Cancel/Move Services for SuperBowl?

No to all of them. A church should be flexible in these areas. We don't do Sunday nights on Mother's Day and Father's Day, as it's a good time for families to be together. I love the idea of students and young adults watching the Super Bowl together, with an evangelical message at halftime. Picnics are wonderful times as well.

My old church didn't even do Sunday night worship. We had a Wednesday night time that was an actual time of teaching and Biblical exposition, along with worship and fellowship. The students met together, the children had RA's and GA's, and the adults were in the sanctuary. It was very well attended - about three times as many as came on Sunday nights. ON Sunday nights, we had student choir, discipleship classes, and other small groups. Hunter Street Baptist Church made it work.

So, there's my two cents.

 

I've always had a problem with the Super Bowl thing. The others - picnic, business meeting, etc. are church functions. If we have an evening service - which, as Dr. Bob correctly points out, is not biblically mandated - it seems to me that it comes down to a matter of priority between church and football. I can't see cancelling for that. I also have a hard time with the holiday thing. Especially Christmas. "It's Christ's birthday, so in His honor we'll cancel the meeting of His body at His house." Never made sense to me. Just my thoughts. (I would also say your church has the right to do what they want before God. - Those Baptist Distinctives can be such troublesome things )

 

We sometimes have a church picnic in the afternoon - and when we do - we don't have an evening service.

My mother (when the Bills were in the super bowl) would ask me to change the time of the service. Never did!

Here's a novel idea - get a big screen project TV - and show the Super Bowl in church. Might stop some wayward Christians from drinking beer during the game!

Dan - sometimes serious - but not too often!

 

Churches can be WAY to tied to tradition. I don't like the idea of moving services for a sporting event, but that may be just because I can nothing for the NFL, after all, how many Super Bowls have been worth watching?

I am sure that our church planting effort is doing something unbiblical . We have morning worship at 1100 and Sunday School in the evening at 630. While Sunday School is going on we have Bible Study for adults. As the Lord establishes a church here this will probably be the tradition that they will cling to.

 

Actually, Dan, it's not so "novel"! That's what my church does on Super Bowl Sunday. We use it as a HUGE outreach event! We get one (or two) big screen TV's and set up in the gym. We all bring snacks...and unsaved neighbors...and have a Super Bowl party! We get "clips" with Christian themes to show during the commercials and a devotional message to show during halftime.

In the long-ago past, when the Cowboys used to play in the Super Bowl , it was a GREAT success! Recently, however, when the Cowboys have fallen flat on their faces and have NOT played in the Super Bowl, it has not been too well attended. So, those years, we have moved the evening service from 6:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. and encourage individual "in home" Super Bowl parties with unsaved neighbors.

CJ

 

I really don't care about the Super Bowl, but I would like to see the SOONERS play in the Sugar Bowl this Sunday. It starts at 7:00 PM. Our church service starts at 6:30 PM.

If I were in charge (and of course, it is probably a good thing that I am not ), I would have the church service at 5:30 PM. Then families could be at home to watch the game or there could be a party at church. You see we live in SoonerLand.

 

The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. While unorthodox, moving the times of a service or church meeting to accommodate people is not unbiblical, unethical, wrong, immoral, or fattening.

Moving a service for the Super Bowl sounds a little odd to me. Moving it for the World Series, however, now that's a different story

 

footballll?????? nope. services are way more important... now deer season... yup that works for me.

 

Just remembered, last year on super bowl sunday some friends of mine went to visit a church they were thinking about joining, it was sunday evening as they drove through the parking lot they saw inside a half nude woman run across a big screen TV, It seems the church was watching the game.They never went back.Just a thought.

 

I am of the opinion that the reason we cancel things plays an important role in sending a message about priorities. If we cancel a service for a super bowl party, that says a lot about how we compare the value of Bible study to the value of a football game.

The easiest solution is have your service as normal and then watch the superbowl. It will last till 10 or so and you will have a lot of time after the service to watch the game.

