Getting along with the neighbors

(posted by Paul Zilmer)

We're now a couple of weeks into having another church right next door.

After the very loud experience the first Sunday, I spoke with one of the leaders of the neighboring church. The conversation was cordial, he said they did not want to be in competition, and said they would "be mindful" of the volume level, although he also said, "You cannot still the passion of preaching." He said they wouldn't use amplification for the Wed prayer service.

As it turns out, the woman who leads the Wed service needs no amplification!  The 6:00 prayer service was once again audible far and wide, although the 7:00 Bible study was not so bad. The following Sunday, the volume was definitely lower. Yesterday, it was once again pretty loud, although perhaps not quite what it was the first Sunday. The irony is that they have only about 30 people, who all sit up front, and they really wouldn't need any amplification.

The ecclesia has determined that we would rather change our own service times, instead of putting up with the distraction for our first half hour. We've also seen that folks from the service next door come into our shop area after they are done. So, we've decided to start our worship at 10:15, and our SS at 11:30.

For Wednesdays, we're carrying on through the rest of June. When our summer session starts in July, we had already planned to only have two classes instead of three, so we will run them on Tue and Thu, and not have anything on Wed for July & Aug. In the fall we'll go back to also having a Wed class — and we'll see then how things go.

We know that our God sees all, and works His will. It's our prayer that the situation might result in some of those from next door joining us for classes. We already know they are curious about us.  May their interest increase!