A Spirituality of Worship - A Visit to a Non Denominational Church

Visiting a non denominational church

It never ceases to amaze me all the ways we can worship and experience God.

As a chaplain in the USAF / Air National Guard,  I have had the privilege of leading and participating in many different styles of worship; Liturgical services, Traditional Protestant, Contemporary Christian, Gospel services, and more.    I am used to working with and serving people who are a variety of world religions, Christian denominations, no religious preference, atheists, Native Americans, and you name it.

Do I like one style more than others, or do I feel more at home or comfortable in certain styles of worship?  Well yes, of course.  But that does not mean I do not appreciate them all. 

I am glad for the variety.    I had a blast leading the Gospel services when I was deployed to Arabia, even though that style of worship is nothing like Episcopal Church services.  And I really love liturgical, or sacramental worship too, naturally!

As for worship and church services, what "works" for one, may not work for another. So, I say it is a good thing there are so many styles of worship!  And denominations.  And religions!
 
However, there is the recent phenomenon of certain mainline Christian denominations that are in decline.  Declining in membership and attendance that is.  Many are wondering why.

Statistics show that in the past ten to twenty years, denominations such as Presbyterian USA, United Methodist, the United Church of Christ, Lutheran, Baptists (including Southern Baptists) and Episcopalians are declining in members and church attendance.  Even the Roman Catholic church is in slight decline.  Many churches (parishes) in these denominations have even been closed down. And there are many unemployed and underemployed clergy.

The plain fact is that many people just no longer attend church, or never really have.  It is true.  Religion statistics from every unit and wing I have served in the USAF and Air National Guard  over the years show the highest or second highest numbers in religion population are "no religious preference".  Going to church, and or being part of a religion is just not part of many people's lives these days.

But for those that do go to church, some have left the mainline denominations and moved on to Non-Denominational churches.   The LDS (Mormons), Assemblies of God and the Pentecostals are of the few denominations that also show growth. 

Many clergy in the declining denominations are waving their arms, "We've got to do something to increase church growth!"  Or ,"We need to have more workshops on congregational development!", There are multitudes of books, articles and blogs on "what went wrong, why we are losing people and what we need to do about it"...or why this is happening.

But that is not the purpose of this reflection. 

Bright & early before morning worship

Last weekend I attended a large Non-Denominational Church called "Real Life Church" in southern California with my cousins.  This is where they attend church, and so I joined them.

What follows is a description of the church and the worship service I attended.  I make no critique, just a few observations that I will share here...

The church building and grounds are very contemporary and large, (but not as big as the mega churches).   The decor is modern and sleek.  The building itself from the outside looks like a wave, (no steeple or bell tower here)!

Outside there is a huge sunken amphitheater for outdoor concerts and services.  On the lower level is a large and sleek, and I mean sleek coffee house complete with comfy couches and a stage for live musical acts.  I enjoyed a really good cup of Americano iced coffee with my cousins.  A percentage of the profits made by the coffee sales are donated to various charities, and they posted the dollar amounts in plain view. 

The lobby has a booth that kind of looks like a check-in stand, and it has a big sign over it, "Guest Services".   And there was a huge cross made of various odds and ends, including old license plates. (Picture is above.)

We were at the early morning 8 am service and arrived a little early.  The church offered three Sunday morning services and an evening service.   As well, a service on Saturday afternoon.

Countdown to worship...

After my cousins showed me around the place, we went into the worship hall with our coffees (which was OK).  The worship hall or "sanctuary" looked like an amphitheater concert hall, huge and complete with professional sound system and three large video screens above the "stage", lots of high tech lighting, an array of personnel running sound, lights, video, camera persons, etc.   Rock music played on the PA as people found their seats.

The screens posted the time in minutes and seconds when services would begin.   The stage was large and there were drums, bass, keyboards, guitar and mic stands set up.   There were also some props, such as a large scrabble looking thing to hold large letters.  The seats were like in a movie theater and had cup holders.   They thought of everything!

Worship began with the musicians coming on the stage and playing about 3 or 4 songs.  The people stood during the music.  The music was loud, but not obnoxious, and the style was contemporary Christian rock. The lyrics were posted on the video screens.  The people did not seem to know the songs very well, I noticed not too many sang along.  The sound system was top notch, clear, crisp, sub woofers and all.  Any professional large name act could perform in this venue.  I am sure many have.

Band playing

After the music, a pastor came out and gave a little pitch on programs of the church.  He was young and wearing jeans and tennis shoes.  Very polished and friendly.   Then a humorous video was played by the "Church documentarian" on the status of the construction outside.

Lead Pastor giving the message

Then the Lead Pastor came out and gave his message.  He opened his sermon with a word and then spelled it with the huge block scrabble letters.  With this word / concept he then read a scripture passage from Colossians and Romans and proceeded to give his message.  He was wearing jeans and tennis shoes.

