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One Hour Church


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15 hours ago, Rain said:

Yes. I visited one church building in San Diego that had 6 wards when church was 3 hours.  They actually cut it to 2 hours and 45 min to get them all in, but if they can do that 5 and 1 hour is doable.

 

I don't think this is what you were going for, necessarily, but I served my mission in the San Diego area, so that made me smile. :)  (I couldn't help it! :unknw:;))

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1 hour ago, MiserereNobis said:

The sung/high Mass I attend lasts about 1 hour 15 minutes, which includes a homily of about 15 minutes. The rest is the ritual. Religious education is offered separately and often on weekdays.

In many ways, the Mass itself is a type of religious education, as every action and symbol teaches.

The few times I have attended LDS church (it was the 3 hour block then), I was very struck by how much overt teaching is going on, from speakers to lessons to discussions. Y'all like to talk :) (and shake hands! Holy cow! Did the pandemic affect that custom at all?)

I blinked as I read the last part of your comment, and saw "snake hands". I had to reread from "Y'all" on, and stifle a LOL.

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1 hour ago, 2BizE said:

Are there any doctrinal requirements to have sacrament meeting on a weekly basis?

No. During covid that was pretty clear if not before since many did not receive it weekly.

1 hour ago, 2BizE said:

Could church rotate between sacrament meeting and Sunday school for 1 hour each week?

Yes

But I don't see that happening.  

 

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4 hours ago, bluebell said:

Ward size is tricky.  Small wards often mean hardly any youth for activities and that can really be a downer for the few kids attending.  Too big makes things to unwieldy.  I've been in both very small wards (and one branch) and very large wards with 400+ attending every sunday.  The large ward seemed to be much better as far as community went (though it was harder on leadership).  After it was split, and the ward became very small (sometimes only 75 people attending on a sunday), it lost a lot of it's personality and ability to meet needs.  Socialization between members fell dramatically and the youth program became very very hard to manage.

It's a fine line I guess.

There are two wards that meet in our building that don't have a lot of youth. So we have separate Sacrament meetings and separate adult classes but combine wards for youth and primary meetings and activities. One ward has sacrament meeting first, then combined youth and primary meetings, then the other ward has their sacrament meeting.

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1 hour ago, MiserereNobis said:

The sung/high Mass I attend lasts about 1 hour 15 minutes, which includes a homily of about 15 minutes. The rest is the ritual. Religious education is offered separately and often on weekdays.

In many ways, the Mass itself is a type of religious education, as every action and symbol teaches.

The few times I have attended LDS church (it was the 3 hour block then), I was very struck by how much overt teaching is going on, from speakers to lessons to discussions. Y'all like to talk :) (and shake hands! Holy cow! Did the pandemic affect that custom at all?)

Not really.  I didn't like shaking hands before and now it's given me an excuse to fist bump instead, but I know of few others that do that.

Oddly, before covid I had never had a doctor at an appointment shake hands, but I've now had 3 want to shake since covid.

 

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2 hours ago, JAHS said:

There are two wards that meet in our building that don't have a lot of youth. So we have separate Sacrament meetings and separate adult classes but combine wards for youth and primary meetings and activities. One ward has sacrament meeting first, then combined youth and primary meetings, then the other ward has their sacrament meeting.

That's interesting.   How do they handle the logistics of different people in one group being under different "jurisdictions" so to speak?  Like what if the primary president's ecclesiastical leader agrees with something she wants to do but the ecclesiastical leader of some of the children (or the parents) disagrees, for instance?  And how do they handle the budget?

And how does it work with the bishopric, since the each bishopric would have priesthood responsibility over only the boys in their ward?

I'm guessing that everyone kind of "goes along to get along" since it could be really messy if people weren't willing to be kind of vague in how they fulfilled their callings.

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13 minutes ago, MiserereNobis said:

Some/many Catholic churches hold midnight mass at like 8:00 PM 🙄

I much prefer the symbolism of celebrating the Light of Christ entering the world in the dark of night, when night is now turning towards day.

In my  little branch in Scotland the members (particularly the young single adults, mostly former Protestants) had a tradition of attending midnight mass as a group - at midnight.

At Christmas a few years ago, my wife & I were in Cordoba, Mexico, and went to midnight mass in the cathedral. Even as a non-believer I have to admit that the experience was moving - the cathedral is magnificent inside and out, and the music and acoustics were beautiful, as was the offering of the hand of fellowship at the end of the service.

My Spanish is not good enough to understand all of the words of the homily, but since I know the Christmas story 😊 I was able to follow well enough.

All in all a memorable occasion.

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9 hours ago, JVW said:

there would probably be less callings if the time was changed to an hour.

What callings would not be needed since you would have as many classes?

