If Sunday is Losing Value, Now What?
Two weeks ago on the Blogference I posted; Sunday is dying and that’s fine with me. In the post I bring up the point that the Sunday morning ‘time and place’ experience that is the typical Sunday morning church service is losing value in people’s lives.
That’s great that you can point out a problem Vince, but what’s the solution?
I don’t have THE solution, but I have a pretty good idea what direction we need to head in and I want to get that conversation started.
Why?
The first conversation we need to have is; why is Sunday losing it’s value? Like any dilema it would be a futile effort to simply address symptoms (Sunday is dying) and not look for the actual reasons. Here are a couple off the top of my head.
Inefficient Consumption
Sunday morning by and large is a consuming experience for most people involved. The actual content creation is limited to just a hand full of people, even at the largest churches. It is a platform for content distribution built on an industrial model that in it’s prime was a fairly effective way to deliver content to a lot of people. Fill a room with people, present some content, rinse and repeat.
Technology has made it easier for people to get the same content in a much more efficient and personalized way. Users can watch video of the best bible teachers, preachers and expositors from all over the world when ever and where ever they like. If the experience is simply about consuming content then showing up to a certain place at a certain time is inefficient. We all know that the church experience is about so much more than simply consuming content but the truth is, there are a lot of people who don’t get much more out of their church experience than that.
Creation vs. Consumption
We are seeing that Gen X and Y/millenials are much more content in community in which they have a voice. We are not content to sit and listen. We want to ask questions. We want to shape the conversation. More importantly; we want to get the basics figured out and then be turned loose to create our own content.
What are some of the factors you are experiencing that are causing Sunday to lose value?
If Sunday is Losing Value, Now What? | Context and Voice http://t.co/ngXeqV8 fascinating conversation via @m_vince
Does this resonate with where you are? If Sunday is Losing Value, Now What? | Context and Voice http://t.co/Ii5YQ2a via @m_vince
"Users can watch video of the best bible teachers, preachers and expositors from all over the world when ever and where ever they like." when i was leading a college ministry i experienced this first-hand--there was just no way i was going to preach as well as francis chan, mark driscoll, or matt chandler--so we stopped trying. our talks were conversational, personal and spoke to the unique connections i had with them. they were also shorter--no need to try and duplicate that part of the experience either. i think some interesting conversations and changes can happen when churches/ministries start thinking about how to complement these new realities. with three small kids just getting out of the house is a success--so then to go sit and consume while i'm out feels like a miss. one of the first steps seems to be discovering and clarifying the unique things that your church/ministry does well, and then match those with activities that reflect the needs of the people involved. thanks for starting this conversation!
"If the experience is simply about consuming content then showing up to a certain place at a certain time is inefficient" http://j.mp/q9P1i4
If Sunday is Losing Value, Now What? | Context and Voice http://t.co/Zo2KNmP
For me I feel like these interactives and doing a "secular special" in my experience are nothing really new either. Many churches have been using some of these elements in services for a decade or so now and I personally feel these can become and have become some of the same "Rinse and Repeat" Sunday morning experiences. Especially when someone markets it and everyone comes home from a conference where they heard it's a good idea. My fear is that these become a "gimmick" that we lean on? There is still a overriding atmosphere of bring your friends to church Sunday morning so they can experience these cool things we are doing. I think we are shifting to a large population of people who are never going to step into our Sunday morning experience. How do we engage them? It's a step in the right direction for many churches but I agree with Vince "eventually we'll have to do more" What might that look like outside the Sunday morning experience?
Some of my colleagues and I went to the Echo conference, and the big thing we took away was that if we want a congregation to engage, theyneed to create instead of just consume. (like you just said!) :) So for this past Sunday...we went on Facebook with teaser pictures telling everyone to be on time or they'd miss out. We opened with a special-a Mumford & Sons song which completely energized the room. Then, a video, song and welcome later we went into a deeper song and asked everyone to take a sticky and finish " My God is mighty to..." and post it on boards around the room. Well, everyone loved it. Boards filled with personal things going on in people's lives! This week we're looking for stories and preparing a video to celebrate these things. We're being more creative and trying to find ways for people to create that they understand, and to celebrate with us. So far so good.. It's very challenging, but with all the creative department working on it, making sure our leaders participate as an example, and getting senior pastor support, it's going well so far.
