By Shane Bazer
RALEIGH, North Carolina--Last fall, Raleigh members learned that the church hall we were renting on Saturday afternoons was sold and we would have to find a new place within a few months.
Finding a place to conduct a church service is a daunting task. We set aside Oct. 20 to Nov. 20 for 30 days of fasting and prayer. We broke each day into two parts and asked members to sign up for a day or half day to take before God in prayer and fasting. We asked God to prepare us for where he was going to take us.
We continued to ask God's guidance in our small groups, in our weekly intercessory prayers at church and on other occasions. Several times in children's church, the youngsters formed a circle and took turns asking God to help us go where he wanted to us to be.
After we laid the groundwork in prayer, we began the search for a new place to worship. We contacted the school board, but churches were already using every school auditorium in the county on Sundays, and they couldn't ask a janitor to come in on Saturdays too.
We called and visited Rotary clubs, Masonic lodges and bingo halls. They were being used by churches on Sundays and weddings and special functions on Saturdays. We contacted dozens of churches, and they were either in use all weekend or not interested in renting their sanctuary to another group on Saturdays.
The Raleigh Foursquare Gospel church opened their doors to us for a couple of months while we found a more permanent home, but they had programs on Saturdays at their church and really needed full-time use of the building.
Our pastor, Don
Mason, heard from another pastor in the region that they were going to meet on Sundays in
a Seventh-day Adventist church. Switching to Sunday wasn't what we were looking for. Just
to make sure it was another closed door, our pastor called up the Seventh-day Adventist
church in Raleigh.
The pastor said that their board had brought up the idea of renting to a Sunday church to raise money for their building fund, and yes, they would be interested in talking with us. Mr. Mason discussed the situation with the church staff (elders and leaders in the congregation).
The following Saturday we passed out a survey at church. Mr. Mason explained that God might have opened a door for us to meet in another church, but on Sunday.
We knew that many members were uneasy with changing days of worship. Quite a number had been going to church on Saturdays for more than 30 years, myself included.
Then we began thinking about our mission. Is our mission to preserve our history or is it to preach the gospel? Are we to comfort ourselves or do we tend to the poor, hungry, homeless and spiritually needy? If we are to be fishers of men, where and when should we be fishing?
Because we no longer esteem one day above another, a number of our members were unable to consistently come to church. Some needed to work overtime or a take a part-time job on Saturdays. Others had children involved in their school or community and many of these activities were on Saturdays.
Up to 30 percent of our members were not attending services every week because of conflicts. When we started looking at how meeting on Sunday would positively affect some of our own members, we began to warm to the idea of switching days. If you want to help a person form a relationship with Christ, you don't put stumbling blocks in the path. For most people, a 2 o'clock service on Saturday (or even Sunday) is a challenge.
When the time came to meet on Sunday morning in our new home, only two families that regularly attended were not there. Because of their family schedules or conscience, they preferred Saturday, so they attend our sister congregation in Wilson, North Carolina. The number of people who couldn't attend on Saturday who are now there on Sunday actually increased overall attendance.
Why did Jesus tell his disciples to cast their nets on the other side of the boat? You don't realize the difference until you actually cast your net on the other side.
Our old meeting place was a nice church hall in an excellent location. We met on Saturday afternoons and had maybe a dozen visitors over a two-year period. None of them returned more than once. Since we've been in our new meeting place, we have had more than a dozen visitors in the first two months. Nearly all of them have returned multiple times and several have indicated that they consider themselves members of our fellowship.
Members are getting excited about the future of our fellowship and are inviting friends, neighbors and co-workers to church. Now that we are meeting on Sunday mornings, a time that is convenient, they are accepting the invitation.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 2000