Faith Works 7-29-17

Faith Works 7-29-17

Jeff Gill

 

Engaged worship in and out of church

__

 

Contemporary, traditional, blended.

 

Oh, wait, didn't we start there last week?

 

Yes we did. And it's still what people nowadays think of as the choices, especially among our most common faith traditions in this area, of Protestant Christian church worship styles.

 

Contemporary has a band, and probably no windows, but big screens and chairs for people to sit upon. There's no bulletin, and no hymnals.

 

Traditional has windows, often of stained glass, and a worship area with classic wooden "chancel" furnishings, a pulpit and lectern and table or altar, with pews. Bulletins are held like life preservers, and hymnals are at every place.

 

Blended, more often than not, is what we call a traditional worship space that tries to do some contemporary Christian music from time to time, and maybe sees a preacher without formal pulpit garb and a looser outline for the service. The hymnals are taken up from time to time. Less often a contemporary style church will do "traditional" hymns with the praise band, but they aren't often called blended when they do that.

 

Congregations will continue for the foreseeable future to debate the propriety, effectiveness, and evangelistic necessity of adopting one or another style of worship. For the record, I have seen how contemporary worship reaches people who for a variety of reasons cannot or will not enter a traditional looking Christian building or worship center, and that makes me think; I also believe there are people who are looking for the stability and regularity of traditional worship in their lives, even if they're still not sure what or Who they are looking for to the healing of their souls. Each has a place, and blended is more of a moving target.

 

What I believe all Christian traditions are going to have to grapple with in the coming years, wherever they do or don't put the drum set or retractable projection screen, is the question of engagement.

 

No, not marriage related engagement. I'm talking about what a seeker is often looking for in their life, and with what they would usually concede is their developing or evolving faith. People today don't want to just attend or join, they want to feel engaged.

 

If you read this space last week, you would be right to ask "wait, but I thought you said people today tend to want to be able to just sit, are not into singing or reciting stuff, and are more passive consumers than involved worshipers?"

 

Yes, I said that. And while I don't think you have to accept that trend, you need to be aware of it. Folks like being part of the audience in what we're used to calling worship, but they go home and think about it, reflect on what they heard, and consider their future with you.

 

The big question becomes one of "what can I DO now?" Years ago, people joined in order to belong, and attended because it was expected. But today, people need to feel like they belong before they even think about joining, and they attend because they see a reason to be there. That's why many churches work very hard to put more people into the picture, and spend more staff time on creating those roles and managing them, than they do focusing on pastoral care needs. If you have 47 people involved in one form or another in worship, that's possibly 94 or more people you can be sure will attend. If you only have five or ten people directly involved in worship leadership . . . you can see the problem. Or rather, the lost opportunity.

 

Even more, younger visitors especially resonate to a direct invitation. You can do an invitation to a very well produced, professionally delivered two hour worship program, or you can invite them to a simple, cleanly offered 40 minute service with everyone heading out afterward for three hours of service and ministry – and you can see more buy-in and . . . engagement! . . . with the longer commitment.

 

I grew up traditional, and I tend to be more comfortable in that setting, but I've learned to be cautious if not out-right suspicious of comfort when it comes to Jesus. He's not all about that, if you know what I mean!

 

 

Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and pastor in Licking County; he struggles with his own comfort zone, sometimes in public in print; tell him about your experiences with expanding your comfort zone at knapsack77@gmail.com or @Knapsack on Twitter.