Hope Centre Responds Quickly to Local Feedback

After just two weeks, the Hope Centre in Pugwash is changing its new online worship service.

The managing director of the community based not-for-profit says, “You spoke and we heard you loud and clear.” Bill Martin says, “We went looking for feedback on the service and while people like the concept, they did not like the time of the service.” 

Martin said the volunteer board of directors had struggled with the question for almost a year. The debate centred on whether an online worship service would be seen as competing with Sunday morning church services.

Martin says, “We never intended Hope Centre to be a church. We were looking to blend community activities within a different approach to ministry.” He added, “But COVID changed everything, badly impacting churches everywhere and leaving people scrambling for a way to connect.”

Hope Centre adopted an online service with a way to connect through live chat. Martin says, “We opted for a traditional time on Sunday morning but that was a mistake.”

A rough poll of followers showed that most people want to attend a church on Sunday morning while expressing interest in the Hope Centre offering. The solution for the non-traditional service is a non-traditional time, starting this coming Sunday at 2:00 o’clock.

Martin says, “It is appropriate. The online service in the afternoon fits better with services broadcast on television and elsewhere on the internet.” He added, “People told us they could attend church, go home for lunch and tune-in while relaxing.”

The Hope Centre service is limited to no more than 45 minutes or less, with fifteen minutes before and after reserved for live chat among the participants.

Click HERE to join the chat around the coffee pot this Sunday at 2 pm. The service starts at 2:15.

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