One of the blogs I read (Fierce Grace) decided to do something entirely different on a Sunday morning.
Cancel the service.
Serve the neighborhood.
Read about it at The Church Has Left the Building.
I have often mentioned that some churches can do this. However smaller churches can easily take this idea and run with it.
Leading Preparation
Leading up to this Sunday off was a sermon series.
The whole series is mapped out at “Beginning this Sunday” and the follow up posts in that series continues to map out the theology and the practice that led up to that Sunday.
One Sunday, Pastor pointed out:
The Samaritan took a risk, got personally involved, spent some time and some money to help the man in need – He put himself out to help someone else get through. That’s what we are called to do if we’re going to love our neighbor like we love ourselves.
The second Sunday focused on:
Jesus’ mission is our mandate (Luke 4:14-21) – and it’s people-centered, outwardly focused, and compassion driven. If we can see people as He saw them, sees them, we will overflow with ideas and discover dozens of practical ways to show them the love of Christ.
And on the third Sunday:
The third installment of our “Taking It to the Streets” message series focused on “Little Acts with Big Impact.” We looked at Jesus’ description of the Kingdom in Luke 13:18-21. There, Jesus said the Kingdom was like a small mustard seed that grows in to a bushy tree large enough for birds to build nests in. Then He said the Kingdom was like a lump of yeast that was worked into 50 pounds of dough to make bread for as many as 100 people!
It wasn’t a surprise to the congregation but rather a vision that had been cast and people rallied to it.
What do you think?
Have you tried this idea?
What did you find?
Your mention of Seacoast got me here to your blog post. I am a campus pastor for Seacoast and our campus just did this a couple of weeks ago. We basically canceled service and went out in 5 teams to serve our community. We served the widow, the orphan, the homeless, the hurting and the community. We had great response to this and will continue to explore ways to make it even better. The folks who participated were fired up and are eager to do more. A good question that pastors should be asking is: If our church were to go away, would the community miss us…
Brett:
Thanks for chiming in. My Facebook account had a great discussion on this today.
How did your campus lead up to this event.
What did you do with visitors? Assuming that you normally have visitors on Sunday?