church visit #6 Faith Presbyterian

Today August 26, I went to a church that while it is part of our Presbytery I do not know much about it. I choose this church this week for a couple of reasons but to be honest the most compelling one is that they had a 10:30am service, the early summer ones are too early for me. Despite driving past the church and needing to turn around I had given myself plenty of time so I was a little early. Upon entering the building I was greeted by one of the greeters stationed by the door and found my way into the Sanctary. My first thought was I was surprised how small and intimate the space seemed, I was expecting a larger space with the size of the church congregation. The space despite the bright recessed lights felt closed in and somewhat not welcoming with the exposed rough concrete walls and bright red carpeted chancel area. I looked for the TV cameras as it felt like more of a TV studio than a sanctury and I waited for the televangist to appear up front. I began to think about how much architecture of a space can set the mood, comfort level. There were video clips showing on the screen up front before the service started. Being a blended worship service there was not Prelude to set the tone and signal the start of the service instead one of the "praise" band singers greeted everyone, invited the congregation to sing a hymn out of an older looking non Presbyterian hymnal. There was no PCUSA hymnal to be found in pews. Then three "praise" songs were sung. They all had a taize, or slower more reflective pace to them, even though Open the eyes of my heart, I have always sung as a more upbeat, joyful song. I questioned their idea of praise music. Next was the children's message, it seemed really early in the service (wonder what this says about their view of children in worship). The woman giving the message had a pitcher of water and a cup, she first tried filling the cup with it turned upside down and asked the kids why it wasn't working. She then went on to talk about how sometimes we do not pay much attetion to God and his love rolls off us and does not fill us up like the upside down cup. This theology brothers me as I think even when we are not as focused on God he still fills us with his love, and we do not need to do anything to receive his love. Next was to be the prayer of confession ( not sure how I feel about this coming after the childrens message and the kids have left) but the pastor must have skipped over this and not realized it. He then did the prayers of the people and the Lord's prayer, think this is out of order as this such come after the proclaimtion of the word. Another Pastor got up and did the announcements thing, and then people read testimonies about Stephens ministers. A visiting missionary was introduced next and she was interviewed on the chancel " stage" which seemed odd. The preaching Pastor read the scripture which was projected on the screen and then started his sermon. His sermon started out talking about our changing culture, I was worried he was going to turn this into a moralistic sermon, telling us what was good and what was bad, but he did not. He used two tv commericals one from the 50's and one from the 90's to illustrate the change in culture. He said we " the church" need to learn to adapt to the changes in culture, not to ignore them, try to keep them out, or fight them. He said for churches to grow we need to consider those 38 years and younger. I was pleased he did not think this meant just tweaks to the programs of the church but more overriding change and examination. One stat he used struck me he said one church trend analyst said churches need to have 25% of their makeup be 38 years or younger to survive beyond the next 20 years.
So overall impressions, disturbed by the "praise music" and the children's message, liked the Sermon, but it did not feel like a Presbyterian reformed service and the evangilism tones were too much for me, so I probably would not go back.

church visit #5 White Bear Lake

Originally I titled this post the landlocked inner ring church. I was at White Bear Lake for a reunion overnight for the group that attended Triennium from our Presbytery. We helped lead the worship service with this group. My comment about being landlocked is due to the fact this church has a very small parking lot and is surrounded very closely by houses, so there seems to be little or no room to expand. This seemed odd for a suburb church. The sanctuary while it is the traditional long center aisle sanctuary, due to a renovation in recent times it does not feel as old or trapped in time as some from this era do. The congregation was smaller than I expected but it was early August when many families tend to take summer trips. Being up front and focusing on the songs we sang I had a different view than I would have gotten from the pews. The two youth from White Bear who gave the sermon, did a great job, I think all in attendance see Shane being a preacher in his future, must be in his famillies genes.

church visit #4 Valley Presbyterian

It was the workcamp echo service this week at Valley. While I have been gone from Valley quite a few years I have gone to the Echo service most years. I guess I go because it brings back fond memories of my workcamp experiences and I enjoy seeing the current youth show their enthusiam for workcamps. I still know many of these youth from Clearwater retreats, joint events Plymouth did with Valley and the annual christmas day broomball game. I also know many of the adults in the congregation from growing up here. So in some ways it feels like going home. Someday I could see myself back at Valley, but for a few reasons I don't plan to go back anytime soon. For the most part the serivce feels like a Valley service I am used to with the exception of the Well Springs band and the words on the screen which were things added after I left Valley. The one thing they added that the traditionalist in me does not like is the gender netural lanuage. The trinity for me will always be Father , Son, Holy Ghost.

Church visit #3 Peace Presbyterian

I visited Peace Presbyterian this Sunday as my friend Gary was preaching. I arrived early and was welcomed by many and then saw Gary and Chris ( who I know through Clearwater retreats). I was expecting a few people I know that were also coming to hear Gary preach. I spent quite a bit of time outside the sanctuary waiting for others and was welcomed as I waited. I went in to the sanctuary and sat in the front row as the service started. My brother eventually showed up and joined us in the front. The congregation had some young people and with the video screen seemed to be trying to attract younger familes, but the church still feels somewhat stuck in the 60's or 70's. Not sure what would change this perception. The one thing they did I liked and have not seen at other churches is use a camera at the back to show Gary and the kids on the screen during the children's message. I also liked Gary's use of the screen for visuals during his sermons. the service was traditional and nothing else really stuck out as unsual. Some might not like the songs and scripture shown on the screen but I think it is ok , seems the person changing the slides this week was still learning how and when to change them.

