What does your church do to draw closer to God as a family on Wednesday nights? I grew up in Baptist churches, and for as long as I can remember, Wednesday nights have gone something like this:
- Maybe a dinner for those who can get to church early enough
- A kids program, like AWANA (or going way back, RA's or GA's)
- Adult Bible studies or a prayer meeting
- Youth group activities.
I am not criticizing the wonderful work done through programs like these. Praise God for corporate prayer and focused Bible studies. Praise God for good children's and youth programs in which children and youth are helped to understand that God loves them from the Bible. AND, for us at Redemption Church, we came to realize that the programs were dividing us a little too much.
By God's grace and kindness, I serve as the lead pastor of a wonderful church family called "Redemption Church" in Jacksonville, FL (redemptionjax.church). Wednesday nights used to be exactly as I described: about 3 hours of time including dinners and programs. After the pandemic, the dinner time was dropped. We are a smaller church (but not small), with on average about 30 people (including kids and youth) coming on Wednesday nights. This meant there would be a volunteer over nursery with 2-4 toddlers, a kids volunteer with 6-8 elementary-aged kids, a youth volunteer with 1-3 teenagers, and a pastor leading a prayer time or Bible study with the adults (typically 8-12 adults). Many Wednesday nights, the nursery, kids, and youth volunteers barely saw the rest of the church family. They did their programs in a separate building. This meant that these volunteers felt isolated from the church family. Moreover, these were often the same volunteers who worked in children's Sunday school on Sunday mornings. Families, too, felt divided. The kids went one way, the youth another, while the parents had another separated time (our church already separates during the Bible study hour on Sunday mornings).
So, we decided to try a different model (if that's the right word) for Wednesday nights. I'm pretty lousy with names, but we call it "Psalms and Prayer." The evening runs from 6:00 - 7:00p and we have been doing it for approximately 20 Wednesday nights now. Here's the basic schedule:
- 6:00-6:30p = Together Time. During this time, we meet all together in our Fellowship Hall. We learn to sing songs that are classics of the Christian faith. We do questions and answers from basic catechism questions. We focus on 1-3 verses of a song and try to learn one key point. The main difference is we are all together, from nursery to senior adults. We often include an activity (but not full on youth game). Soon, I will post the lesson plans for anyone who would like to see more.
- 6:30-7:00p = Focused Time. After together time, we split up into our separate groups: nursery, kids, youth, and adults. This 30-minute focus time allows for some focused, age-appropriate application. The adults take a closer look at the Psalm being studied and use the words to guide our prayer time.
Because each time segment is only 30 minutes, it moves quickly. Volunteers have not burned out.
Having 30 minutes of together time allows us to feel like a church family, and the children get to see and to hear adults learning the Christian faith.
We are using the Truth and Grace memory books for the children, and John Piper's adaptation of the 1689 Baptist Catechism for the adults.
This is by no means a "perfect" model, but for our church, it is working to rejuvenate Wednesday nights. Parents don't merely "drop-off" their kids and duck out. They are included because we are all together for the first 30 minutes. The adults, especially the senior adults, enjoy having the children and the energy during that first half hour. The volunteers are only committing to 30 minutes instead of about an hour and a half. We are learning to read our Bibles, to apply Christian theology, and to pray as a church family. While the model is far from perfect, it is helping us as a church family grow closer to God. Please feel free to ask questions. I would be quick to say we have not got everything figured out. And, God's word and Christian fellowship is what makes the time special, not the model.
May God use these words to provide good midweek discipleship in His church.
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