I think cancelling a service for a football game is a bad idea. Are those the values we should have as believers??

FTR, I am a huge sports fan. My wife is amazed that I can watch sports no matter who is playing. So I am not writing this as someone who doesn't care about sports. The most watched channel in my house is ESPN. The second is Fox Sports. I just think we send messages when we do things and we need to think about the messages we are sending. Do we really want to fit the gospel in around half time?? Doesn't it deserve more?

My recommendation: Have your service and encourage people to have friends over to their house if they want to.

 

While it is not wrong or a sin to change our service times, changing it for the Super Bowl does show wrong priorities. Tape it and watch it afterward (you can do that in about 15 minutes). You can have your party then....
The second time I saw a VCR used (back in the dark ages) was the Super Bowl and it was after the church service. It works for me!

 

At my IFB church, we moved our Wednesday night service to Tuesday night during Thanksgiving week, since a lot of people travel. Christmas Eve we had a service, but not a lot of peple were able to attend since most people travel then. I think they should've moved it to Tuesday night like they did for Thanksgiving. I think it's fine to move services for holidays and things as such, as long as you don't neglect the service entirely.

Yes, I believe it's bowing to the world to have a Super Bowl party instead of an evening service. I say forget the sports- since I've been saved, sports has gone waaaaay down on the importance scale in my life, even if it is the Super Bowl. I'd rather hear preaching than watch football. My church isn't moving the service for the Super Bowl, OR giving kids a party for it.

I don't think it's quite fulfilling the lusts of the flesh to have a picnic instead of an evening service, but I personally would rather go to the evening service than go to a picnic. I don't see why both couldn't happen- at my church, there's normally 5 1/2 hours between the morning and evening services on Sundays. That's plenty enough time for a picnic, as long as it's close by or at the church area.

 

Heck, why do we do anything we do? It is okay to move a servic. It is okay to cancel a service.

 

More services doesn't make a church more spiritual. In fact I am convinced it is quite the opposite. If I am discipling people and meeting others and sharing my faith I don't have time to be down at the church every time the door is open.

In my first church I did away with everything except the essentials. I told the people that if they wanted to be leaders then they needed to prove it by leading others and starting things to reach others. They didn't like it, and thought I was hard on them. But it was amazing what happened. They actually came up with fantastic ideas to reach out to others. God used that time to teach them to be creative and ti use the gifts and abilities they had to reach others. Many Bible studies were started. What I saw I never planned. But it was absolutely great.

I believe so often the church cripples people by giving them everything and not teaching them to pray and allowing God to use them. If we are given everything we do not develop strength to do things that God will enable us to do. But rather we become pew sitters dependent upon the pastor or other leaders. Why should I wait for a pastor to tell me what to do when Jesus gave the command in Mt. 28:19,20? We need to get busy and quit waiting for the leaders to prod and poke us to get busy. When we go to work we wouldn't even think of doing some of the things that are done at church. At work we do what needs to be done if we are a leader. We don't wait for the boss to come along and tell us what to do during the day. No, we just do our job.

 

Good question SaggyWoman,

In everything give thanks...

IMhO, if you don't cancel a service and no one shows up, give genuine thanks to God.

If you watch the game, find something about it to give him genuine thanks for.

No one should be able to touch your conscience for what you are genuinely thankful for.

Just thinnking out loud.

Dave.

 

Also I have the good fortune to live in Houston, so I will be to busy outside the park witnessing to watch the game,care to join me. O'NO Ill have to skip sunday night services.

 

Amen!

Amen!

 

we need to set our priorities. If we can reach folks with the Gospel by having a super bowl party, then do it. If you can reach more with the Gospel by preaching, then preach. Our commission is to make disciples. If a service, party or whatever activity is geared toward making disciples, then it is consistant with what the Church has been commissioned to do. Not every method will work to reach every person.

We need to gear our programs, services and activities to reaching a lost and dying world to win them to Christ or to take them and prepare and train them to reach a lost and dying world to win them to Christ..... and so on and so forth....