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Josh wrote:
One thing I like at the Mennonite Church in York is that Sunday school is after the service. It feels more natural to flow that way.

I'm told a lot of BMA churches are going that way, especially church plants in towns and cities. Most "town people" don't get out of bed early enough on a Sunday morning to attend Sunday school!

steve-in-kville wrote:

Josh wrote:
One thing I like at the Mennonite Church in York is that Sunday school is after the service. It feels more natural to flow that way.

I'm told a lot of BMA churches are going that way, especially church plants in towns and cities. Most "town people" don't get out of bed early enough on a Sunday morning to attend Sunday school!

But they will attend church at 9:30, and get “tricked” into Sunday school!

I stumbled upon this thread and thought it deserved a bump. Can’t tell you how many times I’d have hit a thumbs up button or a haha button if it were available.
Appreciated the topic, the discussion, and even the bunny trail.

At my church, we don't always have a preacher, so it's anyone's guess whether there will be a formal lesson or not. Maybe it's my non-menno background, but most services I've been to (including anabaptist ones,) seem to combine the two, so while there is a separate time listed, there is no break in the service.

steve-in-kville wrote:

Josh wrote:One thing I like at the Mennonite Church in York is that Sunday school is after the service. It feels more natural to flow that way.

I'm told a lot of BMA churches are going that way, especially church plants in towns and cities. Most "town people" don't get out of bed early enough on a Sunday morning to attend Sunday school!

I was a member of a church that did this. Church, potluck, Sunday School. I thought it worked great.

This topic has come up recently, though a slight detour from Sunday attendance.

Does church leadership have the authority to mandate that members of the church must attend meetings other than Sunday Morning? I’m thinking about children’s sporting events and other distractions that increasingly take families away from mid-week prayer meetings, bible study times, serving the poor, etc. Does your church face this challenge? Are expectations set out as “rules” in your church, or “unwritten rules”? Should churches who have meetings in addition to Sunday find ways to accommodate busy family schedules? Or just give up on mid week type services? What are your thoughts?

I would suggest in most plain Anabaptist churches they do not have that authority. In some areas they get there authority directly from the Bible while in other areas it is by way of brothers' meetings or counsel meetings. I always wonder how people with small children can properly exercise all of their responsibilities when there are many evening meetings. It may work in urban settings but not so much so in rural and farm settings.

Thanks for that perspective. Its been so long since I’ve lived anywhere other than urban/suburban areas, I’ve forgotten how daily life might be meshed with a spiritual community (other than “meetings”) where the responsibilities of family/livelihood look different than what I’m used to.

I find it interesting that my experience would suggest the opposite. My rural mennonite home church where I grew up has much better midweek attendance than the “Beachy Amish Mennonite” city church where I went for 8 years when I lived out of state.
To me, it still comes back to priorities. But I need to be more gracious toward other sub-cultures I think.

KenW wrote:This topic has come up recently, though a slight detour from Sunday attendance.

Does church leadership have the authority to mandate that members of the church must attend meetings other than Sunday Morning? I’m thinking about children’s sporting events and other distractions that increasingly take families away from mid-week prayer meetings, bible study times, serving the poor, etc. Does your church face this challenge? Are expectations set out as “rules” in your church, or “unwritten rules”? Should churches who have meetings in addition to Sunday find ways to accommodate busy family schedules? Or just give up on mid week type services? What are your thoughts?

We don't have rules mandating attendance. But it is should be prioritized. We often have to reschedule certain monthly midweek meetings in order to fit peoples schedules because we believe it is important for them to be there. In turn, we are encouraged to arrange our affairs so we can be at the meetings. For example, I sent my preachers an email recently about a week long business trip I'm planning to take in mid October. This is supposed to make scheduling a little easier for them. Not sure if it will or not.