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3 hours ago, bluebell said:

That's interesting.   How do they handle the logistics of different people in one group being under different "jurisdictions" so to speak?  Like what if the primary president's ecclesiastical leader agrees with something she wants to do but the ecclesiastical leader of some of the children (or the parents) disagrees, for instance?  And how do they handle the budget?

And how does it work with the bishopric, since the each bishopric would have priesthood responsibility over only the boys in their ward?

I'm guessing that everyone kind of "goes along to get along" since it could be really messy if people weren't willing to be kind of vague in how they fulfilled their callings.

Youth leaders from each ward meet together to plan things and do their activities and sunday school, YM and YW classes together. The primary leaders are called from both wards, so there is only one primary presidency. The youth still have their interviews with their respective bishops. One ward handles all the youth budget/expenses and the other ward handles all the primary budget/expenses.

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7 hours ago, 2BizE said:

Are there any doctrinal requirements to have sacrament meeting on a weekly basis? Could church rotate between sacrament meeting and Sunday school for 1 hour each week?

Moroni 6:5-6 emphasizes that early believers met regularly to partake of the Sacrament:

"And the church did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls.
And they did meet together oft to partake of bread and wine, in remembrance of the Lord Jesus."

"{M}eet together oft..."

In our day, Doctrine & Covenants 20:75 gives explicit instructions regarding the frequency:

"It is expedient that the church meet together often to partake of bread and wine in the remembrance of the Lord Jesus."

"{M}eet together often..."

From the Gospel Principles manual:

Quote

The scriptures explain exactly how the sacrament is to be administered. Members of the Church meet each Sabbath day to worship and partake of the sacrament (see D&C 20:75).

Acts 20:7 describes early Christians gathering on the first day of the week (Sunday) to break bread:

"And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them."

"{U}pon the first day of the week..."

This passage is cited in the Church's "Study Helps" entry about Sacrament.

Doctrine & Covenants 59:9 further clarifies:

"And that thou mayest more fully keep thyself unspotted from the world, thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day."

"{O}ffer up thy sacraments upon my holy day."

Taken together, these passages tie Sabbath observance - a weekly event - to the administration of the Sacrament.

Thanks,

-Smac

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8 hours ago, SkyRock said:

I had heard rumors of 2 hour church 35 years ago or so.   

I miss 3 hour church. 

1 hour seems way too short.

So basically, since the rumor is started we can expect 1 hour church around 2050-2060? That gives me some time to prepare. :)

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On 10/28/2024 at 9:13 AM, bluebell said:

Ward size is tricky.  Small wards often mean hardly any youth for activities and that can really be a downer for the few kids attending.  Too big makes things to unwieldy.  I've been in both very small wards (and one branch) and very large wards with 400+ attending every sunday.  The large ward seemed to be much better as far as community went (though it was harder on leadership).  After it was split, and the ward became very small (sometimes only 75 people attending on a sunday), it lost a lot of it's personality and ability to meet needs.  Socialization between members fell dramatically and the youth program became very very hard to manage.

It's a fine line I guess.

I’ve been in Wards on both the east coast and in California where the YW/YM and the Primary combined with their counterparts in a Ward in the same building.   In New York it was a long standing arrangement.  In California it was done in a gentrifying Stake as a precursor to merging Wards.  The critical mass obtained by combining was viewed favorably by both the kids and their leaders.

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My favorite calling is primary and I feel like where we are at now is just about right. 2nd hour split up between singing time and class time. I would hate to see that time abbreviated. I was not a member of this church as a kid but I always looked forward to what we called Sunday school and being with the other kids. I think it is important for children to socialize in this way. 

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6 hours ago, let’s roll said:

I’ve been in Wards on both the east coast and in California where the YW/YM and the Primary combined with their counterparts in a Ward in the same building.   In New York it was a long standing arrangement.  In California it was done in a gentrifying Stake as a precursor to merging Wards.  The critical mass obtained by combining was viewed favorably by both the kids and their leaders.

In areas where there are not a lot of members, I can see why it would be the best option.

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On 10/27/2024 at 9:48 PM, JVW said:

My wife has been reading rumors of some Stakes in America piloting 1 hour church. So far it's all been "I heard someone who knows someone who is in this ward that is part of the pilot program". There's been a few different options being talked about as currently being piloted. States rumored to have participating pilot Stakes so far are: Idaho, Utah, New Mexico.

- 20 minute sacrament meeting + 40 minute 'class' time.
- 1 hour sacrament meeting, then on every other week 20 minute sacrament meeting + 40 minute 'class' time.
- 20 minute sacrament meeting then 45 minutes Sunday School followed by 45 minutes EQ/RS (total of two hours with this pilot)

Again, all of this is rumors so far "sister-in-law knows someone who..." but have any of y'all heard anything about this? What do you think about if this was actually happening? Do you think one hour church would be awesome or not?

I would be shocked if the Church did this.

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