Remarks from the Fray:
I used to attend an offshoot of Willow Creek's model, and it's sad to say that churches can't care for people when leadership isn't present. I think these video venues are great for the occasional change of pace or a weekend pick me up, but Christ calls His children to do more than just present the Gospel. They also need to model it, live it, and walk with people through this crazy thing called life.
--reesefire
(To reply, click here.)
I become more and more amazed at how circular the history of church culture in America seems. The protestant ethos that many claim is an important element of what it means to be 'American' grew from a desire to escape an all-encompassing church from a centralized authority and get back to "the real way God wanted it." Fast forward 500 years and the cycle continues to repeat itself with suburban America standing in for Rome and disillusioned evangelicals starting home churches, missions, and non-denominational organizations like The Simple Way.
Meanwhile the dwindling number of members of mainline protestant denominations that have for generations been teaching the importance of social justice, redemption, and community-building are left scratching their heads wondering why another new church has to get started when they've been around for hundreds of years.
--OhNoNotAgain
(To reply, click here.)
LifeChurch.tv came to my town a couple of years ago. They built a big building on the outskirts of town. It stands alone in what was a cow pasture. The landscape around the building hasn't been much altered, not yet anyway. No artfully arrayed trees or bushes soften the building's outlines or disguise its mass. There're only multiple entrances and a large parking lot to let you know that it's a place where people congregate. The building is incongruous; it erupts out of the ground like a monument. It's not part of a neighborhood. If not for the LifeChurh.tv logos, you might be forgiven for thinking the place was some kind of sports and fitness complex.
The place draws a pretty good crowd on Sunday mornings. I had occasion to drive past one Sunday just as services were ending. The two-lane country road the church borders clearly wasn't designed to handle that amount of traffic. People put up with it I guess. So the place must offer something people want. It's not as if there weren't already plenty of churches to choose from in my town.
I've never attended a LifeChurch.tv service, but one of my friends has. She and her husband were looking for a church to which they could take their kids. Neither parent is a firm believer; both are what I would describe as casual agnostics. But both felt that some form of instruction in public and private virtue would benefit their young kids. And, not least of all, neither wanted the children to be the odd ones out when all the other kids at school were talking about going to church. So they began looking for some congregation that didn't demand too much in terms of belief or participation. They didn't want to commit to a dogma or a community. They wanted to be able to take what they needed or wanted with few strings attached. I guess LifeChurch.tv gave them that. From what I understand there's a lot of music and celebration, a few prayers and other items of church business conducted by a local pastor, and big screen sermon beamed in from the leader's Oklahoma City church. I'm told it's all typically fun, spiritually uplifting, and life affirming. No contentious political issues are discussed, there's not much talk of narrow paths, the emphasis is on redemption rather than sin and damnation, and appeals for support are low key.
Of course my friends have only been attending the LifeChurch.tv services for a few months, so maybe they haven't yet seen all there is to see. But to me it sounds as if the fast food analogy is fairly apt. You won't find a lot of unique, local flavor in these churches but you pretty much know what you're going to get. And what you'll get has been designed to be broadly appealing. It's convenient and you don't have to worry that the place will go under without your patronage. I can see the appeal, I guess. I wouldn't want to live exclusively on that fare, mind you, and I wouldn't recommend that diet to anyone else. But plenty of people seem to like it.
--Havelock
(To reply, click here.)
(8/17)
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Remarks from the Fray:
I used to attend an offshoot of Willow Creek's model, and it's sad to say that churches can't care for people when leadership isn't present. I think these video venues are great for the occasional change of pace or a weekend pick me up, but Christ calls His children to do more than just present the Gospel. They also need to model it, live it, and walk with people through this crazy thing called life.
--reesefire
(To reply, click here.)
I become more and more amazed at how circular the history of church culture in America seems. The protestant ethos that many claim is an important element of what it means to be 'American' grew from a desire to escape an all-encompassing church from a centralized authority and get back to "the real way God wanted it." Fast forward 500 years and the cycle continues to repeat itself with suburban America standing in for Rome and disillusioned evangelicals starting home churches, missions, and non-denominational organizations like The Simple Way.
Meanwhile the dwindling number of members of mainline protestant denominations that have for generations been teaching the importance of social justice, redemption, and community-building are left scratching their heads wondering why another new church has to get started when they've been around for hundreds of years.
--OhNoNotAgain
(To reply, click here.)
LifeChurch.tv came to my town a couple of years ago. They built a big building on the outskirts of town. It stands alone in what was a cow pasture. The landscape around the building hasn't been much altered, not yet anyway. No artfully arrayed trees or bushes soften the building's outlines or disguise its mass. There're only multiple entrances and a large parking lot to let you know that it's a place where people congregate. The building is incongruous; it erupts out of the ground like a monument. It's not part of a neighborhood. If not for the LifeChurh.tv logos, you might be forgiven for thinking the place was some kind of sports and fitness complex.
The place draws a pretty good crowd on Sunday mornings. I had occasion to drive past one Sunday just as services were ending. The two-lane country road the church borders clearly wasn't designed to handle that amount of traffic. People put up with it I guess. So the place must offer something people want. It's not as if there weren't already plenty of churches to choose from in my town.
I've never attended a LifeChurch.tv service, but one of my friends has. She and her husband were looking for a church to which they could take their kids. Neither parent is a firm believer; both are what I would describe as casual agnostics. But both felt that some form of instruction in public and private virtue would benefit their young kids. And, not least of all, neither wanted the children to be the odd ones out when all the other kids at school were talking about going to church. So they began looking for some congregation that didn't demand too much in terms of belief or participation. They didn't want to commit to a dogma or a community. They wanted to be able to take what they needed or wanted with few strings attached. I guess LifeChurch.tv gave them that. From what I understand there's a lot of music and celebration, a few prayers and other items of church business conducted by a local pastor, and big screen sermon beamed in from the leader's Oklahoma City church. I'm told it's all typically fun, spiritually uplifting, and life affirming. No contentious political issues are discussed, there's not much talk of narrow paths, the emphasis is on redemption rather than sin and damnation, and appeals for support are low key.
Of course my friends have only been attending the LifeChurch.tv services for a few months, so maybe they haven't yet seen all there is to see. But to me it sounds as if the fast food analogy is fairly apt. You won't find a lot of unique, local flavor in these churches but you pretty much know what you're going to get. And what you'll get has been designed to be broadly appealing. It's convenient and you don't have to worry that the place will go under without your patronage. I can see the appeal, I guess. I wouldn't want to live exclusively on that fare, mind you, and I wouldn't recommend that diet to anyone else. But plenty of people seem to like it.
--Havelock
(To reply, click here.)
(8/17)