A tall table was brought out and stool for him to sit on as he spoke.  No podium or pulpit here.   It was like he was sitting at a coffee house talking to us, which gave it more of a casual feel.  He used his iPad, although his delivery was very polished and memorized.  His preaching style was as a teacher, and his sermon  a teaching sermon.  At times short video clips were added.  His message was overall very good and lasted about 20 to 25 minutes. 

A few other things I noticed.  He was very friendly, articulate, professional and polished.  He used humor and things in ordinary life in his message that people could relate to (football).  He taught the scripture.  Then he taught how to apply it in life.  It was very practical, very simple and very easy to relate to.    He explained the most basic of things and did not assume the people had prior knowledge or study in religion.    Hey, not everyone has advanced degrees in theology or religious studies. 

After the message (sermon) there were some short prayers led by the pastors, and then Communion was distributed (trays and little cups of grape juice with wafer in it). There was no liturgy of the Eucharist, no words of institution, no blessing of the wine and bread.  The words of scripture pertaining to "do this in remembrance of me" were posted on the video screens as the little cups were passed around and people helped themselves.

The people in the modern day "pews"!

The service lasted about an hour.  And the place was packed with hundreds of people.  And did I mention, it was huge?

Aside from worship services, the church also had numerous small groups that people could join, youth activities, college aged & high school groups, outreach ministries and more.  There are groups for dealing with grief, depression, for men who struggle with pornography, for young women and girls to teach them healthy esteem, etc.  There are Bible Study groups, retreats and so on.

Yes this church is hopping, and very much alive.

A couple other observations.  The church did not seem political, "conservative" or "liberal" or preach against certain things, lifetstyles, women in ministry, etc.  It did not seem "preachy", or emphasize a certain morality, nor did the people get into the trance induced glazy eyed intense cries of "JEEZUS!".   Yes it was focused on God.  But not overly "Jesusy", if that is a word!

The church and its pastors were very non authoritative, non hierarchical and non threatening.   For example, the lead Pastor was the "lead Pastor" not the "head Pastor", or "Senior Minister" or "Rector" or "Senior Pastor".  He went by his first name, no title.  The assisting pastors were not assisting, they were "one of the pastors" or the title of what they were in charge of (Youth Pastor, Pastoral Care, etc.).  I did notice the church's website has a very large staff, not sure if all were paid or volunteer. I did notice the pastors were all male, and many of the non clergy staff were female.

Prior to worship, Twitter and Facebook on video screens

The attendees were mostly young adults and young families.  I did not see one grey or white head in there!  Well OK, maybe one or two.   Dress was very casual for clergy and the people.  No robes, albs or stoles for the clergy here!

The whole experience was very "of these times", with iPad, music, video, Twitter, Facebook, wifi, coffee house, concert hall, primo web site and all. 

And so this is where many people go now.  This style of church or worship rather seems to speak more to the people here in our modern day world.

Their mission statement, "Helping people find and follow God". 

Yes, I am ordained in the Episcopal Church.  But I am glad these large non denom churches are around.  If it helps people learn and experience God, the Holy, feed their soul and grow in their spirit, then that is good!

Religions and denominations will always be in flux.  Numbers increase, numbers decrease.  Nothing ever stays the same.  The one constant in life, is change.

Churches and worship styles like the Episcopal Church reach and touch many people.  It does not, and will not touch all.   No one church or denomination ever will.  No one style of worship ever will.  No one religion (dare I say) ever will.  There are as many varieties in worship styles and churches, denominations and religions as there are people.  Something for everyone, should they choose.

And what of a spirituality of worship?

The term "liturgy" is usually interpreted as the worship style or service.   Denominations such as the Greek Orthodox, (or any Orthodox), Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, Lutheran are said to be "liturgical" in their worship style.  But really, every style of worship is liturgy. 

Liturgy actually means "the work of the people". And worship is about God.   And God is love.  Worship really, at its root, is about love and experiencing and growing in love.

As one monk said, "Worship is not something we do for God, but something God does in us".

We are all similar and yet different.  Different personalities, ethnicities, cultures, levels of education, family traditions, different ways of thinking, different talents.  Some of us are introverts, extroverts, feelers, thinkers, intuitives, sensers, judgers and perceivers.  Some of us are artistic, some intellectual, some creative, some mathematical, some more physical and athletic.  Different levels and places on the path.   And on it goes.

Spirituality being something we practice, yet also something mysterious, undefinable and related to our inner most being.  For each and everyone of us, spirituality, or practicing spirituality is different.

And interestingly, like two sides of the same coin, both spirituality or our inner most being and worship / liturgy are intricately related.   One helps grow the other.  And vice-versa.

Liturgy, in all its varieties invites us to experience the Holy, in all its flavors, varieties and colors.

What a dull world it would be if we were all the same!