Thanks for your thoughts John. I'd be interested in the sources of the surveys you cite - if you could send along references, I'd very much appreciate it.
Bev - one way the church continued to "meet together" even when they weren't together was through the practice of praying the daily office. It was a daily form of prayer that the church prayed and worshipped with together. It was a way of forming a unified worshipping body even when scattered throughout the week. I'm pretty convinced that reclaiming this daily office is vital - as a way to continue to "worship together when where not together" and as a way of both extending our Sunday worship into the week and then preparing for our next time of corporate worship.
Mavis - its true, this can be a bit of light in a situation where others might cast as altogether gloomy (namely, that maybe we aren'd declining but instead our patterns our changing). Now those changes might be troubling but at least knowing what is going on enables us to thoughtfully engage the realities and prescribe helpful change.
I'm still looped in Paul! Thanks for still wanting me around.
I'm now thinking through some of the implications of this for ministry. Would love to hear your thoughts on what you think needs doing - do we aim to correct the trends? Explore new forms of gathered worship (small groups for three weeks, one large worship gathering for the fourth week?).
No longer do we have an ethnic glue nor a worship glue that provides a framework. I'm interesting in how monastic communities functions, how their rule of life goverened their community. Northumbria, in England, functions as a dispersed community but tethered together by their rule. Could churches function - dispersed throughout the week but united in a rule of life?
Mark - great thoughts. I tried to stay away from any value judgements in the original post, and stick to observations about what seemed to be a trend. I think the new normal does foist on us important discussions. And you're right - the why of our practices is really important to consider. The why of weekly along with the what of our worship practice. What do we need to practice, and how often do we commit to these practices, to spiritually form people in the way of Jesus?
I know of one church that meets in small groups for three of four weeks and in a large group worship gathering on the fourth. It's an attempt to maintain a regular worship practice but in a way that was contextual to their setting. I've been thinking a lot about "a rule" that provides a new axis for a given congregation.
John - thanks for your passion for worship. My comment to Mark about the absence of value judgements in my post was not to imply there are not values to affirm in this conversation - only to say that the original post was at the observational level.
Church attendance does demonstrate a value, for sure, but I'm not convinced for all people and at all times, it has to do with honoring God. For some, it's a love of community with similar folk. for others, its an aesthetic experience in the music and liturgy. For most, I hope it reflects a love and honour of God.
I hope you don't hear me advocating for a diminished corporte worship practice. I'm convinced its probably the most spiritually formative practice for the church (see a blog post I wrote further on this a while ago - you can read it here - http://squinch.net/2011/03/02/why-bother-with-church/ )
Thanks for your thoughts Doug. I think I was trying to make the point that the "stuff" is secondary; I truly appreciate the computer I'm tapping away on. My ipod is an important spiritual renewal tool. The point is my sick heart (our culture's sick heart) which I don't think we honestly see it. It's the air we breathe so we hardly recognize it, which makes it all the more dangerous. But I do wonder, could a practice of not buying the "stuff," not visiting the mall, could that be a way to chasten and tame the consumer demon?
Thanks Paul - this is very important! (as an aside, I remember missiologist Allan Roxburgh saying that we'll most find God at work in the most God-forsaken places - and I immediately thought of classis).
I agree with John that geographic considerations are significant. In the two classes I've been involved in, each were composed of three distinct geographic areas. So why not organize accordingly? And I also see the need for more than the 2-3 meetings/year. In Calgary, we've been gathering our pastors/leaders together on a monthly basis, forming community, praying for one another, and now thinking about "how can we begin to function like a city church." It takes frequent time to build relationships and geographic proximity to develop common ministry vision. We're beginning to ask how we might coordinate church schedules, develop common events, submit ministry decisions to a wider group, and even to think how we might share resources for wider gospel and church renewal.
And the pivotal moment for us was this Holy Spirit insight: we have all we need right here. We didn't need to import experts or download models, but instead to listen for what God was doing among us, realizing God was affirming the gifts, skills and passion of all those within our community. That, in itself , if a liberating notion!
Personally, I'm intrigued with the idea of reclaiming the tradition of an order - what if churches and leaders in Classis begin to function like a missional order, bound by a common set of practices and a common vision for their "parish." I think there's some fruitful ways to re-imagine classis.
So I'm with in you hoping this (God-forsaken?) assembly might become so much more. Keep on thinking and writing on this.
We started sermon-based small group studies about two years ago at River Park CRC - probably the best discipleship moves we've made in some time. Beyond the discipleship piece, it's brilliant in it's community-building capacity. Literally, everyone (well, all who are in a small group) is on the same page, interacting with the same materials, wrestling with common questions. So what if you're in a different small group - you can still interact with other church members about the studies because you're all working off of the same page. We also created three seasons or windows (each 8 weeks in length). We realized that people commit in shorter bursts of commitment - so we have a fall, winter and spring small group window. It allows for a "breather" time and if you want you can move to another group. We created a basic template for each study so there is some uniformity in each study, no matter on who is preaching (at RPC, the preaching staff would created the study together).
Posted in: Twice (a Month) - the New Normal?
Thanks for your thoughts John. I'd be interested in the sources of the surveys you cite - if you could send along references, I'd very much appreciate it.
Posted in: Twice (a Month) - the New Normal?
Here's the link to another post I wrote related to this (the one above doesn't seem to work).
http://squinch.net/2011/03/02/why-bother-with-church
Posted in: Twice (a Month) - the New Normal?
