Food for thought

Y'all know I like to post after I listen to the iLead escape hosted by Tasha Cobbs. Last night's guest was Dana Chanel, a new Christian lighting up social media with her concept of a "sprinkle of Jesus." The call didn't really center around praise and worship, but she did bring up something that I think my church is struggling with in our worship experience.

Right before or after she prayed (can't remember the order) she expressed how she's not one of those people who pray real "official"-like. She just prays what's on her heart. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be?

A lot of what Dana Chanel was saying is that she is who she is. You can't make her experience God how you want her to, she's not gonna pray the way you think she should pray. We have to accept people and who they are. She further expressed that she believes social media is such a powerful tool for expanding the Kingdom because people can read or see a post and because they are able to internalize the message, it speaks to them in a way that is more authentic than sitting in a church being expected to behave or act in the same way others act.

I think this parallels with what we are experiencing with our congregation. We have a lot of un-churched folks who attend our Sunday worship service. (i.e., folk who weren't raised in church) As a matter of fact, we have more un-churched attendees than life-longers. With that being the case, the culture of our P&W is a bit un-uniformed, which can be a little disconcerting if you're used to having things a particular way. We've got the folks who lift their hands, sing, focus on the words, etc. Then we've got folks who just kind of look a the praise team and don't seem to be very engaged in worship.

...So a little bit of background because I don't share a whole lot about the details of my church. We are Pentecostal. We are a part of a Pentecostal organization with churches in the states, West Indies, and Africa. Our church, however, in my opinion, is not hugely charismatic. There's not a lot of shouting or speaking in tongues. Not a lot of prophesying, crying, running the aisles, and we don't hold service long. With that said, I think there's a bit of a struggle in getting people to praise and worship in a way that's typical of Pentecostals. (Spontaneous "hallelujahs" and other sayings, dancing, etc.)

With that said, if we keep pressing for people to "behave" in a way that doesn't seem to be true to them, are we creating a culture where people feel like they have to act in a certain way? And will they feel "pressured" to conform to this church-y behavior that they might not identify with at the present time? Now don't get me wrong, I believe in waving your hands and other demonstrative actions, but I wouldn't expect this from the average un-churched person. Instead of beating folks over the head because they aren't demonstrative, I think our message should be more like "it's ok if you feel led to raise your hands' or "we raise our hands in honor of God's presence" etc. And if people don't raise their hands, that's ok too. Maybe that's just not them. Maybe in a year or two, they will.

I say all of that to say that I personally believe our ministry's approach needs to change. I'm sure Pastor would probably disagree. But you have to meet people where they are. We don't have a congregation of seasoned saints. I'm not saying we need to lower our expecations, but we def need to adjust them. The goal is not to have folks jumping around trying to emulate others, but rather for people to be engaged in worship in a way that feels right for them. It's kind of like saying I think all preachers should be able to sing in a that old Baptist-like voice "And the Looooord said. (big breath here)" No. Some preachers have a singy voice, some preachers never raise their voice, some preachers read lots of scriptures to support their topic, some preachers use one or 2. There's room for all types. Somehow, along the way, we've not let that be true for our worshipers.

Just some food for thought.

Blessings