Earlier today I posted 5 Easy Steps to Avoid Gathering with the Church this Weekend. Hopefully you picked up on the satire and won’t follow those 5 easy steps. Now I want to offer a better plan for you. One that I believe will actually be a blessing to you and not a curse.
In the home I grew up in it was never a question of gathering with the church. It was the plan as we left on Sunday night that we would gather on Wednesday to pray together and then again the coming Lord’s Day, unless hindered by an act of God (and that rarely, and I mean rarely, happened). One of the best things you can do for yourself and your family is to establish an atmosphere that this household gathers with other households as often as possible to pray, study the bible and worship together.
Weekly At Eastside Baptist, we try to help you with ideas on how to do this with information in the bulletin. A bulletin you say? You know, that piece of paper you are handed by the ushers every Sunday. Yes, that weekly publication filled with typos and grossly misspelled words. It can be much more than a mindless document that you don’t give much attention to. There are things in it that will help you plan to gather with the Lord’s people.
- Schedule of opportunities to gather with believers
- Sunday mornings: 9:15AM Bible Study, 10:30AM worship gathering
- Sunday afternoon/evening: This is different most weeks so notice the location and times (for example, this week we will gather at 5PM in Rogerson, Idaho with our extended church family for pot-luck and fellowship)
- Wednesday evening: 6:30PM every week we gather for prayer.
- Scripture Memory: The bulletin has information about suggested Scripture that many are working on memorizing.
- Catechism Question: Every week there is a new question with answer with biblical prof. Right now we are working on examining the Ten Commandments.
- Sermon Notes: The bulletin offers a place to write down observations about the sermon. This will help you recall what was taught on the previous week and help you in preparing for the coming week. I generally preach chapter to chapter, verse to verse. This make it rather easy to know what will be examined the coming Lord’s Day. These sermon notes may help generate discussion with your family throughout the week.
- Other opportunities are promoted in the bulletin that you may want to consider as supplemental to your weekly preparation for gathering with the church on purpose.
- The monthly prayer guide and calendar can help you stay connected with the entire church family, pick one up this week when you gather with the saints.
May the Lord bless your efforts as you plan and plan on gathering with the believers this week.