I learned in church today

[Mormon Red Death]

We have 4 wards in our building and we do it without a 3-6 time slot. Seems you guys lack good planning. We have two wards that meet in the morning. One at 9 with sacrament last and the other at 9:30 with sacrament first. As the 9:30 exits the chapel on one side. The 9 enters on the other. Works fine. Two more wards do the same thing at 1 and 1:30.

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To do that you need ample parking. Many buildings don't have that.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

We have 4 wards in our building and we do it without a 3-6 time slot. Seems you guys lack good planning. We have two wards that meet in the morning. One at 9 with sacrament last and the other at 9:30 with sacrament first. As the 9:30 exits the chapel on one side. The 9 enters on the other. Works fine. Two more wards do the same thing at 1 and 1:30.

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Might be related to parking. Our building only has two wards and does 9-12 and 1-4, I was pushing hard for 11-2 at the end of the year and so they asked me to count parking spaces, during our sacrament there were 15-20 vacant spots and during the other ward there were 10-15 vacant. I am now lobbying for a real estate purchase to provide a bigger parking lot.

[Uncle Ted]

Might be related to parking. Our building only has two wards and does 9-12 and 1-4, I was pushing hard for 11-2 at the end of the year and so they asked me to count parking spaces, during our sacrament there were 15-20 vacant spots and during the other ward there were 10-15 vacant. I am now lobbying for a real estate purchase to provide a bigger parking lot.

Our building only has two wards and we meet at 9-12 and 11-2. Parking can be tight for the 11-2 ward when they have a missionary "farewell" or homecoming talk or something. Fortunately there is a bus stop right across the street from the church and there is a large public parking lot to handle the overflow at the previous bus stop, that can be used if needed. Maybe you should get your local public transportation to add a bus stop.

[wuapinmon]

I learned that our stake is getting a new ward (created from other wards) and someone will have to go to church from 3-6pm for at least the next 18 months until a new building is constructed. We already don't have enough room so it'll be fun to see how this all goes. You'd think they'd build the building first and then split the wards, but that takes more faith I guess...

I had church from 4-7PM in a branch in Costa Rica on the mission. We got out after dark. Attendance was not good. Most people went to the other meetings and took the Sacrament there. When they opened a new building, we got 8-11AM, which wasn't too bad since the sun comes up about 5AM here.

[Dwight Schr-ute]

... and we used to pass the Sacrament in Sunday School opening exercises. Sure sounds strange now...

So was there no sacrament during the sacrament meeting or did they pass it twice?

[creekster]

So was there no sacrament during the sacrament meeting or did they pass it twice?

Twice. Adult Sunday school and Junior Sunday school simultaneously. Sacrament meeting later.

[Dwight Schr-ute]

Twice. Adult Sunday school and Junior Sunday school simultaneously. Sacrament meeting later.

Probably to allow all those who went out to lunch between sessions to repent sufficiently.

This link is pretty interesting discussing the change.

The Churchwide initiation of the program follows several months of pilot studies in which selected stakes tried variations of the program—with marked success. Attendance at sacrament meeting and Relief Society increased an average of 10 to 15 percent in the pilot areas. Priesthood, Young Men, Young Women, and Sunday School attendance rose 8 to 10 percent. Primary also had an increase, though slightly lower. The consolidated schedule increased Church attendance among the less active, with fewer people leaving or skipping meetings.

I would expect a much larger bump in attendance than 10% with all that driving back and forth. Maybe that generation will be the one we all bow to on the other side.

[beefytee]

I was really young when things changed. I don't remember sacrament meeting being that late. I remember sleeping through it a bunch.

The biggest thing I remember was that I was disappointed that I would have to wear Sunday best to primary.

[Moliere]

We have 4 wards in our building and we do it without a 3-6 time slot. Seems you guys lack good planning. We have two wards that meet in the morning. One at 9 with sacrament last and the other at 9:30 with sacrament first. As the 9:30 exits the chapel on one side. The 9 enters on the other. Works fine. Two more wards do the same thing at 1 and 1:30.

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This might work. Parking shouldn't be an issue since we already overlap two wards at a time. The 11-2 timeframe also sucks as it overlaps with lunch, which seems to make the kids extra irritable.

[Paperback Writer]

To do that you need ample parking. Many buildings don't have that.

In addition to parking, I was told that our building didn't have enough classroom space for the 9:00/9:30 option. Only enough classroom space for one ward at a time. Thus: 9:00/11:00/1:00/3:00 schedule with Sacrament meeting always first.

[cougjunkie]

In addition to parking, I was told that our building didn't have enough classroom space for the 9:00/9:30 option. Only enough classroom space for one ward at a time. Thus: 9:00/11:00/1:00/3:00 schedule with Sacrament meeting always first.

