later is driving our plan and is motivating us to seek solutions to the challenges!

Who will be preaching?

Each week we will have two preachers filling the pulpit. We will be able to handle the added preaching load with Pastor Laura serving more hours now, and with judicious use of other people with preaching gifts within the staff and congregation. We also intend to experiment with video simulcasts of the sermon especially when we need the same speaker at all services (e.g. a special missionary speaker).

What about parking?

Parking is definitely a challenge with this schedule. We are currently identifying the number of spaces we currently use at each service and projecting how that will change. We are also researching what other nearby parking options are regularly available on weekends. Issues of traffic control and flow in the church lot and on the street are being examined and will be handled by those involved in a newly forming Parking Ministry Team. If you would be willing to help with this team please contact Jim McClure at jim@centralpc.org. In addition, the services are buffered by a full 30 minutes of transition time.

How will this affect Children’s Ministry?

Children’s Ministry will provide care for our infants and toddlers and we will offer full Sunday School programs for children 2 years of age through 5th grades at both 9:00 a. m. and 10:45 a.m.  The Sunday School curriculum taught at 9:00 a.m. will be different than the curriculum taught at 10:45 a.m. to meet the needs of those children attending both hours.  Children in every age group who remain in Children’s Ministry for both hours will be cared for by our volunteers during the transition time between the services. For the first time in years, all parents have the opportunity to both worship with their children and have them experience a full Sunday school program at the other hour.

How will this affect children in worship?

This schedule provides a family friendly environment for both worship and learning. If you worship and serve or worship and learn, Children’s Ministry will have childcare and programming for children during both services and will assist your child in the transition between programs.  While there will no longer be a children’s release from worship, children are always welcome in the worship services. We encourage parents to make worshipping as a family a part of their Sunday morning experience.

How will this affect Student Ministry?

There will be a variety of classes available for both Middle and High School students at
9:00 a.m. in the Loft. For the first time in years, families with Middle and High School students who attend either traditional or contemporary services will have the option of worshipping with their children and having their children attend student ministry programs each Sunday.

How will this affect Adult Christian Education?

If a teacher offers a class twice under the current schedule, this would be reduced to one hour, in order to allow them to worship as well. A.C.E. classes offered at 9:00 a.m. will be able to serve traditional and contemporary worshippers in the same class—currently a rarity!

How will this affect Chancel Choir, Ushers, Worship Team and Guest Ministries?

The core ministry hours for Central will be approximately one hour shorter each Sunday. The Worship Team will have a shorter day, as will the leaders of the Ushers and Guest Ministries. The Chancel Choir will have their schedule as usual, just a bit later in the day.

Final Thoughts …

We realize that this does not provide answers to every question.  It is a first attempt to help you understand what’s behind the changes and get excited about the most important motivation: providing more opportunities to invite our family and friends to experience the presence of God as we gather together. We want to remove every obstacle we can that stands between anyone and Jesus! This is the main reason for change: to continue moving people toward Christ where we live, work, and play!