I think this is the first reaction most churches are having...how do we improve the time and place experience? How do we include interactive elements in the time and place gathering? it's a transitional existence I think...eventually we'll have to do more.
Sunday is dying...what's next? http://t.co/OQYcK7x
Really good questions: If Sunday is Losing Value, Now What? | Context and Voice http://t.co/Q4djIUg
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Really good questions: If Sunday is Losing Value, Now What? | Context and Voice http://t.co/Q4djIUg
Some of my colleagues and I went to the Echo conference, and the big thing we took away was that if we want a congregation to engage, theyneed to create instead of just consume. (like you just said!) 
So for this past Sunday…we went on Facebook with teaser pictures telling everyone to be on time or they’d miss out. We opened with a special-a Mumford & Sons song which completely energized the room. Then, a video, song and welcome later we went into a deeper song and asked everyone to take a sticky and finish ” My God is mighty to…” and post it on boards around the room.
Well, everyone loved it. Boards filled with personal things going on in people’s lives! This week we’re looking for stories and preparing a video to celebrate these things.
We’re being more creative and trying to find ways for people to create that they understand, and to celebrate with us. So far so good.. It’s very challenging, but with all the creative department working on it, making sure our leaders participate as an example, and getting senior pastor support, it’s going well so far.
I think this is the first reaction most churches are having…how do we improve the time and place experience? How do we include interactive elements in the time and place gathering?
it’s a transitional existence I think…eventually we’ll have to do more.
For me I feel like these interactives and doing a “secular special” in my experience are nothing really new either. Many churches have been using some of these elements in services for a decade or so now and I personally feel these can become and have become some of the same “Rinse and Repeat” Sunday morning experiences. Especially when someone markets it and everyone comes home from a conference where they heard it’s a good idea. My fear is that these become a “gimmick” that we lean on? There is still a overriding atmosphere of bring your friends to church Sunday morning so they can experience these cool things we are doing. I think we are shifting to a large population of people who are never going to step into our Sunday morning experience. How do we engage them? It’s a step in the right direction for many churches but I agree with Vince “eventually we’ll have to do more” What might that look like outside the Sunday morning experience?
"If the experience is simply about consuming content then showing up to a certain place at a certain time is inefficient" http://j.mp/q9P1i4
“Users can watch video of the best bible teachers, preachers and expositors from all over the world when ever and where ever they like.”
when i was leading a college ministry i experienced this first-hand–there was just no way i was going to preach as well as francis chan, mark driscoll, or matt chandler–so we stopped trying. our talks were conversational, personal and spoke to the unique connections i had with them.
they were also shorter–no need to try and duplicate that part of the experience either.
i think some interesting conversations and changes can happen when churches/ministries start thinking about how to complement these new realities.
with three small kids just getting out of the house is a success–so then to go sit and consume while i’m out feels like a miss.
one of the first steps seems to be discovering and clarifying the unique things that your church/ministry does well, and then match those with activities that reflect the needs of the people involved.
thanks for starting this conversation!
Does this resonate with where you are? If Sunday is Losing Value, Now What? | Context and Voice http://t.co/Ii5YQ2a via @m_vince
If Sunday is Losing Value, Now What? | Context and Voice http://t.co/ngXeqV8 fascinating conversation via @m_vince
[...] been blogging about the need for the Church and Christ Followers to shift from a culture of consumption to a culture of creation and like any conversation this has started with many questions and very few answers. I’m [...]
[...] higher education, Sunday is losing value mostly due to the fact that it is easier and cheaper for people to acquire the information using [...]
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[...] been blogging about the need for the Church and Christ Followers to shift from a culture of consumption to a culture of creation and like any conversation this has started with many questions and very few answers. I’m [...]
[...] higher education, Sunday is losing value mostly due to the fact that it is easier and cheaper for people to acquire the information using [...]