I am mulling over a statement that was made to me several times yesterday, first at the Baptism Service in the morning, and then again at a World Church Service in the evening. That statement was simply this; "if church was always like this I'd come more often..."
So what was different?
Well, first and probably the most noticeable thing is that we have installed a projection system and a good quality screen, and we are using it. The words for the whole service including the hymns are projected onto the screen, mostly using some excellent resources from The Family Friendly Churches Trust. Along with this we had for the morning service put together a visual meditation to be accompanied by music, because these things take time to do Tim put this together while I worked on the rest of the service. People spoke of being very moved by it.
Secondly I think that I am fairly relaxed, to me worship is a natural and not a formal thing ( although there is a place for formality it should still be natural... I hope that makes sense). During the service children were allowed to move around and play with toys. We have made a note to loose some of the noisier toys and to replace them with quieter ones!!!
Thirdly we used a mix of extempore and liturgical styles, with a number of folk taking part. The hymns were also a mix of old and new, but none of this is particularly ground breaking, and I would like to become more adventurous, with a monthly cafe service and other more creative ideas...
Likewise in the evening, we used the screen and the worship was a mixture, we also heard testimonies from two folk who are involved in mission projects in Africa. Here the prayer was interactive and I invited folk to move about, to engage with pictures and new articles spread around the room, there was also a chance to write a prayer and stick it onto a map...
The comment from one man; "I'm glad I came, I thought it would be much more formal, but I enjoyed this..."
BUT it was not different. I want to say to folk that church IS LIKE THIS... so come, you'd be more than welcome.... and yes we DO serve coffee in mugs with biscuits every week!
The front of the Church at Sherburn, we are going to remove the communion rails when they are not in use!
