Social Church

by Chaplain Andrews on July 2, 2009

I was recently pointed to the new North Point Community Church online worship experience that begins August 16, 2009. While this is completely out of the box, new and fresh…I wonder what it will mean for the future. More than anything, I wonder what it says about the church Right Now.

I have been noticing a dangerous trend that has been increasingly burdening me: The trend of becoming a spectator church. We’ve become increasingly too focused on the “presentation” of the worship experience, rather than the elements of true worship. When we discuss a church service, we say things like “the preacher was good (or bad)”or “the music was good (or bad)”. We tend to not speak of our hearts being challenged or warmed through the time spent worshiping Our Lord. Now, to be fair—some of this is an expression of the quality of true worship—the preacher sometimes gets the credit for leading an individual through worship and the person speaks of the sermon as the great focal point. However, too much of our experience in modern Worship is emotion based and lacking in substance (theology based).

On the other hand, we have a society that is crying out for relevant relationship and social interaction. People desire to meet and fellowship with God and his people. We get so focused on the “spectacle of worship” that we forget the “act of worship”—which is to the Love God and Love our neighbors. We act out our worship through social interactions.

We have our “greeting time” in church—which I’m honestly getting tired of—because it is truly symbolism over substance. We think that running the church through a gauntlet of hand shaking and smiles is the equivalent to being social. I have plenty of people that are following me on twitter—and I welcome you to follow me. But, do I know them? No, most never even say hello—with a check in the box they sign up to follow my “tweets” and little is done past that point. This is the same thing that happens week after week in the “greeting times” of our churches. We don’t build relationships. We check the box that says; “yes, we are friendly.” We need to find a better way.

We have come a long way in the quality of the production of worship. In many places it is exciting, upbeat, and innovative. I would say however, that we are not focusing on the right areas in our worship.

Modern worship focuses less on the liturgical elements—which is a shame. The liturgical elements bring together the body of Christ. The Lord’s Supper is a picture of this through the communal aspects. The collective readings and participation allows the church to join together in worship—rather than watch it being performed. But, more than anything—this brings the worship to the individual level. It teaches the person to prepare for worship individually, so they are prepared to meet collectively.

How does that affect the social nature of the church? Simple—by truly loving the Lord Our God with all of our mind, heart, and soul—we can’t help to love our neighbor as our self. We need to make the worship personal so that we can share it with the world.

{ 2 comments }

Random Thoughts 27JUN09

by Chaplain Andrews on June 28, 2009

Spent some time tonight organizing my 22 boxes of Comic Books…I think I finally have an organization that I’m happy with. I look froward to inventorying every one!
—–
I officially ended my leave today. Back to work!
—–
After a lunch conversation, we bought a new 47 inch TV this week–which turned into a marathon rearranging of the furniture project. I think we finally got it the way we like it.
—–
After joining RoadRunner Sports VIP club, I’m looking at buying a new pair of Running shoes–I got about 300 miles on my other pair and they are starting to wear out.
—–
I did some work changing the theme for this website today–look for some fresh content showing up on Tuesday and Thursday of this week.

{ 0 comments }

Random Thoughts 13JUN09

June 13, 2009

I started my day with a wonderful run in Frauenberg,Germany.
—–
Yesterday, I was able to see Star Trek–powerful reintroduction of the story. Makes me want to watch all the episodes again.
—–
Thanks to Stephen Colbert for visiting the Soldier in Iraq this week.  If you missed it go to    http://www.colbertnation.com/ look for full episodes from the [...]

Read the full article →

Traffic Jam in Iraq

June 10, 2009

What does it look like in downtown Baghdad in the middle of the day?

Read the full article →

Update Available

June 9, 2009

My web surfing was recently stopped while my computer took it upon itself to begin updating various software to fix bugs, improve the software it self, and to protect from potential threats to the system. This made me wonder
How often do we stop and update ourselves?
There are times that we stop and rest.  There are [...]

Read the full article →

Spaghetti

June 8, 2009

We had dinner at some friend’s house last night and I enjoyed a wonderful plate of Spaghetti.
I don’t talk food much, but this was incredible.  Usually, Monica fixes Baked Spaghetti for me–as she did soon after I got home. Baked Spaghetti has a wonderful taste as well as quick to eat, cut up, and easy [...]

Read the full article →