Sunday Morning Worship Service Not Uplifting^©

For many years, I frequently felt as I left the church parking lot that attending a church Sunday morning worship service was a waste of my time. I did not feel uplifted as I traveled home. A typical reaction by pastors to the expressed opinions of people’s reaction to the Sunday morning worship service is that it is the individual’s problem which is based on the individual’s spiritual state of being. Where is the responsibility of the people that planned the service? If the problem of the effectiveness of Sunday morning worship service is created by the people sitting in the pews, is it a fair statement to say that the leaders of the church are not providing the appropriate spiritual leadership to the church members?

Is it possible that the church pew sitters do not believe that it is worth the anxiety and stress to voice opinions that could improve the Sunday morning worship service? I wonder how the people in the pew would change the services if they felt they have the authority to make changes.

I enjoyed the interaction with people in the Sunday School class as a member and teacher. The sermon and the choir special music were fair to sometimes good, and solos from time to time were average too sometimes very good. This attitude covered five churches of which I was a member over about fifteen years in several towns and three states. One church that I was a member was an exception. The pastor was Rev. Bob Norman. I liked his sermons and felt challenged and encouraged by his sermons and the music.

Typical sermons were so uplifting that I had to fight most of the time to stay awake. What do I get out of the service if I am fighting to not doze? A couple of good rousing old time hymns have enough spirit and beat to help me last through ten minutes of a sermon. I wonder for whom is the service and sermon prepared to motivate? How does the pastor know the sermon was successful?

What is it in your opinion that keeps most churches from growing in attendance? What do you think must be changed?

Dale “The Saint” Lee

A former resident of Pot Neck, Tennessee.

Date last modified, September 3, 2010.

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