As I’ve been praying for the last two months, and getting to know the people of Lamar better and better, I cannot get over the potential I see in Lamar Baptist Church making an impact on north Arlington and beyond. My family and I have been so welcomed into the Lamar family, and so many have expressed their excitement for us being here. Part of that excitement is about the likely changes that are coming to our church.

The fall is the most natural time to make bigger changes, and so over the next few weeks I want to start sharing some of the changes that are coming. One of those changes is to our weekly structure. Here’s what some of our weekly structure will look like starting in September:

 

Sunday Nights: “Pray & Go”

Instead of a Sunday night worship service, our main church-wide gathering on Sunday nights will be for prayer and for evangelism. Children’s activities will continue.

For adults, some will stay and pray—for our church, for our neighborhoods, and for the future. Others will be prayed over, and then GO—to follow up with Sunday morning guests, pray for our neighborhoods, and follow up with those connected with Lamar in some way. Much of this will involve evangelism training.

Why “Pray and Go”?

The reason we think this is the way to go for Sunday nights is to build into our weekly structure an emphasis on evangelism and prayer. We’ve had prayer meeting on Wednesday nights in the past, but moving this to Sunday and linking it to our evangelism and outreach efforts will allow us to actively pray for those going out, even while they’re going out! For example, if someone out and about gets into a conversation with someone, the “Go” team can text the “Pray” team, who can immediately pray specifically for this conversation that is happening.

If prayer and evangelism, in particular, are to be an integral part of who we are as a church, why not make it one of our main gatherings? That’s our logic with this move.

 

Wednesday Nights: Theology 101

Instead of prayer meeting on Wednesday nights (now on Sunday nights with evangelism), we’ll be kicking off Theology 101 in September. Children’s and student activities will continue.

For adults, each Wednesday night in Theology 101, we’ll be taking a particular theological concept and digging into the Bible together. Each night will be a different theological topic—creation, inerrancy, demons and angels, God’s sovereignty, the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, common grace, church government, gifts of the Spirit, the millennium, etc. We’ll be at tables, so everyone will have a group. This is what the time will look like (tentatively):

1. 15 minutes: Group Research—each group will look up a list of Scripture references about the theological topic for the night, and list out what we can know about that topic straight from the Bible.
2. 30 minutes: Teaching—I’ll teach on this particular topic, with interaction and questions for groups also.
3. 15 minutes: Group Application- each group will go through a list of application questions based on that theological topic.

Why Theology 101?

More than ever, it seems, the average Christian doesn’t know what the Bible actually teaches about a given theological topic. In the world of Christianity, it seems there is a theological famine of which many are not aware. Lots of ideas go around that seem like they might be biblical, but really aren’t. Theology 101 is one small way we can change that in our church. Never has there been a more important time to open your own Bible, and look for yourself.

 

This is the first “sneak peek” of sorts for changes that are coming. I hope these changes excite you, though I know sometimes change is uncomfortable. You can always reach out to me at ryan@lamarbaptist.org. I’m excited about getting things started in September!