After the last post, you’re probably thinking I’m some sort of closet Catholic or Eastern Orthodox or some such thing. But I’m really not. I just think the creative arts need to be redeemed for Jesus. I mean, do we really want the atheists to dominate the arts?
Let me give you a little background on part of what drives my thinking.
Some years ago, our ministerial staff approached us elders suggesting that we start a seeker service on Wednesday nights, once a month. Well, we were glad to give it a shot.
The first few efforts were designed pretty much like Sunday morning. The preacher used some of his “A” material, the praise team sang with gusto, and it was nice. But it was Sunday morning done on Wednesday night. It was done well, but it didn’t work.
Our campus minister took a turn and made several dramatic changes.
* He arranged the seats in about a 270-degree arc — facing the center. Some call this the “gathered family” arrangement.
* He turned off the lights, except for a spotlight on whoever was speaking.
* He showed a series of devotional videos.
* He was meticulous about the quality of the sound, the sound board operations, and such.
* The praise team was well rehearsed and the songs were well chosen for the occasion.
* And he added prayer stations.
Many readers will be unfamiliar with the concept. The source book is The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for New Generations, by Dan Kimball. You need to read it. I’ve bought three copies, because I keep giving mine away, most recently to our missionary in Romania who was looking for a way to connect with European culture.
Around the perimeter of the space, places were arranged for voluntary activities. In one place, there was a small wooden cross, some nails, and a hammer. Those approaching the station were to drive a nail in the cross, to remind themselves that their sins were the cause of Jesus’ death, before they said a prayer of thanks for God’s salvation. Other stations had similar experiential themes.
While the congregation sang, the members were invited — but not required — to visit one or more of the stations to pray.
The mood was electric and the singing astounding. The images on the screen and the objects at the prayer station helped our members think concretely about God and Jesus and our salvation. Many members were in tears — even those who never left their seats.
I sat in the back, observing the effect of this kind of service. And many, many members said to me, “I needed that.”
Now, we have great worship services on Sunday morning. I’d easily put us in the top 1% or 2% of Churches of Christ in terms of the Sunday morning worship. We have little to complain about. And yet many of our members — including many in their 40’s and 50’s — found that this kind of service met a need they couldn’t satisfy at traditional church.
So what was going on? Well, traditional church is very passive. And it’s very left-brained, being centered on the sermon. This particular seeker service style is much more right-brained. It’s less abstract and more concrete, less analysis and more experience, less passive and more active. The members got out of their seats, went to the back, and did something that helped them pray. Of course, they also interacted with one another, as is only natural.
Iconography matters. It doesn’t matter that much to us analytical, left-brained types. But for the rest of the world, it’s critically important. Most people need to see and feel to experience. Merely hearing and knowing is not enough.
Now, there are serious difficulties with worshipping in this manner.
First, it takes a lot of preparation, especially if you have a large congregation.
Second, not everyone has a space that will accommodate this style. You can’t circle pews. You can’t get the room dark if you have too many windows.
Third, most videos that really work have background music, and some elderships will find this intolerable — but it’s really okay (I keep saying this). The music is essential to the mood, and you just can’t find a cappella videos of the quality you need.
Fourth, some members will find this style unbearably unfamiliar. In our case, as this was a Wednesday night seeker service, we offered a simultaneous class for those who preferred a more traditional Wednesday night experience.
Now, my point isn’t to insist that all my readers start such a service. We no longer do it ourselves — because it was wearing our staff out and producing no visitors at all. As a seeker service, it wasn’t working. We get lots of visitors on Sunday morning, and many members often bring guests. Sunday morning is our real seeker service, as it turns out. And we found that God had other plans for our Wednesday nights. Right now, many of our men are heavily involved in a program called Sons of Thunder, we’re about to start Celebrate Recovery, and God has led us in some other directions.
No, my point is that even many of our older, Baby Boomer members need something more than what the traditional service provides. They want to feel closer to God, and traditional worship does not touch their hearts. If traditional worship was the only kind of worship God would accept, then it would be tough luck, you know. But God is really not that specific.
One result of this experience, though, was for our staff to make some changes in our Sunday morning worship. We can’t replicate the full experience, but we can get partway there.
* We have moved the preacher, worship leader, and other speakers to the floor on a slightly elevated platform.
* The chairs are now arranged in a 270 degree arc around the platform. We don’ t have as many seats as we once did. We have to get a little closer to each other, but that’s okay. The mood changes when you can see each other and the speaker isn’t looking down on you from on high.
* We upgraded our praise team. They practice more, and the soundboard work has improved. We just pay more attention to the details.
* Our praise team now stands for some services. And we sometimes get a solo or listen while they sing. And they sing the descant. It’s just more artistic and better done than it once was — and this has led to better congregational singing.
* We show videos at some services, sometimes as part of the sermon, and sometimes at a different time.
* We project images of the crucifixion during communion on three screens or just a cross or an empty tomb.
I’ll mention some other ideas in the next post.
Is it the same as the seeker service we tried for a while? No. Is it a good compromise between traditional and emerging worship? I think so. And it’s what we can do with the staff and talent we have. But who knows what we’ll attempt down the road.
In the next post, ideas that you can do even if your pews are nailed to the floor.
I've actually read Dan Kimball's book. I don't know if his ideas would be fitting for a normal Sunday service. We used prayer stations and the like at camp a lot though. There the time and place is just more fitting, because you need more time and the right athmosphere. Then they speak powerfully to teens. I myself find them also ver moving.
But I also found out that you can't do prayer stations too often, they get old after some time.
Jay you said "Now, there are serious difficulties with worshipping in this manner."
The first is personal authenticity. We good ol' church of Christ people do not like things that make us think for ourselves or spiritually engage and interact with each other.
A seeker service requires more than just art and multimedia. It requires that we understand the theological questions people are asking and the context from which they come. We must understand that Jesus is being compared to other claims to truth like never before. The postmodernist assumes nothing in their spiritual journey. So a seeker service should focus more on asking questions of the seekers and listening to their questions. For instance when was the last time we compared the Jesus of the bible to Buddha or Muhammad or the Tanoak or the Koran or any other claim to truth. This is what the post modernist does in their search for truth. They don’t ask themselves what is true but rather do I want to be like you. Most services labeled seeker are really as you put it Jay a long needed service for the existing disciples. In your own words “Now, we have great worship services on Sunday morning. I’d easily put us in the top 1% or 2% of Churches of Christ in terms of the Sunday morning worship. We have little to complain about. And yet many of our members — including many in their 40’s and 50’s — found that this kind of service met a need they couldn’t satisfy at traditional church.”
Chr1sch,
I think you're exactly right. Anything can get old if done too often. And for many churches, prayer stations just wouldn't work — either because their worship space won't permit it or because the culture won't tolerate it. We don't do prayer stations on Sunday morning ourselves. However, we do try to get out the rut of "three songs and a prayer."
One of my biggest concerns is keeping those of our members who come up through our youth and campus ministries. They are used to a more experiential, more participatory worship style. If we old people insist on worshiping as we did in 1950, we're going to lose them.
Joe,
I entirely agree.
We are often clueless about how to do a true seeker service, because we're so out of touch with the lost of this world.
And we leaders are often out of touch with the needs of our own members — blindly assuming that people much younger than us who came up in a very different way are just like us.