Single Service

For a variety of reasons the Vestry and I made the decision to move to a single 9:30 service.  We devised a survey and sent it out via e-mail and had hard copies available in church for people to complete.  The results were gathered, discussed and the decision to move to a single service was made.

One of the results of the survey was that there were a majority of people who favored it, but there was not a super majority.  In other words, there were a lot of, "Yes, I like the idea, but I want to try it for the summer before I decide if I want to do it permanently."

So we're giving it a shot for three or five months to see how it goes.

Yesterday was our first service.  We had a few more announcements than normal.  The Peace went a little longer than usual.  Communion took a minute or two longer.  And we had our monthly potluck after the service.

I've heard from several people.  Most of them have been positive.  They like the start time.  They like being in a full church so they don't feel like they are the only one singing.  They like seeing people they normally don't get to see. 

But there's always one.

I got a phone call yesterday afternoon.  "The service was too long.  The children were distracting.  Having a potluck after the first service was a bad idea because nobody could mingle.  None of the early service people stayed for the potluck."

**Sigh**