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Sunday Night LIVE! Lives On – The Ecstatic Joy of Jesus at Fairmont United Methodist Church What happens when church is too early? Too formal? Too dressed up? At Fairmont United Methodist Church in Raleigh, the answer was and is Sunday Night LIVE! It was the spring of 1993. The congregation had worked with Reverend Steve Compton, Director of Congregational Development, on Callahan’s “Twelve Keys,” and came to a consensus that a second service would reach more people. However, a survey of the membership yielded almost even divisions for the proposed times of Saturday night, early Sunday morning, or Sunday night. The team charged with the task chose the most unusual slot for United Methodists – Sunday night. After much prayerful planning and a venture into radio advertising, the big night arrived. The service was to be biblical, musical, dramatic, and “more fun than anybody ought to be allowed to have in church.” A robed Pastor Steve Hickle entered the sanctuary to the traditional strains of the organ, when a voice from the congregation shouted, “Wait a minute! I thought this was supposed to be an alternative service!” As if on cue (!), off came the robe, and up went the cry, “Live from Fairmont, where it’s Sunday night!” Immediately, Terra Nova, an a capella quartet, launched into Operator, and the service was born. Over 700 consecutive services later, it lives on. The service was designed to become a portal for people coming back to church or exploring church for the first time. For many people, the service has been welcoming for their “reentry.” One of the oft expressed joys of the service is the wide array of guest musicians who perform for each service, ranging from African American gospel to the gospel jazz of the Fairmont Gospel Revue. Sunday Night LIVE! was also an effort to connect with people who attend the several 12-Step groups (now sixteen each week) at Fairmont, deliberately bridging the language of “faith” and “recovery” with the language of “grace.” Each service has at least a taste of recovery, from a “step” featured weekly to a musical version of the Serenity Prayer. For over thirteen years, faith and recovery have connected at SNL! In 2002, Fairmont began offering a bus ride to the men of The Healing Place, giving them a way to attend the service and stay after for a Narcotics Anonymous meeting before returning. Among the several surprises that emerged at SNL! was the ongoing presence of persons with mental illness. The smaller congregation, the music, and the message seemed to connect with them in a variety of ways. As friends told friends, the service has gained status in the community as a welcoming place. NAMI NC (an alliance of mental health advocates) has recognized this effort by publishing information in its monthly newsletter. SNL! is not so much “contemporary” as it is “alternative,” but it is also United Methodist. The two hymnals are used, along with Songs of Zion. Both sacraments are observed regularly. Biblical, musical, at times dramatic, always more fun than anybody ought to be allowed to have in church: Sunday Night LIVE! lives. |