A New Sunday Rhythm
In the life of churchwork, summer is often a season of reflection. It’s when we look back upon the past year—assessing, critiquing, envisioning, and planning for what lies ahead.
When I arrived in the fall of 2023, Emmanuel had already begun simplifying its Sunday Schedule—moving from three services to two and shifting the Sunday School hour to follow our 10:00 a.m. service. Over the past two years, we’ve learned quite a bit from this structure.
Combining three services into two created a deeper sense of cohesion within the parish. It is often said that a church has as many congregations as it does services, and I have found this to be true. When services multiply, parishioners can become siloed, rarely crossing paths with those who attend differing times. The new schedule has helped us regain some of that communal wholeness—and for that reason, the program staff does not see value in adding a third service at this time.
However, while combining the former 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. services has fostered unity, a different gap has emerged between our current 8:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. services. With the formation hour now following the 10:00 a.m. Eucharist, our 50+ Rite I worshipers at 8:00 a.m. have no corresponding opportunity for education. This change mirrors feedback from the Century Project, which suggested placing Sunday School between the services to better serve the entire church.
Indeed, when we spoke with both Children’s Sunday School and Adult Forum leaders, they acknowledged the difficulty in getting families to attend Sunday School after the 10:00 a.m. service. They also expressed a preference for an earlier start to the formation hour.
Therefore, beginning this fall, we will shift to the following Sunday morning schedule:
8:00am Rite I Holy Eucharist
9:00am Sunday School for all ages
10:00am Rite II Holy Eucharist
While I am enthusiastic about this new rhythm, I’m even more excited about our offerings this fall. We have a lot of exciting opportunities which we will be sharing in the upcoming weeks! If you would like to be a part of our children’s formation team I encourage you to reach out to Mother Sara to get plugged into this fun ministry!