We're spreading our BTCS over 2 weekends, as we can never fit everyone in anyway, and Oct 5th will be our Harvest service, which seemed to fit with the whole concept. We had about a dozen guests last year, some of whom are still with us. More thoughts here.
In the opposite direction, Prodigal Kiwi notes the publication of a new book, Quitting Church, and links to some of the other key research and reading on this topic.
And it's also a great chance to post Dave Walkers cartoon, a scene which will be famliar to churchgoers everywhere:
The clash of timing between BTCS and harvest seems confusing, and suggests that a better time of year should be chosen for BTCS. Last year the old parish church in my parish didn't do BTCS because it clashed with harvest when they were already short of space. In my newer less traditional church we did do BTCS but had few visitors, then we had harvest the next Sunday. This year we are not doing BTCS but celebrating harvest on that day, but then we don't get many extras for harvest anyway. The parish church, however, is doing both BTCS and harvest this Sunday, perhaps hoping to keep numbers up as they have just started an interregnum.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if it's deliberate, allowing people to combine it with harvest? September tends to be a time of new starts, and the national Alpha launch is usually timed for this month as well. It does make sense to do BTCS at this time of year, but as you say Peter, it makes it a bit crowded.
ReplyDeleteWe end up running ours over 2 weeks, so that people have got a variety of services to come back to: something contemporary in the local community centre, a quieter evening choral communion, harvest festival, and a family communion in the church.