Busy morning?

When people hear that I've just become a vicar they often ask me how many services I am responsible for on a Sunday. It's an interesting question, not least because at present it is the grand total of one. It has made me reflect on what it is that churches do. Is the main business of church to hold services on Sundays? Is this the measure of how Christ-like the community is that meet there?
I'm not so sure it is. As 'church' we are called to worship God, and an important way that we do this is to come together to sing His praises and to offer our prayers. We also re-balance our relationship with Him by sharing in Communion together and by studying the Bible, opening ourselves afresh to His guidance. But worship of God necessarily leads us on to engage in His mission, that of making disciples, of sharing our faith and calling our family, friends and neighbours into a new relationship with the God who made the universe and who loves them as His own children.
We are the carriers of good news, and it is the business of the church to share it. And to be honest, Sunday mornings aren't really the best time to do it.
Just suppose there are some people left in our locality who aren't in bed, working behind a till, watching their kids play football or browsing a car-boot sale. Why would they come to church unless they already knew what it was about? And if they did make it there without knowing what it was about, how does our liturgy look to them? Would this be the best way to kick start a relationship with God?
And a second part of our mission is to be agents for transformation within our communities, witnessing in word and deed to the truth of life in Christ. Again, Sundays aren't the best time to do this, because this is about being out there where the people are, letting them experience God's love and freedom and forgiveness as a free gift.
What Sunday services really are is a fuel-stop, a refuelling, re-energising space for church members to prepare for the real business of church that goes on for the other 23 hours and 6 days left of the week-the business of living lives of worship.
So I'm vicar of a church that meets once on a Sunday, it is true, but it seems to me to be a church that understands how to be a church. And we will see the kingdom of God in this locality!