Full Service Church

People expect services from their church as if they are customers. This is not new, however. I’ve been thinking this week of the services people expected from the church 50 years ago, and how that differs from today’s expectations. Here are the six primary services evangelicals (though they weren’t called that then) expected from their church fifty years ago, in 1960.

1. Sunday school. A church without a vibrant Sunday school was unthinkable—laity simply expected helpful bible classes for all ages. Beyond that they expected two exciting Sunday school attendance contests a year with big prizes for the people. And any Sunday school worth its salt offered a giant Sunday school picnic each summer complete with games and contents as exciting and feastful as the county fair. Most laity wouldn’t even consider attending a church without a Sunday school.

2. Morning Worship. Lively congregational singing, special singing by soloists, duets or trios from the church then powerful convicting preaching usually ending with an altar call inviting “the lost” to come forward to repent and “get saved.”

3. Sunday evening service. A faster-paced but more relaxed service with livelier singing and sometimes testimonies by the laity but always a full-bore sermon by the pastor. Evangelicals who moved to a new town immediately eliminated any church not offering a Sunday evening service for it was a test how serious they were about their religion.

4. Prayer meeting. Considered “the church’s powerhouse” where the laity got their chance. The clergy only presided at this three-part “People’s Meeting” beginning with the “song service” where the laity called out the suggested songs to sing, then moved to the “testimony meeting” where the laity testified one after another then finally entered an extended “prayer meeting” with a “season of prayer” where many (sometimes all) of the laity prayed aloud one after another in a chain of group prayer. Even though only half the people attending Sunday morning came to prayer meeting they all expected their church to offer it.

5. Revival meetings. Virtually all full service evangelical churches in 1960 offered two week-long revival meetings a year featuring a guest professional “evangelist” and sometimes also a musical guest called the “song evangelist.” The laity simply expected their church to offer two revivals a year—even if they skipped a night or two of these 8 day meetings themselves.

6. Pastoral calling. Fifty years ago people expected a pastor to make “pastoral calls.” Few churches had “offices” and those that did called them a “study” (where the pastor “studied” for sermons). There was little “office work” for pastors and many did that in their homes. Instead pastors were on the road, visiting shut-ins weekly or every other week. They visited the hospital daily when their people were there. They were expected to visit every member in their home at least twice a year. Beyond this they were expected to call on the “backslidden” on a regular cycle. The laity gave their pastors names of “prospects” and were expected to visit them the week they got the names, or at the most within two weeks. Many pastors were also expected to go door to door calling inviting new folk to church while the laity were at their own jobs. Boards expected a pastor to spend about 15-20 hours a week in “pastoral calling.” In the rare “mega-churches of the time (like High Point First, in North Carolina) the pastors were expected to spend 30+ hours a week in “pastoral calling.”

People expecting services from their church is not new. They had expectations in 1960 and they still do. However, I’ve been thinking this week how those expectations have changed. In 1960 many of the expected services were… well, services. Today’s church customers expect an array of different services. What are they? What are today’s primary six services? Or are there more than six? What 1960 services are no longer expected? Why? What new services are now expected? What would you say?

So, what do you think?

The discussion of this column is on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/notes.php?id=161502633

Keith Drury September 21, 2010

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