A NEW WORD FOR THE CHURCH - 1

The word is 'innovate'.

From Merriam/Webster:  : to make changes : do something in a new way

There's a little dialogue - between Debbie and I - that has played out in church quite a few times over recent years:

DEB (as she joins me in the pew):  "Did you pick up a bulletin?"

ME:  "No.  I read it last year!"  

She rarely sees the humor of my response and typically gives me 'the look'!  😆

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A number of years ago [when Jon and Tracie were still living in Connecticut], we were visiting and attended their church-plant on Sunday morning.  It met in a school, so a lot of set-up was involved.  As we arrived, we were greeted and made our way to the middle of the auditorium and found seats.

We waited a bit for the time of service to arrive.  Just as the worship team members moved to the front, Coltin [probably about eight at the time], leaned over to me and said:  

"They'll start with a song.  Then there'll be announcements and a time for greeting.  Then, we'll sing three more songs.  After that, the pastor will pray.  Then he'll preach and have another prayer.  One more song and then we'll leave."

He nailed it!  Spot on!  An eight-year-old had noticed and memorized the pattern!

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Is there anything wrong with this?

I suppose not - technically.  For many people, predictability is a good thing.  

Obviously, I wrestle with this pattern.  Here's why...

1.  I think that predictability leads to boredom! 

    Everyone knows almost exactly what's going to happen before it happens.  All I have to do is stick it out until 12:00 PM.

2.  This pattern of consistency tends to turn worship into a ritual!  

    Rituals can be [and often are] followed mindlessly!  

3.  Who plans the details of the 'Detail Sheet'?

    Is it the pastor?  the church secretary?  the worship team?

    I've seen 'Detail Sheets' that actually listed time components for each segment of the worship experience.

4.  What role is prayer, discernment and the Holy Spirit given in the process of preparation for worship?

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Let me diverge for a few moments:

Consider the expansive creativity of our God!  

For many of us the year is divided into four very different seasons that even dictate how we dress.

The rough estimate of all the tree species in the world currently stands at 65,065, distributed in all countries worldwide.

The Clements checklist of birds of the world lists 10,906 bird species that live in practically every habitat from open oceans to arid deserts!

I'm not going to wear you down with more; you get the idea.  

God has so wonderfully illustrated creativity, diversity and curiosity in the making of our world.  Why can't we do the same with our worship?  

Have we pandered to a segment of the population who are just interested in checking off the box ☑ Have attended worship today.

Have we ignored and omitted those who would be prone to add color, fun, humor and engagement to our worship?

Does anybody in the church ask these questions?  Are they relevant?  Are they appropriate?  

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For nine years, I led a church where I was set free to tamper with the traditional forms of worship.  I wrote skits to illustrate my messages.  My sister-in-law [Laurie Mahosky] took those skits and recruited and trained people to present them on Sunday mornings.  Some were humorous and others were quite impactful.  A unique and surprising group of people stepped forward to volunteer to be part of this team.

We also used video songs and video clips to supplement worship.  Eventually, we took advantage of the videographer skills of a few of our people and featured video testimonies.  The advantage of this was that we could control the time and edit the content.  I tried to create messages of interest and illustrate them with humor and stories.

Guess what?  The church grew from 70 to over 200.  Two years in a row, we were recognized by our denomination as a 'Multiplying Church'!  

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Dare we allow the church of Jesus Christ to be deemed irrelevant by the world?  

Mega-churches draw crowds by creating an environment where everything is provided!  You can come here every Sunday and you don't have to do anything.  Just sit in the dark in our theater seats and enjoy the show!  Is this success?  Is this pleasing to God?

I attended a local mega-church a while back.  It was great!  Everything was done so well!  You couldn't help but be impressed.  When the service ended, I simply remained in my seat and observed what happened.  People got up and filed out the aisles through the foyer and out the doors to their cars.  No one talked to one another!  There was no recognition of fellow worshippers!  No engagement!  The show was over - it was time to head home or to the restaurant!  

Is this the Church we want to model for our world?

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I'm just finishing an eight-month role as an interim pastor.  I've enjoyed the opportunity to lead a church again.  However, as an interim, there were obvious limitations on what I was allowed to do.  Prudence also created barriers regarding how much change it would be appropriate for me to instigate.  I restrained myself appropriately!  

I spoke candidly to the staff on a few occasions indicating things that I would love to see happen.  I mentioned that if I was assigned to lead the church, the first thing I would do would be to remove 100 seats from the sanctuary!  

To my surprise, a couple of men did just that one week!  

Surprisingly, the congregation took it in stride the next Sunday and I never heard a complaint about it.  As a result, we sit closer to one another now and tend to have more interaction with one another.  Pretty cool!

Why are we so afraid of change?  

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The 15th century reformer, John Calvin, proposed that there were three ways that we could know about God:  reason, revelation and tradition.

