When building your atheist church (and we've already discussed why we use that term sparingly, he says while using it in the first line of his blog post) you start off with a plan, put together a team (making sure it is not too atheist), but what will you do at the service? What a super question. You should come more often.
The service is the gateway to The Sunday Assembly. The final goal is to have everyone in the congregation living fully life-centred lives, aware of the outrageous good fortune to be a breathing person. The Sunday service is your calling card, flagship and statement of intent. It is a spectacle with serious "Wow!" factor* that leaves people raving and desperate to come back to the next one. You are creating an uplifting, theatrical experience that celebrates life. An event that is entertaining but, with its ambition to transform lives, not entertainment.
When we started to get hundreds of requests all over the world from people who wanted their own Sunday Assembly we had to think “How do we allow other people to use our name and reputation, while ensuring that they stay true to our values?”. We couldn't just say "Anything you do is a Sunday Assembly", that could have a massive negative impact not just on the Assembly in London, but on everyone across the world.
That’s why we are piloting our system called Sunday Assembly Everywhere in Bristol, Brighton, Melbourne and New York. SAE is an order of service that gives us the confidence to allow people to start their own, safe in the knowledge that it will not go off the rails.
The wisdom of doing this became apparent when the first independently organized Assembly in New York sent through a revised running order, that was totally different to a Sunday Assembly. There were way more speakers (the Assembly can’t only appeal to intellectuals – most people don’t like lectures!), and instead of having songs at the beginning and end of the service, all four songs were in the middle.
Previously, we hadn't specified the running order because Pippa and I thought it obvious that the songs would be at the start and the end. It’s classic theatrical stuff, start and end with a song. First song, puts energy into the room. Last song, makes everyone leave with a spring in their step.
What’s more, we have been honing the Assembly. The initial format started with an intro from me before the first number, and the notices at the end after the last. Pippa suggested we should go out on a song, no goodbyes afterwards. We made the change, it suddenly worked better.
In April I visited a church called Hillsong (all humanists, atheists and skeptics should go to one of their services – until your meet ups make people feel as good as an evangelical congregation, your well thought arguments will crash against a wall of love, joy and security), saw they opened with songs at the top before any talking at all. It meant everyone was on their feet and singing before the thing even began. So now we don’t have the intro until after the opening tunes.
But Pippa and Sanderson, you’re being proscriptive! Yes, we are. But only to begin with. Sunday Assembly Everywhere is provisional system that helps people start their own Assembly. It is Phase I on the road to fully fledged godless congregations that can experiment and innovate. Imagine the creative power of a global network of engaged people desperately trying to help their local communities celebrate life. Sunday Assembly Everywhere is the first step along that pathway.
I realise, I haven’t got into the nitty-gritty of the order of service, and just went through the reasoning, but the thinking behind the rules is in many ways more important than the rules themselves. We’ll get into details in another post. However, all of this talk of songs, tunes and closing numbers has probably got your all excited about music and that. So, lets talk about that tomorrow, on Day 6 of How to Build an Atheist Church.
Remember, email us with questions, use this form to express an interest in starting your own, and watch this video to find out more about the #40Dates campaign.
* "Wow!" factor – a phrase only used by imbeciles and estate agents (frequently overlapping sets).
