Bayview Bible Church Discipleship Structure Change
At Bayview Bible Church, our purpose is to make disciples of the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to teach them to obey all the commands of Jesus. This is our broad “mission statement,” and it follows that everything we do or endorse as a local church should fit under that umbrella of purpose. We recognize that there is some freedom to structure our plan for discipleship that might look different from another biblical church in the area. Similarly, we are free to structure our discipleship in different ways in different seasons, based upon the different needs of our church body. What I’m saying is that we are allowed to change things up as we see the need! We are in one of those seasons that necessitates some adjustments. There are two significant changes to our discipleship at Bayview Bible Church that we want to communicate to you, along with our rationale for doing so.
Two Services Each Sunday
We are implementing a second service on the Lord’s Day. The reason for this is multifaceted. As things are now, with one service, our space is very crowded. In recent history, in fact, we’ve had gatherings with more than 170 people. As you know, these people are currently divided between sitting upstairs and downstairs. More often than not, because of space constraints, the upstairs crowd and downstairs crowd aren’t able to mix and fellowship in a meaningful way. Our thought is that if the church is going to be divided into two groups, we should give each of those groups the best situation and efforts toward worship that we can give. Rather than watch church through a screen, we want to allow everyone the opportunity to gather for worship in one space, even if that means two separate worship services.
Adding a second service will also buy us some time. With space to grow, we can continue to receive new members into the body as we pray and work toward a building across the street. To be more specific, with two services, we believe we could grow to more than 200 people somewhat comfortably.
There are, of course, downsides to this plan. We aren’t excited about these two groups forming their own cultures and identities, never mixing and never benefitting from each other’s company. We will do what we can to create “church-wide” events for as many people as possible to get together, whether that’s on the church property or elsewhere.
Please know that our intent is, once we are in the building, to consolidate back into one Sunday gathering. At this point, we don’t see having two services as a long-term fixture at Bayview Bible Church.
While we do believe this addition is necessary, we are aware that it creates some needs. Adding a second service also raises the need for volunteers on some of our ministry teams, namely Audio/Visual, Safety and Security, and Sunday Operations (setup and teardown). If you have been thinking about volunteering for one of these teams, now is an excellent time to make yourself known. We need the help! Please reach out with any questions. We hope to implement this plan as soon as we are logistically able. Be on the lookout for a survey in your email asking whether you are more likely to attend an 8:30 am service or a 10:30 am service.
We are implementing a second service on the Lord’s Day. The reason for this is multifaceted. As things are now, with one service, our space is very crowded. In recent history, in fact, we’ve had gatherings with more than 170 people. As you know, these people are currently divided between sitting upstairs and downstairs. More often than not, because of space constraints, the upstairs crowd and downstairs crowd aren’t able to mix and fellowship in a meaningful way. Our thought is that if the church is going to be divided into two groups, we should give each of those groups the best situation and efforts toward worship that we can give. Rather than watch church through a screen, we want to allow everyone the opportunity to gather for worship in one space, even if that means two separate worship services.
Adding a second service will also buy us some time. With space to grow, we can continue to receive new members into the body as we pray and work toward a building across the street. To be more specific, with two services, we believe we could grow to more than 200 people somewhat comfortably.
There are, of course, downsides to this plan. We aren’t excited about these two groups forming their own cultures and identities, never mixing and never benefitting from each other’s company. We will do what we can to create “church-wide” events for as many people as possible to get together, whether that’s on the church property or elsewhere.
Please know that our intent is, once we are in the building, to consolidate back into one Sunday gathering. At this point, we don’t see having two services as a long-term fixture at Bayview Bible Church.
While we do believe this addition is necessary, we are aware that it creates some needs. Adding a second service also raises the need for volunteers on some of our ministry teams, namely Audio/Visual, Safety and Security, and Sunday Operations (setup and teardown). If you have been thinking about volunteering for one of these teams, now is an excellent time to make yourself known. We need the help! Please reach out with any questions. We hope to implement this plan as soon as we are logistically able. Be on the lookout for a survey in your email asking whether you are more likely to attend an 8:30 am service or a 10:30 am service.
Midweek Service
The second change coming to our structure is the introduction of a midweek service. On what will likely be Wednesdays, beginning in September, we will begin an hour-long service at the Bayview Center from 6:30 –7:30 pm. The service will consist of three elements. First, there will be a dedicated time to singing. We will sing songs we already know, and likely learn songs we intend to introduce on Sundays. Second, we will focus on teaching. While not a sermon, there will be attention given to biblical and theological instruction. This teaching may be expositional from the Scriptures, topically-focused, or a systematic theology emphasis. Some of these details are not yet determined. Third, we will give time to prayer. We see the importance of the church to pray fervently and regularly, and Wednesday nights would give us an avenue to do this in a regular and corporate way.
