This is the second of a series of posts that explain the details and the how and why we do Friday Nights. You can read the backstory here and part 1 here.

Frequency

It is EVERY Friday.

EVERY. SINGLE. FRIDAY.

We honestly believe this is one of the keys to making it work…if not the most important part. It’s also one of the most difficult to do.

It’s about consistency. It’s about making sure that everyone always knows they can show up at our door without that awkward feeling of, “Oh, you’re not doing it this week?”

It’s every week. Our door opens up at 6pm and most people leave by 9:30pm.

The Holidays

As of this writing, we have been doing Friday Nights for well over a year and a half. We were even open the Fridays after Thanksgiving, New Years and Christmas.

Initially, we thought that the crowds would lessen during the holidays. But when they tended to increase, we realized it just adds to the need for community. For many people the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons are filled with joy and celebration and family and presents and thanks…but not for everyone.

Often these “joyous” times are not very joyful. Separation from family members, a past death during the season, or just having a difficult time in life can sometimes make people resent the holiday season. People just sometimes need to get away. We get that. We’ve been there.

That’s why we keep our doors open during the holidays as well. People need community. And we need it too!

Since we began this endeavor, we have only missed one week and that was because Christmas was actually ON a Friday. (I wanted to do it, but I got voted down by the kids and my wife who was sick in bed!)

The Real Challenge

The biggest benefit to Friday Nights is also the biggest challenge. Pastors and church staff have a common phrase, “Sunday comes every seven days!” It’s a reminder of both the benefit and challenge of pastoral work. As soon as you finished Sunday morning preaching…you have to start preparing for the next one…which is in seven days!

Friday Nights often feel that way. By the time Friday morning rolls around, we just sometimes don’t want to put in the effort. But then we realize, we need the community ourselves. We have to make dinner anyway…might as well just make more!

But if we’re keeping it real, at times it can be hard for us personally. Maybe we had a difficult week, the kids are complaining, the house is messy (a post for later), or we just don’t want to be social. But we’ve committed to this, and even on the hard days, we’ve never regretted it. Not once. In fact, we have NEVER had a Friday Night where nobody came. Even if just one family shows up (which is our lowest record), we’ve provided and received community. Therefore, it was worth it.

So whether we heavily promote Friday Nights on Facebook and Twitter during the week, or completely forget to mention it at all…we’re always open every Friday Night. Please stop by. Message me for directions. Take a load off. Get a free meal. Share some company. Laugh a little. Get some advice. Give some advice.

Create some community.

It’s EVERY Friday!