Churches sponsor Friday night worship services

In these days when it seems everyone’s schedule grows more hectic by the hour, churches are looking for ways to make worship attendance more convenient.
   
Hunter Street Baptist Church, Hoover, attempted to do that with a worship service at 7 p.m. on Friday, in addition to services on Sunday mornings.
   
Kelly Parker, secretary to Pastor Buddy Gray, said children’s worship also was held on Friday nights.
   
With the Friday services, “we were trying to reach out to people who have to work on Sundays,” Parker said. She said the church engaged in a mailing campaign, contacted hospitals, fire departments and others and asked church members to spread the word about services.
   
Because of low attendance, Hunter Street decided to cancel Friday services for the summer. They will reevaluate the need in the fall.
   
The services, which began Feb. 11, attracted between 250 and 300 each time. The services were held in the church’s chapel, which seats around 400 people. If the Friday night congregation ever outgrows the chapel, the services will move elsewhere.
   
The church already offered four Sunday morning services, all of which include sermons delivered by Gray. While Sunday services are more traditional, Parker said worship on Fridays is casual and features contemporary music and a band rather than an orchestra.
   
Services at times other than the traditional is something The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham, has been offering for about six years.
   
Kelly Stephenson, pastor of worship, said the Friday services begin at 7:30 p.m. with Bible study, followed by worship.
   
On one recent weekend, about 800 attended the Friday night service, he reported. As at Hunter Street, the Friday service at The Church at Brook Hills is more contemporary.
   
The additional service is just one step in a larger vision of the church’s pastor, Rick Ousley.
Stephenson said Ousley envisions a time when The Church at Brook Hills will have services seven days a week. “That’s part of the vision he has for us.”
   
MeadowBrook Baptist Church, Gadsden, began Saturday night services in early 1999 out of a need for space, said Steve Roberts, worship leader.
   
“We were going to try to grow that way,” he said, noting it was also designed to help those who had to work on Sundays.
   
The services began well and “… there were new people coming in for a while,” Roberts said. But various factors resulted in ending the services about five months later.
   
Now, the church holds a college ministry on Thursday evenings and still considers it a possibility to offer more services at alternate times, he said. “If there’s a need, we’ll do it.”
   
Even though the Saturday services ceased, the need for more space didn’t. Right now, MeadowBrook Church is in the process of relocating to property near Ala. 77 and Steele Station Road, Roberts said.
   
In the interim, the church will accommodate the packed Sunday services with an “overflow” area with the service transmitted there live via microwave dish.
   
Saddleback Church in Mission Viejo, Calif., in many ways has written the book on having services at alternate times and places.
   
Its founder, Rick Warren, is the author of the book “The Purpose Driven Church.” Glen Kreun, executive pastor of Saddleback, described the book as the “model for church today.”
  
Kreun said services already are held three times on Sunday morning, in addition to those on Saturday afternoon and evening.
   
“We’ve got programs going on all the time,” he said.
   
However, it is expected within the next two years that the Southern Baptist church will start holding services designed for Generation X and Generation Y. Kreun said the services would utilize videos, drama and music that those age groups enjoy.
   
In addition, the church is considering an alternate service for senior adults, Kreun said.
   
The Saturday services have been quite positive in that they have allowed the church to reach different groups of people, Kreun pointed out. Services at alternate times make it easier for people to attend church at their convenience, he said.
   
Even with its three Sunday morning services and two Saturday services, the church — which baptized 1,600 last year and has an attendance of about 16,000 — is still in need of space.
   
Similar to MeadowBrook’s “overflow” project, Kreun said the church is negotiating to have a satellite link to a local theater so people could attend services there.
   
Kreun said he believes offering services at alternate times is what churches will have to consider seriously in the future in order to remain viable and to continue to grow.