INSIDE EVERGREEN—November 29, 2024
Summary:
In the late winter of 2025, Evergreen plans to launch a second morning service. The aim is greater faithfulness to Jesus, as we extend his warm welcome to all whom he brings for respite and restoration through the gospel.
Story
In February 2023, one of my friends in the PNW Presbytery mentioned that adding a second service was a game changer for his congregation’s spiritual maturity.
Spiritual maturity is what Paul envisions when he says “grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Eph 4). It’s the God-given trajectory for all followers of Jesus. The messiah lived and died and rose again to move us from spiritual infancy to spiritual adulthood. The Spirit works in us for precisely this movement; as we grow, the reign of God roots more deeply in the soil of this world.
While only the Lord knows our future, I have a hunch that adding a second service may be an equally pivotal moment for Evergreen.
Like so many good developments, it will come at some cost. Strength training at the gym costs your time and physical comfort. Learning a new job costs mental exertion and loads of humility. Growing as a spouse or parent or friend…or follower of Jesus: immense investment of your whole self.
Adding a second service is an investment.
It will mean some financial cost: our utility bills will increase a little.
More significant is the relational cost: we will have to relinquish the comparative simplicity of current patterns, like, being able to connect with friends because they attend the same service; or lingering for long conversation after the service.
Costlier still is the hit on our natural selves: we will have to practice, yet again, a de-centering of individual preference for the sake of the Lord’s ongoing work through our corporate life. More of us will need to step into roles of service. We will need to see church less as a service-provider than as a training ground for growing in Christ.
But all this investment has a guaranteed, high return.
Paul writes, “your work in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Cor 15). Jesus said, “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matt 25).
To be concrete about it, Jesus mentions giving a cup of cold water in his name.
We could translate that to our situation: preparing communion, greeting at the front door, running the sound system, playing music, vacuuming bread crumbs, tidying pews. Whatever you do for your brothers and sisters at Evergreen, you do for Jesus.
And as you live for Jesus, you become like him. You grow up into him. You mature, spiritually.
Of course, you might read all this and still wonder if it’s even necessary. Or maybe your concern is less about necessity than fit. Maybe you think, “But don’t we want to be a church that planted another church, rather than become large?”
In January 2023, I addressed these and many other questions at a congregational meeting. I offered the same perspectives in a briefer form when our “second service exploration team” reported their findings on a Sunday morning in the Spring of 2023. Periodically, the same ideas have surfaced in other conversations, most recently at a congregational meeting just a few weeks ago when I indulged my inner dramatist and broke a “no vacancy” sign over my knee.
If you have questions about why a second service is necessary, or why we’re not simply hiving-off a church plant, I would be happy to chat at length. I know that the elders and Ian would too. For now, the short answer is that this a key way that we keep pursuing faithfulness to our mission of energizing the whole church to take the whole gospel to the whole world, starting in our own backyard.
The whole gospel includes the invitation to participate in Christ together. Paul said, “welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God” (Rom 15). But the invitation is not merely verbal; it is practical as well. We must live it, and that means making room in our building. We have seen, since January 2023, that room is running out. Even with installing extra pews and learning how to squish, seats are scarce, and if you’re a visitor, or a late-comer, and you show up to no seats, it’s understandably hard to feel the welcome of Christ. Unless we’re willing to hang the “no vacancy” sign, the beauty of the gospel drives us to pursue this development in church life. Or to quote Paul again, “the love of Christ compels us” (2 Cor 5).
As of now, March 16 is the target date for launching the second service. There are many practical pieces to this shift, some more challenging than others. When detailed plans solidify, we will communicate them in writing well in advance of the launch. We will also have opportunity at a congregational meeting in January to address them in corporate conversation.
Meanwhile…
…let’s remember our identity: we are little Christs (Christians)—“it is no longer I who live but the messiah who lives in me” (Gal 2).
…let’s make use of our access: we have almighty God at our disposal—we are “partakers of the divine being” (2 Pet 1).
…let’s maintain our focus: the reign of God in the soil of this world—“the kingdom of God is in your midst” (Lk 17).
In all our interactions, let us “no longer be children,” but “speaking the truth in love” let us “grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Eph 4).
With hope in Jesus, and love and prayer for all of you,
Christopher