Church visit #2 Buffalo Presbyterian church

I visited Buffalo Presbyterian for a few reasons. One it is somewhat in my area, a little bit of a hike. I was curious based on its website (the church looks big and modern) what this church would be like. I did not know much about it. Finally the new Interim pastor Julia is part of a planning group I am in. I was not exactly sure how long it would take me to get to the church and I needed to fill my car with gas on my way out ( I gased up in Rockford, which was a better price than around Plymouth/Maple Grove). So while the church was easy to find I got there a little late, during the announcements. The greeters at the door were freindly and welcoming . The church seemed smaller than I expected and had more of a country church feel to it, that felt to be in contrast to what I expected based on the contempary architecture of the building on the outside. The sanctuary had an older small town/country feel to it. I was surprised at how grey the congergation seemed and wondered if there would be any children for the children's message ( there were, not sure where they came from). The serivce its self was ok , Julia's sermon resonated with me as she talked about wandering in the wilderness, much like I feel with out a job or church home. I wondered as I left if this church will be able to capitalize on the rapid growth of Buffalo and the movement of the suburbs in that direction. Silly as it may sound the thing I was most excited about from this visit was not the church, but finding the great Menards store in Buffalo on my way out of town. If all Menards were like that I would shop there instead of Lowes or Home depot. seemed that they took the inside lumber yard idea from Lowes and home depot, plus this store had some basic grocery's much like non Supertargets. I am not sure if grocery's would work in metro area Menards but for Buffalo I am sure the one stop shopping really works. My overall impression of Buffalo was that of a country church that might need to make some changes to grow and become younger.

Church visit #1 - Lord of Life Lutheran

I know my intent is to visit Presbyterian churches in the area. Lord of Life is less than five minutes from my home so I visited it out of convence and the fact that I know the youth leadership team there from Luther Seminary. I have been to Lord of Life a number of times, this was not my first visit, but I went this week to hear Pastor Todd, who I took a couple of youth ministry classes from at Luther preach. While I enjoy going to Lord of Life, I think size wise it is too big for me. The worship service is familiar and welcoming, think maybe it reminds me of worship in the chapel at Luther. The one thing I wonder about is building community and a sense of belonging here. They do not do passing of the peace (even during communion, which I thought was part of the LBW communion service, at Luther it was) or have a friendship pad to sign in and pass down the aisle. So you do not know who is worshiping next to you and unless someone goes out of there way to greet you ( which has never occurred in the times I have worshiped at Lord of life) you do not feel welcomed or part of the community you are worshiping with. I think it would be easy to get lost in the crowd at LOL. There must be something that brings me and others back, my sense is it is all that a large church can offer. LOL has lots of small groups and programing for every age and demographic group. I think you could find your niche this way. I do like the feel of the sanctuary. It is bright and full of light. I also have found the music to be very good, some Sat. night I want to go hear their praise music group. I have found the sermons preached to be very insightful and applicable to ones life. I do like the option of all worship times to choose from. It seems they welcome new members almost every week, although I have yet to attend a service where this occurs. Having like 5 Pastor's they tend to rotate the person leading worship each week so if you don't like someones sermons they will probably only preach once a month. Something I really like at LOL is they always end the service with a sending that is their mission statement and therefore reinforces it for the congregation. How many churches can their members recite their mission statement from memory? Communion. while I know this Sacrament is a big part of worship I have strong opinions about the way communion is done and my biggest gripe is the amount of time it takes sometimes. At LOL they do the "stations" for intinction so things move fairly well, especially for the size of the congregation. One thing Lutherans do that I found different and did not like at first is that the congregation sings songs during communion. I always thought special music was played by others and allowed the congregation to focus on when they are to go up and then be reflective when they sit back down. I think the songs with active participation help the time past faster. One thing that I know churches are dealing with in communion us allergies ( gluten) and for Lutherans the wine or grape juice debate. LOL does a nice job of offering grape juice and gluten free wafers at a separate station, so that all do not need to partake in these elements. LoL also has a Pastor who is at one side of the sanctuary during communion who is there to pray with individuals. I really liked that as well. Overall I enjoy worshiping at LOL and probably will continue to do so occasionally, but I would have a hard time joining, not just because it is not Presbyterian.

purpose of this blog

Sometimes I think I want to write only for myself to remember and look back on things, other times I want to write to share with others. A blog in being on the web leans toward sharing with others, but you can still limit who you share with somewhat by giving your blog url to select people. I think you or someone else could stumble on your blog without having been given the url, but I am not sure how much this happens. Recently I had a conversation with a peer about how youth tend not to have a sense of boundaries that most of us older folks have. We discussed how youth share things on line, often than many have access to read that many older generation would consider too personal and maybe not appropriate to share in such public forum. I wonder if the fact that this "public" is not face to face with you, or even talking to you verbally creates a disconnect from them that drops some of these sense of boundaries? In this rambling I guess I am wondering how much and what things I want to share and with whom in this blog. One thing that spurred creation of this blog is that since June I have been on a different journey. I think we in some sense are always on a journey but for me, leaving my position as youth and children's ministries director at a suburban church without a clear idea of whats next has led me on this unique journey. I know that while I think I will take a break from being paid to do youth ministry, I still want to do youth ministry as a volunteer. It had been suggested that I work on the youth ministry for our Presbytery ( local governing/connectional body for the surrounding area. One thing I decided to do in connection with this is take the freedom of not needing to worship in the same church each Sunday to explore many of the churches in our Presbytery. It is also hoped to use these visits to connect with the youth leaders of these churches. Today in one such visit I felt compelled to write down some thoughts/reflections from this visit and use a blog to do the same for future and past visits.