Bev - one way the church continued to "meet together" even when they weren't together was through the practice of praying the daily office. It was a daily form of prayer that the church prayed and worshipped with together. It was a way of forming a unified worshipping body even when scattered throughout the week. I'm pretty convinced that reclaiming this daily office is vital - as a way to continue to "worship together when where not together" and as a way of both extending our Sunday worship into the week and then preparing for our next time of corporate worship.
Posted in: Twice (a Month) - the New Normal?
Mavis - its true, this can be a bit of light in a situation where others might cast as altogether gloomy (namely, that maybe we aren'd declining but instead our patterns our changing). Now those changes might be troubling but at least knowing what is going on enables us to thoughtfully engage the realities and prescribe helpful change.
Posted in: Twice (a Month) - the New Normal?
I'm still looped in Paul! Thanks for still wanting me around.
I'm now thinking through some of the implications of this for ministry. Would love to hear your thoughts on what you think needs doing - do we aim to correct the trends? Explore new forms of gathered worship (small groups for three weeks, one large worship gathering for the fourth week?).
No longer do we have an ethnic glue nor a worship glue that provides a framework. I'm interesting in how monastic communities functions, how their rule of life goverened their community. Northumbria, in England, functions as a dispersed community but tethered together by their rule. Could churches function - dispersed throughout the week but united in a rule of life?
Posted in: Twice (a Month) - the New Normal?
Mark - great thoughts. I tried to stay away from any value judgements in the original post, and stick to observations about what seemed to be a trend. I think the new normal does foist on us important discussions. And you're right - the why of our practices is really important to consider. The why of weekly along with the what of our worship practice. What do we need to practice, and how often do we commit to these practices, to spiritually form people in the way of Jesus?
I know of one church that meets in small groups for three of four weeks and in a large group worship gathering on the fourth. It's an attempt to maintain a regular worship practice but in a way that was contextual to their setting. I've been thinking a lot about "a rule" that provides a new axis for a given congregation.
Posted in: Twice (a Month) - the New Normal?
John - thanks for your passion for worship. My comment to Mark about the absence of value judgements in my post was not to imply there are not values to affirm in this conversation - only to say that the original post was at the observational level.
Church attendance does demonstrate a value, for sure, but I'm not convinced for all people and at all times, it has to do with honoring God. For some, it's a love of community with similar folk. for others, its an aesthetic experience in the music and liturgy. For most, I hope it reflects a love and honour of God.
I hope you don't hear me advocating for a diminished corporte worship practice. I'm convinced its probably the most spiritually formative practice for the church (see a blog post I wrote further on this a while ago - you can read it here - http://squinch.net/2011/03/02/why-bother-with-church/ )
Posted in: Twice (a Month) - the New Normal?
Thanks for your kind words, Colin. And you're naming good insights that might lie behind some of these trends.
Posted in: An Anthem for Black Friday
And here is the video link from the Avett Brothers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2MxfhP48q8
Posted in: An Anthem for Black Friday
Thanks for your thoughts Doug. I think I was trying to make the point that the "stuff" is secondary; I truly appreciate the computer I'm tapping away on. My ipod is an important spiritual renewal tool. The point is my sick heart (our culture's sick heart) which I don't think we honestly see it. It's the air we breathe so we hardly recognize it, which makes it all the more dangerous. But I do wonder, could a practice of not buying the "stuff," not visiting the mall, could that be a way to chasten and tame the consumer demon?
Posted in: Classis: The Right Tool for Three Important Needs
Thanks Paul - this is very important! (as an aside, I remember missiologist Allan Roxburgh saying that we'll most find God at work in the most God-forsaken places - and I immediately thought of classis).
I agree with John that geographic considerations are significant. In the two classes I've been involved in, each were composed of three distinct geographic areas. So why not organize accordingly? And I also see the need for more than the 2-3 meetings/year. In Calgary, we've been gathering our pastors/leaders together on a monthly basis, forming community, praying for one another, and now thinking about "how can we begin to function like a city church." It takes frequent time to build relationships and geographic proximity to develop common ministry vision. We're beginning to ask how we might coordinate church schedules, develop common events, submit ministry decisions to a wider group, and even to think how we might share resources for wider gospel and church renewal.
And the pivotal moment for us was this Holy Spirit insight: we have all we need right here. We didn't need to import experts or download models, but instead to listen for what God was doing among us, realizing God was affirming the gifts, skills and passion of all those within our community. That, in itself , if a liberating notion!
Personally, I'm intrigued with the idea of reclaiming the tradition of an order - what if churches and leaders in Classis begin to function like a missional order, bound by a common set of practices and a common vision for their "parish." I think there's some fruitful ways to re-imagine classis.
So I'm with in you hoping this (God-forsaken?) assembly might become so much more. Keep on thinking and writing on this.
Posted in: Why I Like Sermon-based Small Groups
We started sermon-based small group studies about two years ago at River Park CRC - probably the best discipleship moves we've made in some time. Beyond the discipleship piece, it's brilliant in it's community-building capacity. Literally, everyone (well, all who are in a small group) is on the same page, interacting with the same materials, wrestling with common questions. So what if you're in a different small group - you can still interact with other church members about the studies because you're all working off of the same page. We also created three seasons or windows (each 8 weeks in length). We realized that people commit in shorter bursts of commitment - so we have a fall, winter and spring small group window. It allows for a "breather" time and if you want you can move to another group. We created a basic template for each study so there is some uniformity in each study, no matter on who is preaching (at RPC, the preaching staff would created the study together).