I had the opportunity these last two weeks to worship in 4 different churches. The preaching was good, the music good to very good, some people were friendly and some just happy to see their friends. (Which meant visitors had to fend for themselves). There were a few particularly innovative or different elements like a call to worship and prayer given in Hebrew, that were very moving.
But, when it came to worship, what caught my attention were the distractions. Now, it was four different services so don’t get the idea that these were all in one. In fact, generally, they were all good services. But over two weeks there were quite a few distractions.
1. a microphone or monitor left on from singing that produced an echo.
2. instruments that did not blend at all well
3. a song leader whose mic was too loud and overwhelmed the others
4. drums (only once) that were over powering the other musicians
5. a really long announcement for a new ministry
6. a missionary report – good in itself but as a visitor knowing nothing about them, there were no visuals and very little to help understand their ministry.
7. someone unprepared to do their part
8. someone introduced who was not in the room
9. the wrong scripture read at the wrong time and then read again at the right time
10. a very late start
11. wrong powerpoints
12. announcements in general – although only one of the churches actually did announcements
13. lack of purpose – it often seems that worship isn’t going anywhere, it is just a collection of random songs. Probably not random to the committee that selected them but somewhere the connections often get lost to the uninformed congregant.
14. A camp like greeting of good morning how you all doing, or worse, waiting for a response. Again only once.
Each week I look forward to worship and get my hopes up that the service will lead truly into the presence of God. That His Word will speak loud and clear. More often than not (not in at least two of the churches these last two weeks) I am disappointed and wonder why anyone seeking would come back.
Those of us who are regulars take our forms for granted. We know it is important to announce the coming breakfast or special meeting – really important if we are in charge. When you come to worship though, some of those same forms can just be distractions, leading away from the reason we say we are gathering - to worship and to hear from God.
So why mention distractions? Well, sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking worship is only singing, or its only the sermon. It is all of that and more but it canbe derailed by all of the distractions.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Friday, August 10, 2007
General Thoughts
Some years ago we adopted an Acts 1:8 as our guiding verse for missions. (Acts 1:8 NIV) But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
We have always been very missions minded, even from the beginning of the church. But we have struggled with the Jerusalem part. We have tried a variety of things to bring the Gospel to the community. We have helped when we could, helping both members of the church and members of the larger community.
In the larger world, the Judea outward we have supported missionaries all over the world, planted churches in Africa and Delaware and Reading; are working in Kazakhstan and Mexico and Jamaica. All good things. But (you knew there would be one.)
Are we as a church really owning the ministries we are involved in or are we just sending money? We have been blessed to give substantially to missions not only tithing the budget but through faith promises and the budget seeing about $200,000 committed to that work every year. We are giving but are we praying? Are we involved? I believe as we approach this year’s Global Outreach Conference, we will be discussing the possibility of partnering with Randy Ruth and his team in Shimkent, Kazakhstan in an ongoing neighborhood project. The possibilities are exciting but only if the Lord moves among us to raise a team of interested folks. If we are not going to really engage then we shouldn't do it.
We have a team of workers in Reading helping Carlos. We have sent some teams to Jamaica and have a team leaving today for Scotland (pray!). We are doing many things but sometimes we are still shooting over the heads of the people in our Jerusalem. Here’s where I (we) could use some help. Some of you know school board members. Ask them what a church could do to help. Some of you know country commissioners or township officials, ask them the same thing. Ask your neighbors how they think a church could help in the community. We are called to be Christ in our Jerusalem. He put our particular church here for a reason. We’ve done VBS (Kidz Kamp), Soccer, we are planning more marriage conferences, but those are events. Pray about how we can truly, as a church, be Christ in the community. Pray about how you can be Christ to your neighbor.
We have always been very missions minded, even from the beginning of the church. But we have struggled with the Jerusalem part. We have tried a variety of things to bring the Gospel to the community. We have helped when we could, helping both members of the church and members of the larger community.
In the larger world, the Judea outward we have supported missionaries all over the world, planted churches in Africa and Delaware and Reading; are working in Kazakhstan and Mexico and Jamaica. All good things. But (you knew there would be one.)
Are we as a church really owning the ministries we are involved in or are we just sending money? We have been blessed to give substantially to missions not only tithing the budget but through faith promises and the budget seeing about $200,000 committed to that work every year. We are giving but are we praying? Are we involved? I believe as we approach this year’s Global Outreach Conference, we will be discussing the possibility of partnering with Randy Ruth and his team in Shimkent, Kazakhstan in an ongoing neighborhood project. The possibilities are exciting but only if the Lord moves among us to raise a team of interested folks. If we are not going to really engage then we shouldn't do it.
We have a team of workers in Reading helping Carlos. We have sent some teams to Jamaica and have a team leaving today for Scotland (pray!). We are doing many things but sometimes we are still shooting over the heads of the people in our Jerusalem. Here’s where I (we) could use some help. Some of you know school board members. Ask them what a church could do to help. Some of you know country commissioners or township officials, ask them the same thing. Ask your neighbors how they think a church could help in the community. We are called to be Christ in our Jerusalem. He put our particular church here for a reason. We’ve done VBS (Kidz Kamp), Soccer, we are planning more marriage conferences, but those are events. Pray about how we can truly, as a church, be Christ in the community. Pray about how you can be Christ to your neighbor.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Emerging 2
Someone recently commented that the emerging church was new age. In some ways it is. Someone else told me that the emerging church was apostate that can be true too. Someone else told me it was the only church that got it. I am not sure that is true but it might be partly true that some of them really do "get it." Then there is there innovative worship, which some find exciting and others find really strange.
