Since Martin Luther King Jr.'s 1963 comment, "it is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is 11 o'clock on Sunday morning," we have made relatively little progress. According to the latest statistics, "between 5% to 7.5% of churches in the U.S. are considered to be racially diverse, a designation meaning that at least 20% of a church's members don't belong to the predominant racial group there." These statistics make sense when you consider white American's Read More …
worship
How Long is Long Enough? (#1452)
While one may rightly argue that worship should last a lifetime, corporate worship gatherings/services/experiences typically have specified start times along with relatively fixed end times. In my experience the most common length has been 60 minutes. I have, however, been a part of a congregation that tended toward 65-75 minutes. Recently, I read an article about Trinity Memorial Lutheran Church's decision to begin offering a new 30-minute-or-less worship service. This new addition Read More …
Reasons Not To Sing (#1430)
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 …
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 …