A couple of hundred years later, John Wesley suggested that there was a fourth: experience.

REASON - I can use the brain that God has given me to make observations and think things through, enabling to understand better the nature of God.

REVELATION - God has revealed Himself through Christ and through The Word!  I must give precedence to these revelations and allow them to influence and guide my life!

TRADITION - The collective voice and practice of generations of believers trickle down to us through the centuries.  We must revere these traditions, evaluate their effectiveness for our age, and employ them wisely to provoke, inspire and guide our people.

EXPERIENCE - God may choose to reveal Himself to me in intimate, personal ways that will guide and influence me throughout the course of my life!  

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

• How much should I allow tradition to influence the way I worship?
• Shouldn't it be balanced with the other four sources?
• Is there new revelation since we live in the age of the Spirit that could liberate us in our worship?
• What does it mean to worship Him in Spirit and in truth?  [John 4:24]

CAMP MEETING

The history of camp meetings is quite interesting.  It goes back to the early days in our country when masses of people were pushing west and establishing new frontier settlements.  Methodism is credited with being the creator and promoter of this innovation.  Here’s a snippet of its development:

As the name implies, those who attended such meetings came prepared to camp out, gathering at the prearranged time and place from distances as great as 30 to 40 miles away. Families pitched their tents around a forest clearing where log benches and a rude preaching platform constituted an outdoor church that remained in almost constant session for three or four days. As many as 10,000 to 20,000 people were reported at some meetings. People came partly out of curiosity, partly out of a desire for social contact and festivity, but primarily out of their yearning for religious worship. Activities included preaching, prayer meetings, hymn singing, weddings, and baptisms. The theology of the preachers varied, but a sudden conversion experience was usually emphasized.  [https://www.britannica.com/topic/camp-meeting]

It's difficult to overemphasize the impact of the camp meeting movement.  Stories abound from these encampments.  These frontier preachers were a hard stock of men who often had to settle rabble-rousers in order to be able to continue their preaching! 

But, even after the movement became formalized in many areas into two-week interventions with properties developed to meet the needs of the people, the church held on to this outreach that had originally been improvisational.  Gradually but certainly the purpose of these camp meetings became less and less outreach and evangelism and more and more fellowship.

Most of these camps that have survived into the 21^st century have lost their sense of purpose and failed to redefine it for the current day. 

A caveat

During the late 1980’s and part of the 1990’s, as a young leader, I led such a camp in Ohio.  Realizing the need for updating and transitioning, I initiated many changes to try to refocus and rechannel the camp. 

• We changed it from ‘Camp Meeting’ to ‘Family Camp’.
• We established a family-oriented morning chapel that was fun, high-energy and gave a positive start to the day.
• Essentially, family camp was a simultaneous youth camp, children’s camp, and adult camp.
• Afternoon fun activities were planned to engage all either as participants or spectators.

Many of the innovations that we established in that day unfortunately became institutionalized – and have consequently lost a lot of their impact.  Examples would be:

• Establishing a youth night where the youth led the service.
• Giving the youth who work in the dining hall a day off.
• Rewriting the camp rules [which was met with waves of opposition].
• Arranging with a nearby park pool to have a morning swim time for campers only [we later incorporated baptisms into this time].
• Maintaining a STRONG emphasis on ‘community living’ to sustain mutual respect.
• Youth who were unattended by family had to acquire an adult sponsor to oversee their appropriate participation in camp and observance of camp rules.

Innovation became rare with a few exceptions.   [See footnote]

Camp attendances – across the country – have plummeted since the turn of the 21^st century.  Many have closed.  Most are struggling. 

Those that survive will be the ones that are effective at reinventing themselves with a purpose that connects with 21^st century people.  Maintaining a camp for the sake of nostalgia will not be enough to sustain interest! 

In 2020, when COVID caused our family camp to be cancelled, about fifteen families decided to camp together at a campground on a lake and with a pool.  Everyone cooked their own meals.  Campfires in the evening brought groups together.  Sports activities filled the afternoon hours!  All-in-all, everyone loved it!  We had the personnel to add spiritual dynamics to the gathering – although that did not happen. 

It was an unintended innovation that stands in stark comparison to the burden and responsibility of maintaining property that sits unused for 355 days a year! 

The American church has been remarkably stubborn about maintaining traditional programs at all costs!  Consider Sunday School which began in Great Britain in 1870. 

Or Vacation Bible School which was an innovation around the turn of the twentieth century.  In spite of an identified decline in these institutions [including family camp], many churches hang on to them and resist the need to be creative in engaging people in relevant ways. 

FOOTNOTE:

This camp currently has new leadership and seems committed to revitalizing.  After a period of decline, it shows promise for growth and hope for a repurposed future.  Interestingly, young adults are returning with their young children in hopes of giving them a dose of the 'family camp experience'!  😊