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Scott
ecucm@yahoo.com
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| Posted: |
10/1/2006 6:29:16 AM |
Number of Reads: |
130260 |
| Last Reply: |
1/24/2007 9:25:38 AM |
Number of Replies: |
3 |
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I have been pastoring for 12 years now in the UMC.
The top four reasons people go to a church, based on my experience, are
- it's "their" church (I was born a Methodist, I will die a Methodist.)
- the church has programming for the kids
- they really like the preacher and the sermons
- the music
Dean underestimates the power of music and the importance people place on music in his most recent article.
There are other factors in why people "attend" church... but these are the four biggies!
I have known many churches which attempted to have contemporary worship... many of them have failed. Why?
The paid staff wasn't really into and was able to sabotage the experience. Sometimes the paid staff doesn't even support the contemporary service but leaves it up to volunteers and thus dooms is to failure... unless the volunteers are really good!!!
The musicians were not providing quality music... some people will tolerate a lot, but many people won't tolerate music that is done poorly. Teams of musicians in churches are often volunteers and amateurs... and it reflects.
Sometimes people try to stay involved in the "traditional" service but also support the "contemporary" service and eventually they find they just don't have the time to do both... if the contemporary service is "limping along", it will be the first thing to go!
Senior pastors agree to "do contemporary worship" because some laity want it, but the senior pastor's heart really isn't into it... and it shows.
People are scared to death their church will split if more than one service is offered... or people are scared to death that certain types of people will come to the church if certain types of worship are offered....
Evangelicals and charismatics come to contemporary services and bring strange practices like clapping, hand-raising, and even talk about Jesus! (yikes!)
That's just my 2-cents worth. For what it's worth.
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