Tuesday 29 March 2016

Is Good Friday too good to share?

Have you ever tried to find a church on Good Friday? I tried this year, as my church's 8am service was just too early.

I checked a couple of nearby churches. Both 8am. Out of curiosity I checked about 7 churches. The absolute latest was 9am.

Is this a problem? Actually it's two problems.

Early to rise - early to hide


It's Good Friday. It's a public holiday at the end of a working week. On a public holiday when most places are closed, why do churches think that we want to get up even earlier than on a workday? Particularly on one of the features of Christian calendar - and hence an opportunity to connect with newcomers - why do we schedule services for the most inconvenient time? Are we trying to keep our faith hidden? By the time most people are up and out of the house we'll all be finished and the church will be locked shut.

The war of Good Friday


Even if 8am is the 'prime time' for having a Good Friday service, why do churches battle each other for it. By clashing our services we pit one church against the other rather than working together for the common good.

Imagine a person thinking of going to church over the Easter long weekend. They do a search and find 4 churches all starting before 9. They choose to go to none.

Time to break ranks

Imagine how that could be different if there were local services at 8am, 9.30, 11 and midday. Perhaps the latter ones could even serve hot cross buns after the service.

Surely this variety of options would increase the possibility of new people engaging with the church and the message of Jesus.

Update: See what we tried in 2017