ooooOOooOOoo. I really liked this assignment!
In theology a couple weeks ago, Jeff Roth was teaching on the Church. Ecclesiology, the study of the Church. I've done some research in the past about this word. What it means, what the purpose of the Church is and what methods are to be implemented for a Church to come together the way God intended it to. The assignment was to visit a Church that is a different denomination or has different worship styles than what we are used to at Salem Alliance. There was a questionnaire given as followup with our visitation. I was really excited when this assignment was given because I love to learn by viewing other people's perspectives.
I went to Life Church, which is a non-denominational Church. I decided to go there because I heard it was more Charismatic than what I would be used to. I have attended a few services that would fit in this category before, but I wanted to go to this kind of church with the questions that I have now. I have learned a lot more about the book of Acts and the way the Spirit moved at Pentecost. So to attend a Church that was more focused on the movement and filling of the Spirit excited me.
The observations that I made were not very surprising to me. It was a lot less emotional than I expected, although still very passionate and moving service. There were people jumping up and down. There were flags being waved. There was a man praying for healing over another man. There was laymen addressing the congregation with what they believed God had put on their heart to share with everyone else.
These methods of worship in the past would bring mixed emotions the same way they did this time while attending this type of Church. But the emotions were slightly different. In the past, I would want to jump up and down. I would feel the emotion of happiness rise up in me, and there would be such a strong feeling to scream out how happy I was. Even though I do believe this could have been or was the Holy Spirit moving inside of me, the awareness I have now of myself, I question if that feeling was the Holy Spirit moving inside of me. I am an extravert, so being around people gives me energy. I also feed off of the emotions and energy of those around me. So I could be at a concert, or in a large sports arena filled with people cheering for their favorite sports team, and the same emotion would rise up in me. This is why I wonder if the feeling rising up in me during these typer of worship services are actually the Holy Spirit moving inside me, or my own emotions. They could be both, and that would be great!
Therefore, the way I felt during this service was great. I loved seeing people worship freely. I loved that there was a sense of unity within the congregation and the pastors. Through use of all the physical senses, people were experiencing and worshiping God. There was not very many practices taking place that I thought could be placed against scripture and it not be valid.
I liked this assignment because it reminds me of the different ways we were all created. Although many questions still arose during my time at Life Church, it was a great time to branch out and be reminded of the many methods there are to running a church and to approach God. The freedom that we have because of Christ and His gift of the Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to commune with God. I hope that others will also see that just because one church has different methods of congregating together for worship, does not make it better or worse than the others.
In theology a couple weeks ago, Jeff Roth was teaching on the Church. Ecclesiology, the study of the Church. I've done some research in the past about this word. What it means, what the purpose of the Church is and what methods are to be implemented for a Church to come together the way God intended it to. The assignment was to visit a Church that is a different denomination or has different worship styles than what we are used to at Salem Alliance. There was a questionnaire given as followup with our visitation. I was really excited when this assignment was given because I love to learn by viewing other people's perspectives.
I went to Life Church, which is a non-denominational Church. I decided to go there because I heard it was more Charismatic than what I would be used to. I have attended a few services that would fit in this category before, but I wanted to go to this kind of church with the questions that I have now. I have learned a lot more about the book of Acts and the way the Spirit moved at Pentecost. So to attend a Church that was more focused on the movement and filling of the Spirit excited me.
The observations that I made were not very surprising to me. It was a lot less emotional than I expected, although still very passionate and moving service. There were people jumping up and down. There were flags being waved. There was a man praying for healing over another man. There was laymen addressing the congregation with what they believed God had put on their heart to share with everyone else.
These methods of worship in the past would bring mixed emotions the same way they did this time while attending this type of Church. But the emotions were slightly different. In the past, I would want to jump up and down. I would feel the emotion of happiness rise up in me, and there would be such a strong feeling to scream out how happy I was. Even though I do believe this could have been or was the Holy Spirit moving inside of me, the awareness I have now of myself, I question if that feeling was the Holy Spirit moving inside of me. I am an extravert, so being around people gives me energy. I also feed off of the emotions and energy of those around me. So I could be at a concert, or in a large sports arena filled with people cheering for their favorite sports team, and the same emotion would rise up in me. This is why I wonder if the feeling rising up in me during these typer of worship services are actually the Holy Spirit moving inside me, or my own emotions. They could be both, and that would be great!
Therefore, the way I felt during this service was great. I loved seeing people worship freely. I loved that there was a sense of unity within the congregation and the pastors. Through use of all the physical senses, people were experiencing and worshiping God. There was not very many practices taking place that I thought could be placed against scripture and it not be valid.
I liked this assignment because it reminds me of the different ways we were all created. Although many questions still arose during my time at Life Church, it was a great time to branch out and be reminded of the many methods there are to running a church and to approach God. The freedom that we have because of Christ and His gift of the Holy Spirit makes it possible for us to commune with God. I hope that others will also see that just because one church has different methods of congregating together for worship, does not make it better or worse than the others.
Great insight! I am glad to know there are different forms of worship and although I am comfortable with the style of our worship, understand that it is not the only way.
ReplyDelete"There was laymen addressing the congregation with what they believed God had put on their heart to share with everyone else." That was a really good phrase! The way you state what occurred provides interesting insight into what was happening and how others might see the event as almost offensive. I was glad we got to go together and it's super interesting hearing your perspective and reflections!
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