Coming Together

“Wow, what a glorious sound.” Director of Music Bill Hovik hit the nail on the head regarding last Sunday’s anniversary combined worship service! As an usher I would also say it was good to see the sanctuary full (mostly full), and to hear the volume raised! That brings me to a topic that is mostly shrouded in rumor and yet rattles the very foundations of Faith church; “one worship service”.

First the facts as I know them. As of August, at least, there were no official plans to move to a single worship service. I checked with the head of the Worship Committee on that at the time because I had heard those rumors as well. They were tasked with finding a comfortable mix, or equally uncomfortable mix, for Faith’s typical combined services. Those services are only the usual fifth Sunday and special holiday services.

The second fact is that the Emerging Culture class was not offered simply to prepare the congregation for the move to a single multi-media worship service. It was a Spirit led class meant to explore the world that Faith is immersed in and to inform the further mission of Faith Church. In fact the Emerging Culture Report found that this is a contentious subject and a major motive for changing the service is generally to entice new folks to attend Faith. The report also suggested that this motive is not what God intended or Jesus demonstrated and we need “to approach worship as personal and corporate responses to God of those present, not anticipate newcomer’s responses.”

Now that is not to say there aren’t a lot of folks that think we should go to a single service. But there are also a lot of folks that think we shouldn’t. The problem is we don’t really know the desires for sure because we can’t talk about it given it is such an emotionally charged topic! I personally am in favor of tabling that discussion to a later date. We are not in a healthy enough state to discuss it and the threat is fueling fears and mistrust on both sides. I think we should declare a cease fire. Instead, we should focus on missional aspects of our church life. Aspects about which there is strong support and agreement for at Faith. It was offered in the report that this was the intended avenue for bringing new folks into the church; not just Faith but the Christian Church as a whole.

Now as our missional approach starts attracting new members, or regular attenders, we will have to revisit how we do worship at some point. I encourage all of us to be carefully considering our motives for changing or not changing our worship formats. Are the reasons God’s reasons or our own? What are the aspects of worship that really allow you to connect with God and give him praise? Are you willing to support alternative formats or times because they help others connect? Not nameless potential visitors but fellow Christians with whom we are working at Faith to forward God’s Kingdom. Stop worrying about winning or losing and search your hearts in prayer to find what your response to God is in worship. When we have done that we can come together as a community in Christ and determine our worship landscape!