A Sunday Off

My current situation has afforded me the much needed opportunity to visit other churches.  Needless to say, it has been refreshing.  No Bible studies to lead.  No music to lead.  No administrative or technical problems to fix.  It has just been my wife and I...simply worshipping.

I have asked Pastors at my previous few stops if I could take a week away every now and then to go visit other churches and see what they do on a Sunday morning in order to get ideas and see what other places are doing.  I have always been told, "Sure, great idea" but when it comes to practicality, I can never seem to get that Sunday free.  So I continue...spending 52 Sundays inside our church walls, never affording the opportunity to get new ideas to bring to our congregation.  So where does that leave us?  Most likely stuck in the same ruts that you have been for decades.

My wife and I usually vacation in Florida, and when we do, we take our Sunday mornings and head to Real Life Church in Clearmont, FL.  I take notes during the service: what songs they sing, what their stage looks like, what new events they have planned.  Even though I'm on vacation, I'm still "working."  Due to the fact that I haven't been able to see other congregations in action, I take advantage of the opportunities when I can.

Why don't more churches allow their staff members to do this?  It's a shame really.  The times that I have been able to get out and see other churches, I have come back with new songs by artists I haven't been exposed to yet.  I have gotten great ministry ideas on everything from Youth Ministry format to bulletin layout.  Some of the ideas that I have brought back have saved the churches money.  I am able to say, "Look at how these guys write their bulletins out.  We could do something like this and cut our printing costs in half!"

But no.  Time and time again, I see church leaders that are stuck in their same routines.  If they only were afforded the opportunity to see how others do ministry, they might not be spending so much time spinning their wheels.  I'm not saying that we should steal ideas, but we can borrow ideas that work.  Maybe think about ministry in a different way.  If we can get the chance, talk to other leaders.  See what they did that works and what they tried that didn't work.

You see a "Sunday Off" can be a good thing.  It can give your church leader a chance to refresh; to recharge their batteries.  But it can also do so much more.  It could provide the answer to an issue that your church is dealing with.  It can provide an opportunity to get new and creative ideas and bring them back to your congregation.  It can provide a spark to light the fire in the ministry that your church has been missing.  

A "Sunday Off"...what a novel idea,,,