On our trip across the pond, we had an opportunity to visit the church where my sister sometimes goes. It is not in a building that looks like a church, but in what looks to be old office space or store even. It did not have the traditional pews it had chairs that actually did not have a vertical back. It didn't even have an alter at the front and center of the room. No, from all intents and purposes looked nothing like a church at all. What it did have, and in abundance, was people standing and praising God with song, body and soul.
The service started with songs. They were unknown to me, but by the time the chorus came around, I was singing with them and was able to enjoy the worship. There were people there of all ages, I saw kids in their teens up to adults in their 70s and maybe older. And all of them were singing and dancing, arms lifted in worship. There was even an older lady jumping like the teens at a concert. They were into this worship.
I got to go for two services and really wish I could stay for more. I do not want to go back to the boring traditional services where worship is limited to a newer song and couple of hymns. The service was still an hour long but the worship was longer than our traditional service. To me worship is the songs, the praising of God, the blissful abandon of self, giving it all to God on the floor, not announcements and tithing, nor even the message given by the pastor. Sure there is worship in it, but it is more of a teaching and learning session and not complete worship.
This does not mean I think we shouldn't have as much message, it was still close to 30 minutes of thoughtful and inspiring information, just that the events leading up to the message can change. Worship and sing praises, then teach us what God would like us to know, then we are on our way to talk about what we learned. The announcements were all done in a video which lasted for a minutes then followed by a testimony of the power of and testimonials God at work in someone's life.
To summarize the service, it started with at least 3 upbeat songs, maybe four, where you sang and praised God with all your heart, then quick announcements and the offering followed by the message and it was over. No closing song, no extra stuff to take the focus off the message, so you left remembering what you had learned. It built in you a high, set your heart in line with God so you were able to learn what he wanted you to learn.
What seemed the biggest difference to me though was how everyone worshiped. Young and old, they danced and felt the Holy Spirit filling them, where at home, and nearly all of the churches I've been to, a handful of people worship, but it is overshadowed by the rituals and traditions that were old and dated 50 years ago. Why not change this? Ditch the pews, change the service and fill it with songs, new and exciting. Sing the old hymns in different ways than you have in the past. Dance and praise God and be renewed each week in our tiring fight against the darkness and sin of the world. Change with the times.
Our worship can change. Traditional and modern services shouldn't be two separate things. Everything about the church is putty in the hands of the Lord. What never changes and will never change is the love of God for us, and his salvation for the world. So Sundays should bring us worship and renewal. And this world is screaming for something to engage and fill them. Something to satisfy hearts and souls. Peace and love in all that they do. But the tradition and formality of what so many churches do will not fill the hearts of the world today.
