Seminary was a positive experience in some ways, especially my Greek and Hebrew training, systematic theology, Church history, and other such classes that gave me a grounding in how to handle and preach God’s word, but I walked into my first pastorate completely untrained in how to deal with basic day-to-day tasks I faced as a pastor. I remember when I walked down from the pulpit to lead the Lord’s Supper for the first time, and I realized that no one had ever led me through how to do it. I fumbled my way through it, managed to serve the bread first and the cup second, and got the people properly communioned.
One thing no one ever mentioned, probably because the seminaries I attended were in Dallas and Ft. Worth, has become one of the most difficult and annoying decisions I have to make.
When do you cancel church because of the weather?
Obviously, I’m old school. You young whippersnappers are cancelers. I was raised by Lew Miller, who acted as if canceling church for any reason, even on Sunday night or Wednesday night, might be the single thing that could cost you your place in eternity. Dad used to deliver a screed on Super Bowl Sunday morning that put the FEAR into our folks. We had remarkable attendance while the game was going on, even before the advent of VCRs that could record it.
(For reference, young whippersnappers, Baptist churches used to have church on Sunday night and it was considered mandatory for people who loved the Lord.)
I don’t know if you know this, but the weather is controlled by demonic forces, which is why a disproportionate amount of our bad weather comes on Saturday night and Sunday morning. That means we pastors up north have to regularly make difficult calls about whether to cancel services. Back in the good old days, we tended to carry on with whoever could make it. I had a reputation in Cedar Rapids as the only guy who wouldn’t cancel services. People would show up from their churches to ours when everyone else pulled the plug. We’d have a lot of visitors.
In recent years, though, as I’ve gotten older and culture has changed, the decisions have become more difficult. Permit me to change the tone a bit and try to be serious.
1. We live in a culture that is less willing to brave the elements and more interested in staying home and safe. Dad used to tell the story about a blizzard in Cedar Rapids in the 60s when he decided he should drive the 2 miles to church just in case anyone showed up for Wednesday night prayer meeting. There were 25 people there.
2. Technology has changed things. First, we can notify people much more easily. My dad would have had to make 100 phone calls in the 60s to cancel anything. Now, we just shoot out a text, post something on the website, or Facebook.
3. Canceling church when you can live-stream something and have everyone watch is a game-changer. The shutdown in 2020 really did change everything, didn’t it? Before that, only big churches streamed their services, but when the pandemic came, every little church was using Facebook Live to reach the masses.
Let’s get back to my original point, though. The decision as to whether to close church or not is a pain in my…uh…neck. I have weather apps that give me all sorts of information based on multi-million dollar equipment, but their predictions seem to be about as accurate as the guy who called balls and strikes in the USA-Dominican Republic baseball game last night.
I was the guy who never closed church back in Cedar Rapids, but they were predicting a brutal ice storm for Sunday afternoon. If you live up in these parts, you learn to drive on snow, but Max Verstappen can’t drive on ice. So, I announced Sunday morning that we were pulling the plug on Sunday evening activities. The temps shifted a couple of degrees, and we had a rainstorm with no ice. “Mr. No Cancellations” took a fair amount of ribbing about that.
There have been other times when they said 2 to 4 inches of snow – around here, we generally carry on – and 6 or more inches came. Faithful people came out when they shouldn’t have.
I am the one who has to make these decisions. It galls me to cancel church. The gathering of believers is wonderful, and I don’t want to treat it lightly, but I also don’t want my mostly older people to slide into Nebraska ditches to get here. It’s a conundrum.
I’m guessing there are no solutions, so I’m just trying to tell the weather to get off my lawn.
I have a few discussion questions.
- It has always been MY decision as pastor to cancel or not to cancel. Are there any churches out there where someone else makes the decision?
- What is your thought process in making that decision?
- My theory is that in the South, it’s easier to cancel in bad weather because this kind of thing happens less frequently. If we cancel every time it hits 10 below or we get 3 inches of snow, we won’t meet much from mid-December to the beginning of March. Make sense?
- Did anyone ever get any kind of training or advice on this?
I’ve mostly whined and complained, but here’s my closing advice. We do the best we can, and I think God understands.
