I wasn't very clear in my previous post. God's love for us is often what gets preached in evangelistic sermons today. It is interesting then that of all the evangelistic sermons recorded in Acts, not a single one mentions God's love for us. Maybe people don't need to hear about God's love so much as they need to hear about God's holiness and humanity's sinfulness and dire need of a Saviour. Greg Koukl (www.str.org) puts it this way. People need the truth. Society says religion is like ice cream, just pick your favourite. Christianity is not like ice cream, it is like insulin and all humanity are diabetics. Without Christ, we die.
Love the video! But then again, I love satire. It helps us to see what we do from a different perspective. It should cause us to examine our motives for doing what we do.
This is what the video tells me. Church is about worshiping God-Father, Son and Holy Spirit-but are we really doing that? The video suggests that worship has become less about God and more about the people in the pew. We've all heard about the need to be relevant, engaging, etc. But in the end, it is God's Word and God's Spirit who grabs people. Authentic worship, regardless of style, will be exciting. Let us all worship in spirit and in truth!
I've enjoyed reading the comments! It is encouraging to know that others see the value of having two services on Sunday.
At the Edson-Peers CRC, we've tried many things. When I came in 2004, the second service was held at 1:00pm during the summer months. We extended that time frame to throughout the year. The second service is like Sunday Morning lite, with less formality, song selections etc. We also had lunch between services. We tried to do what Neerlandia has done, but rather than having a separate time in the morning, we tried to enhance the morning service with discussion after the sermon. It didn't work as well as hoped. So, after a year, we reinstated the second service at 6:30pm. It is a teaching service. I've preached through the Heidelberg Catechism and we're now into the Belgic Confession. I'd like to tackle the Canons of Dort as well. The evening service attendance isn't great, but there are a few families with young children who come, and I usually try to speak to them at one or two points in the sermon, asking rhetorical questions, that sort of thing. Last year, we moved the second service to 1:00pm during the winter months (Nov. - March) to avoid driving in the dark.
In September, we started a Sunday Morning Bible Study from 9:30-10:15. We've been using Greg Koukl's Ambassador Basic Curriculum, available from Stand To Reason (www.str.org). It teaches Christians the basics for being Christ's ambassadors, through Knowledge (an accurately informed mind) Wisdom (an artful method of communication) and Character (a warm, attractive and inviting manner).
There are probably several factors which contribute to low second service attendance. 1. Speed of life--it is becoming harder to schedule rest, especially in a society which boasts about how busy we are. "How are you doing?" "Good, busy!" "Yeah, me too!" 2. Other church experience--many CRC members have visited other churches which have never offered more than one worship service and found that those churches were just as faithful. 3. Convenience of life--more information is available online than ever before, excellent preaching and other material. 4. Facebook communication--fellowship with other believers at church is underrated. 5. Commitment--God doesn't get our first-fruits. We are so inundated with demands (time, talents, opportunities) that other things become higher priority. It isn't necessarily as though people mean to put God last, but there's little accountability to keeping him first. 6. Programs--the drive to be busy has increased the programming of churches. We have groups and clubs and this, that and the other thing to do. We are in competition with sports groups, clubs, etc. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if we scrapped all the during the week stuff and simply told people "Come on the first day of the week, offer your first fruits of time, talents and treasures to God. Listen and learn from him! Then you will be prepared for the week to come.
Posted in: Let's Keep Thinking about the "Second Service"
Hi Ken,
I wasn't very clear in my previous post. God's love for us is often what gets preached in evangelistic sermons today. It is interesting then that of all the evangelistic sermons recorded in Acts, not a single one mentions God's love for us. Maybe people don't need to hear about God's love so much as they need to hear about God's holiness and humanity's sinfulness and dire need of a Saviour. Greg Koukl (www.str.org) puts it this way. People need the truth. Society says religion is like ice cream, just pick your favourite. Christianity is not like ice cream, it is like insulin and all humanity are diabetics. Without Christ, we die.
Paul
Posted in: "Contemporvant" Worship Video--Funny? Offensive? Satirical? Mean?
Love the video! But then again, I love satire. It helps us to see what we do from a different perspective. It should cause us to examine our motives for doing what we do.
This is what the video tells me. Church is about worshiping God-Father, Son and Holy Spirit-but are we really doing that? The video suggests that worship has become less about God and more about the people in the pew. We've all heard about the need to be relevant, engaging, etc. But in the end, it is God's Word and God's Spirit who grabs people. Authentic worship, regardless of style, will be exciting. Let us all worship in spirit and in truth!
Posted in: Let's Keep Thinking about the "Second Service"
I've enjoyed reading the comments! It is encouraging to know that others see the value of having two services on Sunday.
At the Edson-Peers CRC, we've tried many things. When I came in 2004, the second service was held at 1:00pm during the summer months. We extended that time frame to throughout the year. The second service is like Sunday Morning lite, with less formality, song selections etc. We also had lunch between services. We tried to do what Neerlandia has done, but rather than having a separate time in the morning, we tried to enhance the morning service with discussion after the sermon. It didn't work as well as hoped. So, after a year, we reinstated the second service at 6:30pm. It is a teaching service. I've preached through the Heidelberg Catechism and we're now into the Belgic Confession. I'd like to tackle the Canons of Dort as well. The evening service attendance isn't great, but there are a few families with young children who come, and I usually try to speak to them at one or two points in the sermon, asking rhetorical questions, that sort of thing. Last year, we moved the second service to 1:00pm during the winter months (Nov. - March) to avoid driving in the dark.
In September, we started a Sunday Morning Bible Study from 9:30-10:15. We've been using Greg Koukl's Ambassador Basic Curriculum, available from Stand To Reason (www.str.org). It teaches Christians the basics for being Christ's ambassadors, through Knowledge (an accurately informed mind) Wisdom (an artful method of communication) and Character (a warm, attractive and inviting manner).
There are probably several factors which contribute to low second service attendance. 1. Speed of life--it is becoming harder to schedule rest, especially in a society which boasts about how busy we are. "How are you doing?" "Good, busy!" "Yeah, me too!" 2. Other church experience--many CRC members have visited other churches which have never offered more than one worship service and found that those churches were just as faithful. 3. Convenience of life--more information is available online than ever before, excellent preaching and other material. 4. Facebook communication--fellowship with other believers at church is underrated. 5. Commitment--God doesn't get our first-fruits. We are so inundated with demands (time, talents, opportunities) that other things become higher priority. It isn't necessarily as though people mean to put God last, but there's little accountability to keeping him first. 6. Programs--the drive to be busy has increased the programming of churches. We have groups and clubs and this, that and the other thing to do. We are in competition with sports groups, clubs, etc. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if we scrapped all the during the week stuff and simply told people "Come on the first day of the week, offer your first fruits of time, talents and treasures to God. Listen and learn from him! Then you will be prepared for the week to come.