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What’s going on Thursday night? At Salem UMC, it’s church

January 28, 2015 / By Beth DiCocco / .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

What do you do when you can't make an appointment? You reschedule.

If it works for doctor's visits and business meetings, why not for church services?

When the Rev. Debbie Earthrowl, pastor at the Salem United Methodist Church, saw it was tough for many young families to make the Sunday morning service, she simply rescheduled.

Salem UMC still has Sunday morning worship, and its attendance has grown; but since May 2014, it's also had an hour-long, relaxed worship time for families on Thursday evenings.

Some parents work on Sundays, and for some it's their only family day; others had bad church experiences or no church experiences and don't feel comfortable at Sunday morning services, Rev. Earthrowl said.

However, that doesn't mean they don't want a worship experience. Three moms approached her about offering a religious opportunity for their children that would be "something they could experience along with their children, (rather than) have their children go off to Sunday school or a separate worship service," she said.

While Sundays don't work, many parents say they don't have much time during the week, either, Rev. Earthrowl said. So she posed this question: Does it typically take you at least an hour to prepare and eat dinner on weeknights?

The answer was yes, and in less than two weeks, the Rev. Earthrowl had church volunteers signed up to make two months worth of dinners and began hosting the Thursday night worship. It begins at 6 p.m. with supper and fellowship and ends by 7.

"Sometimes we sing, sometimes we don't; sometimes we have a big project, sometimes we're playing outside," she said. "I fly by seat of my pants; sometimes I don't know what I'm doing until that day, and I say, 'Thank you, God, for putting that idea in my brain.'"

One of those ideas was a mini mini-golf game with marbles and tongue depressors. Complete with sand traps and water hazards, the course was set up in the sanctuary in a couple of hours, Rev. Earthrowl said. The children learned about working together, following rules, and about how God is leading us along the course of life. And at the end, the children realized they had stopped keeping score.

That God doesn't keep score was another of the day's lessons, Rev. Earthrowl said. "There are so many lessons there that God teaches through things like that. It's so much fun in so many different ways."

"It's a non-threatening way of approaching God and hearing God's word the way God intends it, with joy and excitement," said Rev. Earthrowl, adding that excitement is felt by both the adults and the children. 

She told of one week when she was introducing a scripture passage about Jesus and His disciples when a little boy tugged on her sweater and said, "Debbie, I just love Jesus so much." 

"I said 'I do, too.' I didn't have to say another word," she said, the day's message had been received.

"One of many heartwarming things is the kids asking all week 'Is it church day today?' Rev. Earthrowl said.

Mother of three (with one on the way) Sarah Wohlleb didn't attend Salem UMC, but said, "Salem is a small town, so I knew Pastor Debbie." When she saw a member's Facebook post about getting youth connected to the church, she made a comment.

Now her children – Judson, 10; Natalie, 6, and Tucker, 5 – look forward to Thursdays every week. "They love it," she said.

"Thursday nights are casual," Wohlleb said. "The kids get to be with other kids ... I really like how (Rev. Earthrowl) gets the kids involved."

For example the children were asked to pass out the bread for Communion, and that gave them a chance to interact not only other kids, but with the older adults as well, Wohlleb said.

Thursdays work for her family, because they have a small farm, and by 10:30 a.m. on a Sunday they are well into their chores. It's easier, she said, to make something at the end of the day.

And it's not only her children who take something meaningful away from Thursday nights at Salem UMC.

"Pastor Debbie talks to all of us; I was not brought up religious, so this is as new to me as it is to my kids. "It's not like a little-kid thing, it really hits all of us at once," Wohlleb said of the message, and "it's nice not to have to cook diner some Thursdays."

The family has met people through the worship and Wohlleb has invited friends to attend.

"You may not be religious at all and still gain from it," she said. "(The worship offers) common sense and good values. It makes you want to go back for more."

And her children do just that. They attended VBS this year and they now go to Sunday school.

Attendance on Thursday evening has remained steady at about 35 to 40 people. Rev. Earthrowl said that represents 60-70 different people who call this their worship experience. Average Sunday morning attendance is about 70, which is "up a bit," she said.

The service doesn't require any funding from the church budget. They do not receive an offering, but people do make donations as they can.

Rev. Earthrowl said "I always thought that to have an alternative service we'd need a music leader or video system, etc., and if we don't have all this, we can't do it.

"It's become more that I ever would have anticipated; that's how I know God's hand is in all of it. This is God's way of saying, 'Look, you can do it with just nothing.'"

That simplicity is one of the things that church member Judy Jackson appreciates. She and her husband, Paul, are enthusiastic supporters.

"It did come together far better than I imagined it would," Jackson said. "The need was there, and it was perfect timing. There's not a ton of committees (involved). The food just happens; you pray on it, and the food is there. It all works out smoothly. There's not a lot of hoopla, which makes it that much more enjoyable."

The Jacksons attend Sunday worship and go to as many Thursday evenings as they can. They provide the meal about once a month or whenever there's a gap that needs to be filled. Jackson said it deepens her own worship experience.

"It totally enhances Sunday to hear her sermon in a different tone (on Thursday)," Jackson said. "It reinforces Sunday for me, and I think I get a lot of good feelings, a lot of spiritual-ness; I feel better and closer; and a lot of others do too."

Jackson said the Thursday service is a avenue to reach the lonely and the hungry as well.

"Church used to be social center of a lot of lives," Rev. Earthrowl said. She thinks the fellowship over dinner helps rekindle some of that. And increased vitality affects the whole church.

Rev. Earthrowl is proud to say that there is ministry going on in the building almost every day of the week. Monday is job networking, Tuesday Bible study, Caring and Sharing on Wednesdays and the services on Thursdays and Sundays.

"This is a very active congregation," she said. "They are so open to the movement of God's Spirit. When things are suggested you don't get 'oh, no.' You get 'What can we do? How can I help?' It's life-giving and it's life-giving to this community in so many ways."