Jared Wilson shares ten reasons to underprogram your church. Here are a few that resonated most with me, though they are all good reminders of what's most important. (By the way, Jared's new book, Gospel Deeps, is coming in September. Pre-order it.)
1. You can do a lot of things in a mediocre (or poor) way, or you can do a few things extremely well.
2. Over-programming creates an illusion of fruitfulness that may just be busy-ness. A bustling crowd may not be spiritually changed or engaged in mission at all. And as our flesh cries out for works, many times filling our programs with eager, even servant-minded people is a way to appeal to self-righteousness.
7. Over-programming creates satisfaction in an illusion of success; meanwhile mission suffers. If a church looks like it's doing lots of things, we tend to think it's doing great things for God. When really it may just be providing lots of religious goods and services.
8. Over-programming reduces margin in the lives of church members. It's a fast track to burnout for both volunteers and attendees, and it implicitly stifles sabbath.
Read Jared's post, "Ten Reasons To Underprogram Your Church."