No? Well let me give you a hint. We usually do it at the end or beginning of the service, it takes about 10 minutes, and it has nothing to do with worshipping God.
You guessed it. This announcement is about announcements.
We didn't give announcements last week during the WORSHIP Service and to our amazement...everything went fine. Construction is still under way, prayer meetings are still being held, people are still excited about coming to Riverview, and as far as I could tell no one's life was affected because we didn't make official announcements about upcoming activities in the Church.
After praying through this, the other pastors have agreed our worship services will be more worshipful if we don't have to 'kick off' or conclude our worship with announcements. I know churches have been giving announcements since Moses was a pastor, but please trust me in this. God will be honored in our time of worship when our focus is on HIM, and not other distractions. In turn God will honor our faithfulness to Him by meeting all our needs according to His will and by His power.
I don't know how much of a case I need to make for this conviction, but allow me a few points:
- Worship is supposed to be focused on God, and making announcements focuses on us and our activities.
- It takes time away from singing praises to God, and the preaching of His Word.
- It either starts us off on an awkward note, or forces us to end with a 'thud'.
- No matter how hard we try announcements just don't fit in a worship service.
- Who decides which announcements are worthy of pulpit time, and which aren't?
- On Slides before the Worship Service.
- On the Web Page.
- In the News Letter.
- By E-mail Announcements.
- In the Bulletin.
- Through the Sunday School.
- Through Ministry Organizations - Men's Ministry, Women's Ministry, Student Ministry, etc...
- With Information Tables in the New Foyer.
A quick story to Illustrate:
I once had someone announce a ministry opportunity during the worship service; it turned into a 10 minute guilt trip / scolding - not to mention the 6 or 7 minute follow up video.
In a fast paced world with hectic schedules; a world in which we (the Church) are lucky to get someone's attention for 1 hour. Why take precious minutes away from focusing on God, and not being rushed to respond to His Glory, Love, and Grace?
aj
6 comments:
I didn't even notice the announcements were missing. Praise God! This should give us more time to welcome all those new visitors.
My concern with not having any announcements in church, even special ministry opportunities, is because of past experience. My concerns are because many of our people 1) don't read, 2)don't attend Sunday School, and 3) don't pay attention to the screen, but talk instead. Ask me what happened to Operation Christmas Child when we didn't make a point of talking about it in church. Perhaps we can find a way to not detract from the worship services, but still reach the greatest number of people for special ministry opportunities.
Karen
No announcements from the pulpit is a great idea, and long overdue. There are plenty of opportunities for the word to get out via bulletin, website, projector, Sunday School, even direct mail if it warrants. An "occasional" mention of something of urgent need by the pastor after the service would be appropriate, just don't read to me what I've already read in the bulletin,on the screen and heard announced in Sunday School.
YES!!!
I think this is a great idea. Annoucements are something that are already being distributed through the bulletins and if you were relying on the oral announcements you would probably have to write them down to remember them, so why not just keep your bulletin and save yourself the extra step? We will still have the overhead projection of announcements going before the service starts, so it's not like there won't be any communication of announcements at all.
I to did not even notice the announcements were missing Sunday.Worship services should get our 100% full attention and not for announcements or greeting. Greeting should be done before and after services. As for announcements, other options can be utilized (shown on screen before services begin, web).
J
I like it without announcements. I think special things such as Operation Christmas Child can still be announced in a condensed version. The person who signed J said we could also do without the greeting time and I agree. It seems really awkward to me. We're all talking and visiting and someone goes up front so we all go sit down and stop talking, then they say get back up and go back to what you were doing! If we are really the "friendly" church we think we are we can handle welcoming visitors before and after services. Maybe it will seem more genuine that way as well. Like we aren't welcoming them because someone just told us to.
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