Questions on LHC and Family Night

Sometimes I get some excellent questions from some of you guys. As I am answering these questions I often wish there was a way to let others "hear" the answer. In my mind this would answer many other questions and save lots of time.

Recently a member asked a great question:

"Why can't we have Life's Healing Choices (LHC) on Family Night?

The logic of this question is obvious. On Family Night childcare is provided, it saves another night out, and the entire family can participate.

The answer is not so obvious. Here is how I responded:

Excellent thoughts on this!

We did consider using Wednesday night as an option. Here are the concerns with Wed:

1. One hr is not enough time and although childcare is available, it ends after 1 hr. We carefully manage Wed pm to be ONLY 1 hr to keep young families coming.
   
2. The methodology of LHC is to bring people into relationship so their hurts, hang-ups, and habits can be addressed. Mtg in homes is much more conducive for this and allows people to become more intimate than mtg in a church classroom. LCH is clearly designed to bring people into a high level of transparency. We believe a home setting better facilitates this openness.
   
3. We desire to see church relationships surpass the campus and move into our homes.
   
4. A tag-on-goal to LHC is to build our Life Groups. By using Tue/Thur we are getting people accustomed to going out on these days and times in the community.
   
5. One of the hardest nuts to crack as a church is seeing Christianity outside of the church walls. Intentionally moving into communities is a purposeful decision. We believe lost people will come to homes before they will come to church. Evangelism is a primary goal.
   
   What we have thought of is after this initial campaign is over, possibly offering this on Wednesday as a modified class. Whether we extend the time or stretch the duration, I don’t know? The intent of this class would be more along the lines of a 12 step program.
   
   I understand your families concerns and I fully empathize with your time constraints. For 8 wks people can hit the “pause button” on other meetings until LHC is over. All of the Life Groups and the Men's Ministry are on “pause” until this is over. As you described, we don’t want to be competing against one another.
   
   Honestly, it is very seldom that I do a campaign of this nature. Asking all other meetings to “pause” and encouraging everyone to go through the same lesson. Will there be problems with this? Certainly! Yet, I am comfortable with the turmoil this causes, for the potential benefit that is before us. The intent is not to harm anyone, but to lead our great congregation into a season of corporate health.
   
   I hope that helps answer your questions and I appreciate your gentle and open spirit in this discussion.
   
   Blessings,
   Pastor Wes