WHAT TIME DOES YOUR CHURCH START?

Have you ever been asked that question before? Years ago most churches that I knew of , had the traditional Sunday starting times of 10 AM Sunday School , 11 AM Worship Service , 7:30 Evening Service. If you wanted to visit a different church you could be confident that most likely those three times were the times for each of the Sunday services. Now days it seems no two churches are alike with their starting times. Churches today that have multiple services may meet as early as 8 am and even have a Saturday evening service. Some churches hold Sunday afternoon services because they share a building with another church. Many evening services now start as early as 5 pm with some churches choosing to not meet together at all or meet in small groups in various members’ homes.

WHAT TIME DOES YOUR CHURCH START ? At Community Baptist Church that question has several different answers depending on who you ask. For many members of CBC, church starts well before they arrive at Brownstown Middle School on Sunday morning. Some prepare sermons and lessons during the week while others make sure all the ministries are covered for the upcoming Sunday gathering. Early Sunday morning several make coffee at home to bring, while others pick up bagels and other goodies for Café community. Someone else strategically places the guest parking signs at various locations around our meeting place.

Church starts for others at 8:30 a.m. when the doors are opened for the preparation of changing a school building into a church meeting place. Some are there every week at this time while others join in once a month for their rotating set-up responsibility. At this time tables and chairs are moved into position, sound equipment is set-up and tested, and video screens and monitors are put into place. Other activities include Children’s Ministry rooms being organized, needed supplies being transported from the storage cabinets to their proper places, an information table is created, and all the food and drink preparations for Café Community are completed. For other members Church starts at 9:00 when the Ensemble starts to practice the songs for the morning, the nursery and two and three year old classrooms are prepared for the children’s arrival, and the greeters and ushers prepare for their important ministry of the day.

But when someone asks the question WHAT TIME DOES YOUR CHURCH START, what they usually want to know is “when does the actual worship service begin?. The answer to that question at CBC is 9:30 a.m. That is the time Pastor Brown begins our service with announcements. After that we sing together, pray together, give our offerings to the Lord, and hear God’s Word so wonderfully preached and taught each week. So if you want to be on time for the 9:30 AM morning worship service at CBC I have a suggestion for you. I would walk through the front door of Brownstown Middle School no later than 9:15. That should give you time to greet the many friendly folks at CBC, place your children in either the nursery or two and three year old classroom if need be, look at the materials and information sheets on the book table, receive your bulletin from an usher, and find a seat for the 9:30 start. So what time does church start at CBC? I think the best answer is to start thinking …no later that 9:15!

Now I can hear the next question coming, WHAT TIME DOES YOUR CHURCH END? That is a question that will have to wait for another day!