West Cocoa Chat

- We still have Wednesday night service. We have a devotion and offer "the invitation" before classes.
- I do not regularly attend Wednesday nights and if I do, I skip the devo part and just do class.
- I would rather meet in small groups in private homes during the week.
- Some people prefer a 'regular' Wednesday night service and I think one should be offered for those people.
 

My congregation has a regular, traditional Wednesday night service. I do attend regularly, barring sickness and emergencies.

Wed. nights are tough for some reason. If our elders decided not to meet on Wed. night, they'd have no problem from me.

The best Wed. nights I've attended were where we met first for a devotional and then broke up into small groups for a study. Everyone drew a straw, so to speak, and therefore were not in the same small group every week or with the same "teacher." It was open and easy for discussion and was uplifting and inspirational and encouraging, which is what I crave on Wed. nights. The same thing could be accomplished in individual homes, of course........just a little more work for the hosting family. Agree with That Girl that there are those who feel the need for the regular, traditional service, and that these should be accommodated in some way.

I also would not have a problem with only having a devotional and not having a class. A heavy, tedious study, in my opinin, should not be attempted on Wed. nights.

Did I give you enough opinions? :)
 

We had our best Wednesday nights when we only met for class and we had a wonderful small group that had the chance to get very close.

Then they messed up by adding devotional time and cutting the class down to about 35 minutes...not enough time...

currently I do not attend, becasue all that is offered is a lecturship format.
 

We meet during the "school year" on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday nights of the month. We will offer a different class topic each quarter BUT class attendees must come prepared for class, they have homework and must make an end of class presentation based on what we have been studying. We're trying to put the Study back in Bible Study and the Class back in Bible Class.

The thing about the 1st and 3rd is format is people don't feel like they've committed for the rest of their lives.
 

Glad I'm not at Randy's church where I actually have some accountability in their study!! You know our situation. Haven't had Wed. night class in years. Now that I'm in Temecula and w/out a church, guess what I long for? A mid-week Bible class w/ good teaching and good participation. If you ever abnadon it, you'll never want to go back ... unless you move to the desert!?!
 

Cecil, we have tried various formats over the years. For the past two years most Wednesday nights are praise and worship with volunteers filling the place ... wonderful...then usually one or two will have a few thoughts ... this is followed by "open mic" and anyone can get up and address the group...I love it. Now that we have few/no volunteers in sight ... I am going to teach a class on the Spiritual Disciplines (my choice of topic) ... and hope that some people are interested. I expect minimal participation (lack of faith on my part - but due to experience) and a gigantic frustrating sigh from me after class each week wondering what in the world we could do to help each other get a lift mid-week. So, if you get any great answers let me know!
 

Everyone - Great input and suggestions. Thank you for giving me the benefit of your input.
 

We've chosen to eliminate Sunday night church to build the church through small groups. We continue to use Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights for classes, meals, fellowship etc.

My bro-in-law's church is working on a Wednesday night alternate plan. I will let you know how that goes.

Peace.
 

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I'm a bit late, but we do Small groups on Weds nights, but I would encourage every church to know their community. What I mean is, go and where people will go and be. Be organic, if people will go to homes, go to homes. If they hang out at the park - go there. I think a scary thing is that sometimes when we look at "services" we think of us. I like to ask, what if we did what the church was intended to be and went to the world. That's my two cents.