Preparing For Sunday

Every December, my staff and I set aside a day to pray, plan, and reflect. I tried thinking of another word that started with the letter “p,” but I’m not that creative and I feel as though it would come across as too baptistic. During our day of PPR, we discuss and share some of the things we have seen God do in and through our church and we also lay out some of our frustrations over the last year.

One of the frustrations that we all have in common was the commotion of Sunday mornings. And I’m sure we are not the only ones who share in this frustration. When it comes to Sunday, we realized that on paper we are placing a great emphasis on the gathering and communion of the saints while welcoming new visitors to our church, but practically it looks like we are governed and formed by our tasks and responsibilities rather than formed by the gospel itself.

To be clear, Sunday mornings have a lot of moving pieces, tasks, and involve a great deal of volunteers so we can’t just get rid of the tasks at hand and hope that organically things would simply come together; that would be a case of poor stewardship and a great misunderstanding of the word “organic.” So, how does we best approach the Sunday gathering, execute our tasks and responsibilities, and come alongside the saints in worship?

Here are three areas that I think would help address the Sunday morning commotion.

1. SATURDAY
One thing we have to get right before diving into anything else is that the preparation for Sunday begins on Saturday. Whether you’re a pastor, ministry leader, or volunteer it should not be a surprise that Sunday mornings can sometimes have its own surprises for you or that needs with immediate decisions are going to present themselves to you. Therefore, the Sunday morning prep begins on Saturday night.

One of the encouragements that I walked our staff through was setting aside intentional time for prayer on Saturday evening. It doesn’t have to be this entire coffee and the word moment, but it does have to matter. I think that part of the reason that our hearts are so frazzled by Sunday mornings is because of a lack of prayer on Saturday nights. And yes, this means that it may carve into your evening plans, but by setting aside a time of prayer and devotion, we are able to take stock of the condition of our hearts, pray for our ministry teams, pray for those who are attending, and remember that everything is geared toward pointing others to Jesus. Everything.

2. PEOPLE ARE NOT PROJECTS
I get it. On Sunday mornings, many of us who are task-oriented want to get the job done. To be fair, that’s a good thing because the work matters AND that isn’t a sufficient reason for neglecting or using people. Everything that we do on Sunday mornings aims at promoting and presenting Jesus—whether word or deed (Colossians 3:17). And when we use people for the benefit of finishing a task, we are preaching a sermon that says Jesus uses His church rather than faithfully discipling her.

I have heard it from many people who say “I’m a Martha more than I am a Mary.” And while that may be true, in my experience that’s a cop-out to neglect or use people in an effort to complete a task. This doesn’t mean that the job shouldn’t be done or left. Jesus worked as a carpenter which mean he had projects to finish, deadlines to meet, and work that needed to get done. This line of work transferred over into his ministry, but he didn’t neglect or use people, rather he gave them his attention.

3. PEOPLE MATTER
Whether it’s a person on your ministry team or a new visitor, people matter. For many, Sunday’s are going to be one of the best times to follow up with you because of hindered schedules during the week or other things that come up and if you can’t stop for a moment or set aside a few minutes to listen to someone who is seeking you, then you may want to consider serving elsewhere.

Sunday’s matter because it’s the communion of the saints and in addition to the gospel being heralded, it is a time of fellowship where we disciple and encourage one another. Don’t forget that.

PREPARE FOR SUNDAY

I’m sure there are other things that can be said; things that carry a greater influence. But as of now, that’s what I have for you. And personally, I think the most important principle for you to walk away with is how you prepare yourself on Saturday night. In my opinion, that’s the greatest indicator of how well or poorly you will execute Sunday morning.

When you lay it all out before the Lord on Saturday morning, you will have primed and prepped your heart for both the experience and preached word of the gospel so that when things don’t go exactly according to plan, it’s because they simply didn’t go accordingly to plan. Address it, make a decision, and follow-through. At the end of the day, all of this is for His glory and not yours.