Church in the Village

Yesterday I wandered into Psychovillage (more details in April 2, 2008 post) and decided to check out a service at Fifth Megachurch Wannabe. I recently heard rumblings that they had revamped their "worship time," and I was interested to see these changes for myself.

Last time I dropped in, the service started with a single song, followed by the pastor welcoming everyone, "especially our visitors," and then an endless droning of announcements. Next came two fast songs. Since we had all been "invited" to stand for these songs, it was easy to slide right into the superficial and, for any visitors, excruciatingly uncomfortable "meet and greet time." We were then allowed to sit so we could sing two slow songs in preparation for the message.

The new format, as I observed yesterday, involves singing two fast songs and two slow songs all in a row with no breaks. Perhaps the intent was to allow a more connected span of time so that people can have the chance to actually focus on God and maybe even to hear from Him.

More likely it was an attempt to move in a more "relevant" or "slick-worship" direction. Or maybe the plan was to shave some length off the service's time-span.

Personally, I think it would have been much more effective if the worship leader had not, in his best imitation Casey Kasem voice, opened the service with the unfortunate words, "Please stand up and join us in our new, uninterrupted four-play."