Here is an example of one of our newer mega church buildings.Just read an article about the 35 plus years of constant change in the evangelical church. When I started, you knew just what was going to happen in church, you followed a bulletin, sang, prayed, stood and sat, listened and left.
With the music revolution there have come literally every other year a new way of worship, a new idea about how to do church, a new philosophy of ministry. We read the gurus, desired their success and tried to go home from conferences and change our church forever.
What usually happened is that we angered our traditional worshippers and they left the church.
I saw some pictures of a church grand opening yesterday. The church was started when three families moved to Queen Creek from California with salaries, an advertising budget that was huge, and a strategy to tell me that every church in the community was dull and boring but fear not, because a real fun church had arrived.
The problem for me, was that we opened our new church worship center the same Sunday they were inviting people to the school cafeteria to try something new. Our church was over 20 years old, had been through ups and downs, and was still struggling with old and new ways of doing things.
We were contemporary, but I discovered harshly that the quality of your church band could change drastically and you could go from OK to bad overnight with the loss of one or two families. And know people were changing churches according to the skill of the band.
So, it took this church over 11 years of setting up and tearing down in a rented facility, and I congratulate them for perseverance. I think they did not want to build too soon because it would stop growth, but then they hit hard times and many got tired and drifted to other more successful attempts at doing the new thing.
For me, at 50, and with a diagnosis of diabetes and a heart attack, I was through. I had my shot and took it. I tried to create a new church atmosphere out of a struggling traditional church. I got to stand behind an acrylic pulpit, and then it was over.
And, I returned to piano and organ and bulletins and a few good old hymns, standing, sitting, praying, and listening.....and I am OK with it. The church being the church.
1 comment:
i am involved in a group looking for ways to attract more young people to the church by looking at how to make the church ( in this case the United Methodist) more relevant in the post modern era. We are reading a series of books and meeting to discuss them. We are involved in covenant groups to support each other as we bring our ideas to our congregations. At the same time our pastors are meeting separatly, reading the same books and meeting with us. However, I look at our small congregation of mostly older people and often feel discouraged. the best thing I seem to be getting our of this is a bit selfish as I really love the support and spiritual lift I get from the gatherings. Heard a wonderful speaker at the last meeting. the theme was Where Am I? and the scripture was from II Kings
Love Judy.
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