My Church the nightclub

[Butler]

Hey there guys and gals!

Well the service last sunday was brilliant and the guest speaker (who was from north africa) was such a blessing! It was just what I needed, except for one thing.

We are "upgrading" our Church at the mo and this will mean that a gallery will be built upstairs for more seats and a new sound system will be put in to make things better sounding and of course............louder.

Now dont get me wrong, I love lively music and I listen to alot of "ccm" and loud music at home but when it comes to praise and worship I believe in respecting God and while it can be loud and joyful it shouldnt get out of hand. The newest toy that was bought was inteligent lighting. Its the lights that you would see at a large concert or at a club. They spin and shoot all these coulors onto the stage. Impressive but it could not have been more inapropriate.

I just dont know anymore. I LOVE loud music but I am struggling to honestly praise God when the front of the Church is lit up like a sycadelic christmas tree.

Any thoughts?

Sean

[mikado5001]

Hey there guys and gals!

Well the service last sunday was brilliant and the guest speaker (who was from north africa) was such a blessing! It was just what I needed, except for one thing.

We are "upgrading" our Church at the mo and this will mean that a gallery will be built upstairs for more seats and a new sound system will be put in to make things better sounding and of course............louder.

Now dont get me wrong, I love lively music and I listen to alot of "ccm" and loud music at home but when it comes to praise and worship I believe in respecting God and while it can be loud and joyful it shouldnt get out of hand. The newest toy that was bought was inteligent lighting. Its the lights that you would see at a large concert or at a club. They spin and shoot all these coulors onto the stage. Impressive but it could not have been more inapropriate.

I just dont know anymore. I LOVE loud music but I am struggling to honestly praise God when the front of the Church is lit up like a sycadelic christmas tree.

Any thoughts?

Sean

The inteligent lighting might be a bit much, even for me. And I love a good show. Not always in Church, however.

If it is for attracting young folks, like for a Youth Rally, then maybe. But you are correct. The service is about GOD not the lighting. Is GOD convicting you to talk to your Pastor about this?

[Butler]

[Guest man]

Seriously though its distracting and I find it hard to get into "that place" when Im being blown away by lighting and guirat riffs. It sounds wierd cause I LOVE guitar (being a guitarist) but come on!

Sean

Then maybe it's time to walk.

[AndrewA]

It might be useful if you are going to be holding concerts or putting on plays or musicals etc, but I must admit I initially find this a bit over the top for normal service, I am not against using lots of gadgets technology and insturments etc , But I dont loose sight of why I go to church, that is to be in Gods presence , to worship and praise him and listen to his word and hear a sermon etc.

Unfortunately alot of churches seem to be loosing sight of what church service is about. People become too obsessed with the worlds view of perfection and think its more important to put on a perfect proffessional performance and production than actully communing with God. Some preachers seem to put more effort into a power point presentation than the actul message and some churches seem obsessed with turning each service into a music concert that would give all the big name rock and pop stars a run for thier money.

I am not against churches having a slick lighting sound system and an amazing orchestra or band, as long as they havnt lost sight of God and what a church service should be. Without knowing any more details or what the people involved are like i can not comment any further.

[Butler]

[mikado5001]

Then maybe it's time to walk.

[Guest man]

Then maybe it's time to walk.

[Butler]

While I agree that people can start Churches I know that we are not ready for that one!

Another problem is that our Church has this whole "if you arent part of the solution then your part of the problem" thing going. This is fine and all but it makes it hard to approach the leadership cause if I disagree with the direction the church is going I must be part of the problem.

Its crazy and to honest Im a little tired. We are having small group tonight so I might as well speak out and see what happen. God be with me.

Sean

[Leonard]

It is just this sort of 'entertainment' which began to make me 'uncomfortable' with the normal Charismatic worship at my former church.

Every service, HUGE amounts of time were directed toward making everybody 'feel' like worshipping; then actual worship began. It seems to me that directing all this energy and attention horizontally, if you will (out toward US), was NOT what church was for. Rather all the energy and attention needs to be focused on the worship of GOD (upward, if you please!).

I found that Liturgy does this best.

It is a real pity when the Church feels it must 'become relevant' and buys into all the latest "entertainment kitsch" for the sake of 'growth.' This indicates a church unsure of the importance of the moral reason for its existence.