The implementation of a Midweek service means that we are, at least temporarily, stepping away from Home Groups. Home Groups have many merits and have been helpful to many people in the church. We are aware of their value, and we want you to know that the decision to place Home Groups “on the shelf” was not an easy one. They’ve been a helpful avenue for deepening relationships, prompting study in the Scriptures, and offering prayer to God.The growing difficulty with Home Groups has become this: in our current season of life in the church, we are not able to multiply them with qualified leaders at an adequate rate. In other words, we can’t tell the whole church that Home Groups are essential to our discipleship while we don’t have enough groups/space within them for everyone to join.
We believe that rushing men through a pipeline to lead new Home Groups without taking the time to train and observe them would be detrimental in the long term and would potentially create significant issues for the church down the road. It’s a big deal to “lay hands” on a man and endorse him for teaching, even if the setting is a small group of people.
A midweek service would meet some of what Home Groups offered (fellowship, deeper learning, prayer). More than that, these midweek services would also buy us some time to explore who some of the future leaders of the church might be and get to know those men better than we do now. It is possible that we would revisit Home Groups in the future once we are able to execute them better.
The second change coming to our structure is the introduction of a midweek service. On what will likely be Wednesdays, beginning in September, we will begin an hour-long service at the Bayview Center from 6:30 –7:30 pm. The service will consist of three elements. First, there will be a dedicated time to singing. We will sing songs we already know, and likely learn songs we intend to introduce on Sundays. Second, we will focus on teaching. While not a sermon, there will be attention given to biblical and theological instruction. This teaching may be expositional from the Scriptures, topically-focused, or a systematic theology emphasis. Some of these details are not yet determined. Third, we will give time to prayer. We see the importance of the church to pray fervently and regularly, and Wednesday nights would give us an avenue to do this in a regular and corporate way.
The implementation of a Midweek service means that we are, at least temporarily, stepping away from Home Groups. Home Groups have many merits and have been helpful to many people in the church. We are aware of their value, and we want you to know that the decision to place Home Groups “on the shelf” was not an easy one. They’ve been a helpful avenue for deepening relationships, prompting study in the Scriptures, and offering prayer to God.The growing difficulty with Home Groups has become this: in our current season of life in the church, we are not able to multiply them with qualified leaders at an adequate rate. In other words, we can’t tell the whole church that Home Groups are essential to our discipleship while we don’t have enough groups/space within them for everyone to join.
We believe that rushing men through a pipeline to lead new Home Groups without taking the time to train and observe them would be detrimental in the long term and would potentially create significant issues for the church down the road. It’s a big deal to “lay hands” on a man and endorse him for teaching, even if the setting is a small group of people.
A midweek service would meet some of what Home Groups offered (fellowship, deeper learning, prayer). More than that, these midweek services would also buy us some time to explore who some of the future leaders of the church might be and get to know those men better than we do now. It is possible that we would revisit Home Groups in the future once we are able to execute them better.
What about fellowship?
One of the biggest benefits of Home Groups was the regular fellowship they offered. It’s good for the people of the church to be together and share life with one another! The elders are urging you to take the reins on this aspect of church life. We encourage you to open your home regularly, bring in people of the church, and exercise godly hospitality over meals, coffee, and sunsets. For example, at my house, our plan is to have two households over to our home every other Sunday for a meal after our church service. We hope the combination of households is different every time so that we can get to know the people of the church in a healthy way. Give it some thought and do something similar! Start a regular rhythm of fellowship at your house. You don’t need anyone’s permission for this, and I believe you will find great joy and blessing in the habit.
Thanks for taking the time to read this long explanation of these forthcoming changes. If you have any questions, please reach out to the elders. We are grateful for each one of you. God bless you.
One of the biggest benefits of Home Groups was the regular fellowship they offered. It’s good for the people of the church to be together and share life with one another! The elders are urging you to take the reins on this aspect of church life. We encourage you to open your home regularly, bring in people of the church, and exercise godly hospitality over meals, coffee, and sunsets. For example, at my house, our plan is to have two households over to our home every other Sunday for a meal after our church service. We hope the combination of households is different every time so that we can get to know the people of the church in a healthy way. Give it some thought and do something similar! Start a regular rhythm of fellowship at your house. You don’t need anyone’s permission for this, and I believe you will find great joy and blessing in the habit.
Thanks for taking the time to read this long explanation of these forthcoming changes. If you have any questions, please reach out to the elders. We are grateful for each one of you. God bless you.
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