What's your favorite part of Sunday morning at church?
Is it the musical part of worship, where you lose yourself in a heavenly scene, praising God for Who He is?
Is it the sermon, where you learn about a text you may not have ever spent much time in, and you see the timeless truth it holds and how that timeless truth applies to your current life events?
Is it praying with your brothers and sisters, going to the Lord together? Mingling and catching up on the week with friends? Hugs? Serving?
I bet you wouldn't say announcements are your favorite.
Announcements can be the most boring part of church. They're not what anyone comes for. At best, they feel like the table bread at a good restaurant -- you forgot it was coming but you're happy about it.
Announcements come at a funny time in the service flow. We've probably sung one upbeat song. People are still trickling in. Most of us are still thinking about what was going on getting out of the house, or drama with our kids in the parking lot, or wishing we'd grabbed a coffee. I’ve led communion, preached, played on the worship team, done live Q&As… and believe it or not, announcements can be one of the most challenging “up front” things to do. We want them to be thorough, engaging, and concise. Some people do it better than others! I’m not offended if you don’t think much of my announcement style.
Sunday morning is an important part of church, but "church" is so much more than Sundays, so much more than a sermon and worship.
if you get this newsletter, you already know: your local church body is where you do the "one anothers" of Scripture (1 Jn 4:11, 1 Thess 5:11, Heb 10:24, Rom 15:7 etc), where the men who preach on Sunday might actually know you and your story, where elders know your name and highs and lows (if you let them), where you ask for moving help.
Announcements are where you learn about opportunities to connect, to build real community here in Las Vegas. It might start by filling out a contact card and my wife Tiffany or I reach out to you to answer questions about ministry or doctrine. Maybe a picnic is coming, or there's a baseball game, for some informal fun and meeting people from the church; or a new small group semester is starting soon where you can find real discipleship and know and be known.
It's where you realize that, far from being a social club, this modest body is doing more than you thought. We're supporting global missions, local ministry, real orphans, praying like prayer really touches the heart of God.
Announcements are a little peak into the body life of the church. Updates about ministries, pictures of the construction progress at our new facility; beloved families move away, students go off to college; or maybe we're meeting on a Saturday morning to pray.
Pastors and elders cast vision in the announcements. It's a main way we communicate our heart. Out of the many things we COULD be doing, why are we doing the things we ARE doing? What is a prayer cohort and what's with that weird name? What's a Wummer camp? Do we support missions at all? What's the point of small groups? Who is this church even for?
Announcements are like Beanie Babies at McDonalds - you have to go every week if you want to collect them all. We want to avoid weeks where we have so many announcements that time is taken from singing and preaching, so we try to carefully balance between giving things enough exposure, not too much or too little.
Maybe announcements are like McDonalds in other ways. Sometimes it's not the quick in-and-out you hoped for, or the quality is sub-par. Maybe the shake machine is broken and something just doesn't come across.
But regardless, announcements are one way important communication happens throughout our church. If you missed them, ask what you missed. If you're not clear about something, you're probably not alone - ask the announcer and maybe it'll get clarified for everyone.
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