Thom Schultz, co-author of Why Nobody Wants to Go to Church Anymore and the director of the film When God Left the Building, recently shared his list of four reasons why fewer and fewer people are singing during worship services: worship is crafted as a spectator event, quality is emphasized, professional music is incredibly loud, and musical selections are unfamiliar, hard to sing, or just cheesy. So What? Schultz concludes his article with a confession: he has stopped Read More …
worship
Google Glass Goes to Church (#1424)
Chris Yaw is an Episcopal priest and the founder of ChurchNext, which creates online Christian learning experiences to invigorate lives and congregations. Recently he wore Google Glass during mass in the congregation he serves: St. David's Episcopal Church (Southfield, MI). For the benefit of those of us who have never had such an experience he shared parts of his experience via a blog post and also shared video. So What? When Google Glass becomes available to the masses at Read More …
Changes in Worship Services (#1414)
Thom Rainer, president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources, recently shared a list of rapid changes in church worship services. His list includes the disappearance of choirs (down 10% in just 10 years), the emergence of screens as normative in worship, a shift toward more casual dress for worship, and longer sermons. So What? Worship services have changed dramatically in recent years. Rainer's use of the word rapid to describe several shifts is significant. As religious Read More …
Music in Worship (#1411)
David Neff, former editor in chief of Christianity Today and church music director for nearly three decades, recently suggested that music in worship should be intentionally eclectic - utilizing a variety of styles and sources, and focused on enabling worship rather than artistic excellence (or a performance mentality). So What? Music plays an important role in Christian worship. When a given congregation experiences only a very narrow range of music styles or theological Read More …
Only in Church (#1409)
Jon Acuff recently shared a short list of things that only happen in church: ask a stranger to scoot to the middle, hug people you don't really know, and shout phrases of encouragement when someone says something good. So What? As I read his post and skimmed some of the many comments on it, I realized the focus was primarily on worship. While I am not part of a community of faith that practices shouting in worship (words of encouragement or otherwise!), I certainly have seen Read More …
Proper Clothing for Church (#1401)
John Blake's recent "Stop Dressing So Tacky for Church" piece explores the shift toward worshippers opting for more casual attire, and some of the possible reasons for this shift. He notes some suggest that we dress up for that which we have gratitude for while others look to the example of Jesus and the words of the Bible for guidance. Additionally, he correctly notes a trend toward more casual dress in the culture in general, which has an impact on how people dress for a wide Read More …
Drive-In Church (#1351)
After encountering several stories last week of walk up and drive through ashes for Ash Wednesday, it seems appropriate to start this week with the story of a new kind of church: the drive-in church. Over the past few days several people sent me a link to Amy Kiley's piece on Daytona Beach Drive In Christian Church (Daytona Beach, FL), which holds worship services in an old drive-in theater. From the comfort of their vehicles parishioners listen to worship on their radios. Read More …
Sermon: For the Love of God (#1315)
Sermon Text: John 4:19-24 Sermon Excerpt Today we focus on passionate worship as one of the five practices of fruitful congregations. Passionate worship isn’t about music style or volume or instrumentation. It isn't a one size fits all experience. Passionate worship sounds like a nice ideal, but how does it compare to what is really happening each week at the services held at America’s many houses of worship? How has worship changed in recent years? Are there any research based best Read More …
The 1 Minute Worship Service (#1302)
Gold Hill Lutheran Church is an ELCA congregation in Butte, MT that averages just over 130 people in worship each Sunday morning. Their pastor's one minute worship service (January 12, 2014) has gone viral. It took less than a week for the video to reach 1 million views. So What? Timothy Christensen's announcement was initially misunderstood by many as having been the full worship experience. In the days since, numerous corrections or updates to blog Read More …
BYODD to Worship (#1300)
BYODD (Bring Your Own Divine Device) may become the acronym of choice at many houses of worship. Jeff Brumley's recent Associated Baptist Press article, "Divine Devices or Digital Distractions," provides a hopeful, realistic look at the increased use of smart phones and tablets in worship services. Not only are fewer congregations banning the use of such devices during worship, but many are being intentional about encouraging their use for looking up Bible verses or sharing Read More …