What We're Learning from Other Churches
The past two Sundays a group of us visited other churches in our area to experience their worship styles and see what we can learn from them as we begin to plan our own worship. Both churches are doing contemporary worship, although there are distinct differences in their approach.
The first, a Southern Baptist church, is doing a very contemporary service that features a very good rock-style band. They offer two identical services on Sunday morning, in an elementary school cafetorium, with seating for about 150. I estimated about 85-90 at the earlier service we attended. About half were young adults and families with kids, the other half were of retirement age. They did an excellent job of welcoming newcomers, their materials were first-rate, the worship area was curtained off and created an intimate setting for worship. The band was excellent (I counted 6 musicians and singers) and the words were projected on two screens on either side of the stage. At our meeting afterwards our only criticisms were that we didn’t know any of the songs, there was no real prayer time other than a perfunctory prayer before the sermon, the offering seemed to be an afterthought with no prayer following, and the service ended with no benediction after a series of announcements.
The second church we attended was a Lutheran (ELCA) church which also offered two identical contemporary services. This is a larger church with seating for 400 and probably 350 in attendance at the early service. We were surprised that probably 75% of those attending were of retirement age, given that it was contemporary service. The 7 member band was excellent as was the preaching. Communion followed an excellent sermon with announcements and a benediction. Our group liked this service better than the previous week. There was intercessory prayer although no liturgy. (Neither church had a printed order of worship – everything was on-screen.) The pastor’s image was projected on the large screens and I found myself watching that image rather than him, although we were only a few rows from the front.
We agreed that we didn’t like the way communion was handled. Some likened it to a cafeteria line, another said it was chaotic and not very spiritual. They had five stations around the room and people were invited to go to the closest station, but there wasn’t much organization. Some people, after receiving communion, stopped by the refreshment table for coffee and donuts.
We learned a lot from what we experienced. Some we will take with us and build on, others we will try and avoid. But overall, it was a great experience and gave us a lot to talk about as we plan for our future.
Blessings,
Steve