No church on Marco Island (FL) has been in the news as often as Family Church has in recent years. Unfortunately, the recent publicity has not been positive. Their last senior minister cast a grand vision that led to the construction of the a 500 seat technologically up to date and aesthetically welcoming sacred space where this community of faith now worships, and he also oversaw the fundraising effort associated with this sizable project. Currently the church is in court facing a foreclosure lawsuit. Recent stories in the local paper about these events include:
- Small church, big dreams: Marco church facing $9M suit after defaulting on former member’s loan
- Was it a gift or a loan? Court will likely decide for Marco Island Church.
I served as the interim minister for another congregation on the same island. My role there ended just between the publication of the first and second newspaper articles listed above. During my time on the island, I heard more about Family Church than any other church.
I chose to wait several months after my ministry on the island concluded before visiting Family Church. My visit was an experiential inquiry focused on learning more about this community of faith through participation in a service of worship. My reflections below follow a pattern I have used for sharing similar visits in the past with one addition: order of worship.
Order of Worship
The worship service proceeding through the following elements:
- praise/worship songs
- announcements
- offering (verbal invitation to give followed by a special video message for a special missions offering then a prayer before the collection)
- praise/worship songs
- pastoral story telling about a life event from the past week
- sermon
- praise/worship song
- dismissal.
Since no printed order of worship was provided and no attention to the flow was noted on the screens, it is hard to know if there is much variance from week to week. Given the responsiveness of those in attendance, I would assume that this is a rather standard order of worship. It also worth nothing that while some transitions between elements were thoughtful and smooth others were less so.
Strengths
- Facility. Everything about the facility was welcoming. I secured a parking spot that was close to the entrance, and followed a small
group of people headed toward what was clearly the sanctuary building. Upon entering I noted a welcome desk and just beyond it what appeared to be a coffee shop and bookstore area (I opted not to explore since no one was staffing the information desk and folks were engaged in conversations in clear groups). The sanctuary featured state of the art technology for audio, video and lighting. The seating was arranged in rows with each person afforded her or his own nicely sized and well padded theater style seat. Interestingly, I didn’t note much signage (perhaps because it was rather obvious what was where insofar as the areas I visited or perhaps because it was limited). - Passionate Worshipers. Nearly everyone participated in singing the worship/praise songs (I saw moving mouths but have no idea what sounds were coming from those near me given the volume of the band’s vocals), and many spontaneously lifted arms toward the sky. During the sermon many people opened their Bibles and flipped through them as new verses were shared while others took a similar interest in Scripture on their smart phones (the latter group — at least in the area near me – skewed younger).
- Simplicity. As a newcomer I had no idea what was coming next, but quickly caught on that I would be given a verbal cue each time I should shift from sitting to standing or standing to sitting. Apart from changing posture the only active participation elements were singing (optional) and passing the offering plate. The screens were used effectively to display song lyrics, Scripture verses, and key points in the sermon (although unfortunately the text was never supported by graphics or visuals).
Growing Edges
- Friendliness. I arrived about ten minutes before the service and sat down near the back of the sanctuary. As the room filled from 10% to around 60% of capacity only two people spoke to me. The first was a man who wanted to confirm I was a visitor and then asked me an uncomfortably long list of questions. The second was one of the pastors (presumably alerted by the man who interrogated me). Since the service did not include a meet and greet element there was no natural time to say hello to or get to know those seated near me.
- Children & Youth. Knowing the demographics of the island at this time of year, it was a pleasant surprise to see more children and youth than one would expect. A large number of older children and youth participated in the service along with a smaller number of very young children. There was not, however, a children’s sermon/time nor any announcement indicating to visitors that an educational or worship opportunity was available that ran concurrent to the worship service. A note in the bulletin mentioned “We love families! On Sunday mornings, we have ministry specifically to our children available, plus children are always welcome to be in the service with their parents.”
- Diversity. All but two people I saw in the sanctuary were white. Those who spoke or prayed during the service were all white men (it was unclear if they were all pastors). The worship team consisted of five white men and four white women of varying ages. No children or youth were present on the stage nor did any speak or lead singing.
Worth Noting
- Denomination. The only ways I knew this church had a denominational affiliation were (1) my prior knowledge of the congregation’s history and (2) the collection of a Lottie Moon Christmas offering, including a video with information about the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
- Authority. The preaching pastor spoke about authority several times during the sermon. He suggested that Christians are called to respect all authority since those in positions of authority have been placed there by God. Remarks regarding women submitting to their husbands in marriage (based on Ephesians 5:22) and regarding employee relationships with employers suggested that submission was absolute. While I am hopeful the pastor intended listeners to hear the call to submission within a specific relational context (e.g., an otherwise healthy relationship), I did not hear him suggest times or reasons when it might be wise not to submit to authority.
- Scripture. The 35-minute long sermon concluded a long term study of the book of Ephesians. It started with a verse by verse consideration of the first few verses in Ephesians 4 then skipped ahead to select verses in that chapter while staying focused on the topic of church unity. Soon thereafter, however, the preacher moved on to chapter 5 and 6 cherry picking select verses (seemingly limited primarily by time). He relied heavily on other Scripture verses to explain the verses he was exploring, and cited verses from outside of earlier chapters in Ephesians, others from the Hebrew Scriptures, and yet others from the New Testament. I lost count somewhere around a dozen verses, but would estimate he read around twenty verses (one sub-point included seven key words and he read a verse for each word). Note: Only after returning home and reviewing the website in greater detail did I learn that the two pastors had preached verse by verse through the book from April through a few weeks ago. Last week was a summary of part one (chapters 1-3) and this week was a summary of part two (chapters 4-6).
- Christmas. Many of the songs were contemporary versions of traditional Christmas carols. The rest of the service, however, failed to mention Christmas (or Advent) in any way (apart from the decorations on stage). The only other mention of Christmas came in the form of an invitation to the Christmas Eve service during the announcements.
- Communication. The worship bulletin contains a panel labeled “connect” that invites people to provide their name and contact information as well as to identify what they are looking for and any prayer requests they have. The instructions state “perforated – fold and tear off,” but do not go on to explain where to place the connect form once it has been removed from the bulletin. Additionally, the website is dated and not up to the same high standards as the technology deployed on the church campus. It appears, however, that the church’s Facebook page is leveraged more effectively.
Other Worship Visits
- Next Level Church – Fort Myers, FL
- Naples Church of Christ – Naples, FL