Again your ward leaders are not thinking very clearly.

You do not need any additional classroom space for this option:

Ward 1: 9:00-9:50- Priesthood/RS/Primary (Ward 2 arrives during this time while others in class to limit disruption and busy hallways)
9:50-10:40- Sunday School
10:40-12- sacrament

Ward 2: 9:30-10:40 Sacrament
10:40-11:30 Sunday School
11:30-12:30 Priesthood/RS/Primary (Ward 1 gets out of sacrament during this time, again limits busy hallways and disruption as ward 2 is in class)


Ward 2 exits the chapel on the South side, Ward 1 enters the chapel on the North side (depending on how your building is laid out). At times as one ward is exiting and the other is entering it can be a bit hectic as people coming in are very territorial with regards to seats. But for the most part it is very cordial.

See how that works? Only one ward is using the classrooms.

[Moliere]

Again your ward leaders are not thinking very clearly.

You do not need any additional classroom space for this option:

Ward 1: 9:00-9:50- Priesthood/RS/Primary (Ward 2 arrives during this time while others in class to limit disruption and busy hallways)
9:50-10:40- Sunday School
10:40-12- sacrament

Ward 2: 9:30-10:40 Sacrament
10:40-11:30 Sunday School
11:30-12:30 Priesthood/RS/Primary (Ward 1 gets out of sacrament during this time, again limits busy hallways and disruption as ward 2 is in class)


Ward 2 exits the chapel on the South side, Ward 1 enters the chapel on the North side (depending on how your building is laid out). At times as one ward is exiting and the other is entering it can be a bit hectic as people coming in are very territorial with regards to seats. But for the most part it is very cordial.

See how that works? Only one ward is using the classrooms.

I like this option. Seems a bit tight on getting the sacrament prepped but I'm sure that wouldn't be a big issue. I'm sure my stake leaders prefer sacrament first to get people to church on time, but they aren'tn ever on time anyway so that shouldn't matter. Plus, this forces at least one ward to end sacrament right on time or a bit early.

[Paperback Writer]

Again your ward leaders are not thinking very clearly.

You do not need any additional classroom space for this option:

Ward 1: 9:00-9:50- Priesthood/RS/Primary (Ward 2 arrives during this time while others in class to limit disruption and busy hallways)
9:50-10:40- Sunday School
10:40-12- sacrament

Ward 2: 9:30-10:40 Sacrament
10:40-11:30 Sunday School
11:30-12:30 Priesthood/RS/Primary (Ward 1 gets out of sacrament during this time, again limits busy hallways and disruption as ward 2 is in class)


Ward 2 exits the chapel on the South side, Ward 1 enters the chapel on the North side (depending on how your building is laid out). At times as one ward is exiting and the other is entering it can be a bit hectic as people coming in are very territorial with regards to seats. But for the most part it is very cordial.

See how that works? Only one ward is using the classrooms.

Confirmed! It's a conspiracy to keep me from attending 9:00 or 9:30 AM chuch. I haven't been in a ward with 9:00 AM church for 7 years because of ward splits or realignments.

[Dwight Schr-ute]

I like this option. Seems a bit tight on getting the sacrament prepped but I'm sure that wouldn't be a big issue. I'm sure my stake leaders prefer sacrament first to get people to church on time, but they aren'tn ever on time anyway so that shouldn't matter. Plus, this forces at least one ward to end sacrament right on time or a bit early.

The biggest consideration to be made (which never happens) is if there are enough couches in the foyer to handle those not in Sacrament meeting AND those not in Sunday School.

[LVAllen]

Again your ward leaders are not thinking very clearly.

You do not need any additional classroom space for this option:

Ward 1: 9:00-9:50- Priesthood/RS/Primary (Ward 2 arrives during this time while others in class to limit disruption and busy hallways)
9:50-10:40- Sunday School
10:40-12- sacrament

Ward 2: 9:30-10:40 Sacrament
10:40-11:30 Sunday School
11:30-12:30 Priesthood/RS/Primary (Ward 1 gets out of sacrament during this time, again limits busy hallways and disruption as ward 2 is in class)


Ward 2 exits the chapel on the South side, Ward 1 enters the chapel on the North side (depending on how your building is laid out). At times as one ward is exiting and the other is entering it can be a bit hectic as people coming in are very territorial with regards to seats. But for the most part it is very cordial.

See how that works? Only one ward is using the classrooms.

Given a choice between having 3:00 church and taking the 1:00 / 1:30 with a reversed schedule, I would pick the 3:00 every single time. There is just no point to taking young kids to sacrament at 4:00 after they've already had 2 hours of church.