It's not uncommon for us to go to a summer service schedule and drop a service. Part of the reason is that we lose about two hundred college students in the summer! We get a ton of summer interns, but our attendance is usually down in the summer--like lots of churches. The congressional recess in August is pretty rough in DC! Plus we're stretched pretty thin in terms of volunteers during the summer months. So we scale back a little bit. But to be perfectly candid, those aren't the reasons we're pulling the plug on our 7:07 service @ Ebenezers.
Permission to speak frankly? Our 7:07 @ Ebenezers is the service I DON'T want first-time guests to attend. Our 5:05 & 7:07 used to be evenly balanced in attendance when both of them had a live message. But when we went to a video message in the 7:07, our attendance really dropped. That's been frustrating because I don't feel like I can go back to two live messages on Saturday. It just knocks the wind out of whoever is speaking for Sunday morning. But it seems like a video message just doesn't work as well in the coffeehouse as it does in the theater. Part of it may be the huge screen at the theater. Part of it may be that the video message doesn't fit the "intimate environment" of the coffeehouse.
One way or the other, I don't want to be the kind of leader that makes decisions by indecision. So we're pulling the plug and we'll try to reinvent the 7:07 in the fall. I'm not 100% sure how we do that. Maybe we make it more interactive with a Q & A. Maybe we have more worship or weekly communion to differentiate it. But I'm not satisfied with status quo. So we're scaling back so we can ramp up!
Few things are more difficult or more important than managing momentum. It just felt like the 7:07 has been losing momentum. And I don't believe in slow deaths! I'm hoping a reinvention and relaunch will help us create momentum in the fall.
By the way, I think the same goes for every ministry in our churches. Once it serves it's purpose, please kill it. Don't let it die one of those embarrassing deaths! Ministries have expiration dates. Once you pass the date, it can actually be hazardous to your health and become counter-productive. Certain committees can cause more harm than good if you let them exist forever! Alright, most committees! Just kidding. Sort of.
Permission to speak frankly? Our 7:07 @ Ebenezers is the service I DON'T want first-time guests to attend. Our 5:05 & 7:07 used to be evenly balanced in attendance when both of them had a live message. But when we went to a video message in the 7:07, our attendance really dropped. That's been frustrating because I don't feel like I can go back to two live messages on Saturday. It just knocks the wind out of whoever is speaking for Sunday morning. But it seems like a video message just doesn't work as well in the coffeehouse as it does in the theater. Part of it may be the huge screen at the theater. Part of it may be that the video message doesn't fit the "intimate environment" of the coffeehouse.
One way or the other, I don't want to be the kind of leader that makes decisions by indecision. So we're pulling the plug and we'll try to reinvent the 7:07 in the fall. I'm not 100% sure how we do that. Maybe we make it more interactive with a Q & A. Maybe we have more worship or weekly communion to differentiate it. But I'm not satisfied with status quo. So we're scaling back so we can ramp up!
Few things are more difficult or more important than managing momentum. It just felt like the 7:07 has been losing momentum. And I don't believe in slow deaths! I'm hoping a reinvention and relaunch will help us create momentum in the fall.
By the way, I think the same goes for every ministry in our churches. Once it serves it's purpose, please kill it. Don't let it die one of those embarrassing deaths! Ministries have expiration dates. Once you pass the date, it can actually be hazardous to your health and become counter-productive. Certain committees can cause more harm than good if you let them exist forever! Alright, most committees! Just kidding. Sort of.
4 Comments:
Mark thanks for your honesty. most would not be this honest and canddid with thier staff let alone with the public. Additionally, i love the fact that you made the decision, that you lead instead of letting attrition decide for you. awesome stuff.
thanks for being so honest...it is always appreciated.
if i may be honest, the first NCC service i ever went to was @ Ebenezer's @ 7:07. It WAS a video message. the service was small...but, that made it a little less intimidating.
that service got me excited about NCC, and I am now a regular at the 10:15 service @ union!
Excellent post! I'm going to go check the expiraion dates
thoughts to chew on. thanks.
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