That is the problem with the emerging church. Almost anything you can say about it is probably true for some. And, nothing you say about it is true everywhere. Talk about calling for discernment! It is sort of like trying to describe people who live along interstate 95. You could make a good case and claim that these folks wear sandals and shorts. Or you could claim that they wear warm clothes. Depending on the time of year, or the location (Miami or Maine) they would both be true. Some emergents are contemplative, some are somewhat vulgar, and most are very tired of just playing church and are not interested in doing that for another generation.
I suppose we could just fight the whole thing, except emergents raise some very good issues. Brian McLaren states that the problem is that the church has failed to truly disciple its followers. He then defines discipleship his way. We might not like his definitions, but we have, in too many cases, allowed discipleship to become nothing more than an intellectual assent to biblical truths without a commitment to practicing them.
There are many things to be wary of. But, for me, here’s the take away. The next generation, seems to like authenticity, relational groups, and wants to make a difference. They are not as likely to embrace mega churches. They are more likely to reach out to those overlooked by society and try to love them for the sake of Christ without any other hidden agenda. They are more likely to embrace both the differences and the gifts of everyone who comes into their group. Perhaps the best part is their emphasis on being missional. (You don’t have to be emerging to be missional) For most, missional is more than doing a mission it is being Christ in the midst of overlooked and unjustly neglected peoples. They seek in the words of some to be incarnational instead of extractional.
This movement is more than ancient forms of worship and candles (it still seems strange to me that their "ancient" forms are not the most ancient forms). At its best it is an attempt to recapture the heart of the faith. At its worst it is heretical, ecumenical to an extreme, and willing to accept any interpretation of anything. And it might even be a little bit new age, but at the very least, the next generation of church should be a bit more authentic because of their conversation.
That is the problem with the emerging church. Almost anything you can say about it is probably true for some. And, nothing you say about it is true everywhere. Talk about calling for discernment! It is sort of like trying to describe people who live along interstate 95. You could make a good case and claim that these folks wear sandals and shorts. Or you could claim that they wear warm clothes. Depending on the time of year, or the location (Miami or Maine) they would both be true. Some emergents are contemplative, some are somewhat vulgar, and most are very tired of just playing church and are not interested in doing that for another generation.
I suppose we could just fight the whole thing, except emergents raise some very good issues. Brian McLaren states that the problem is that the church has failed to truly disciple its followers. He then defines discipleship his way. We might not like his definitions, but we have, in too many cases, allowed discipleship to become nothing more than an intellectual assent to biblical truths without a commitment to practicing them.
There are many things to be wary of. But, for me, here’s the take away. The next generation, seems to like authenticity, relational groups, and wants to make a difference. They are not as likely to embrace mega churches. They are more likely to reach out to those overlooked by society and try to love them for the sake of Christ without any other hidden agenda. They are more likely to embrace both the differences and the gifts of everyone who comes into their group. Perhaps the best part is their emphasis on being missional. (You don’t have to be emerging to be missional) For most, missional is more than doing a mission it is being Christ in the midst of overlooked and unjustly neglected peoples. They seek in the words of some to be incarnational instead of extractional.
This movement is more than ancient forms of worship and candles (it still seems strange to me that their "ancient" forms are not the most ancient forms). At its best it is an attempt to recapture the heart of the faith. At its worst it is heretical, ecumenical to an extreme, and willing to accept any interpretation of anything. And it might even be a little bit new age, but at the very least, the next generation of church should be a bit more authentic because of their conversation.
Friday, August 3, 2007
More worship
I was probably suffering from withdrawal from hymns last week. So, we went to a mainline church. Like other churches they are all different but in this case it was all hymns sung to an old and interesting pipe organ. There was an altar boy carrying a cross followed by the pastor in his robe. Of course there was the children's sermon, special solo's, lots of scripture reading and a shorter than we are used to sermon.
I don't know how this would have played with post Christian, unchurched, never been churched seekers. But, the church was pretty full, the people and the pastor seemed to have at least affection for one another and they loved God. This church had all of the foibles and failings that all of the current pundits ridicule, but they worshipped and loved God.
Now, I'm not suggesting we take an ecumenical turn to the left or something. But I am beginning to suspect that with all of the interest in new things and all of the talk about emergence, there are still a large number of folks who just want to love and worship God and are not all that interested in some of the discussions. I wonder of some of these folks in their own quiet and unassuming way are at least as authentic in their faith as those who talk about being authentic?
I don't know how this would have played with post Christian, unchurched, never been churched seekers. But, the church was pretty full, the people and the pastor seemed to have at least affection for one another and they loved God. This church had all of the foibles and failings that all of the current pundits ridicule, but they worshipped and loved God.
Now, I'm not suggesting we take an ecumenical turn to the left or something. But I am beginning to suspect that with all of the interest in new things and all of the talk about emergence, there are still a large number of folks who just want to love and worship God and are not all that interested in some of the discussions. I wonder of some of these folks in their own quiet and unassuming way are at least as authentic in their faith as those who talk about being authentic?
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