Church - too cool?

[graciesings]

Just out of curiosity, does a Protestant service have more parts that reflect the values of the individual church? Obviously each denomination will have its own guidelines, but it seems like these "cool" churches are mostly non-denominational, so I guess I'm asking about non-denominational churches. I was raised Catholic and the only part of the Catholic mass that is really left to the parish's discretion is the Homily, which was sometimes only 5 minutes long at my parish. Occasionally, there would be an appeal after mass, but there were only a couple of times in my entire life when it had to do with anything but asking for money or talking about a mission trip.

I guess I'm just not familiar with the concept of people shopping around for a church because of things that are said during the service.

The farther you get from the Catholic Church, the more the pastor's opinions matter.

My family goes to a Lutheran church, which is Catholic except that they don't accept transubstantiation. The Pastor gives a 15-20 minute sermon that he writes off of the daily reading, so his opinions show through there. That is usually all. In a Methodist church (a little more Protestant but still liturgical) there might be a 20 or 30 minute sermon. In a Baptist, Presbyterian, or non-denominational church there is no liturgy and the pastor might do a 45-90 minute sermon, so the preacher's beliefs make a big difference! Some Charismatic churches (Assemblies of God, Pentecostal) can have sermons in the 45 min to 2 hour range, so the preachers beliefs are WAY important.

Also... the farther a church is from traditional Catholic beliefs, the less defined their theology is. Lutherans and Anglicans have catechism after catechism after confession after apology after theological statement... you get the picture. Baptist, non-denominational, and charismatic churches usually don't have any catechisms or recommended theological reading. The church's theology = the pastor's theology.

 

[EazyMack]

Good thing I know how to read the Bible.

 

[Mankin]

I agree, it can happen in any type of church. However, non-denominational (in my experience) is the worst offender - their statements of faith often have no explanation or incorrectly uses Scriptures. At least in most denominations there is some history , tradition, & reasoning for beliefs.

I look at it in a different way. They are focusing on the central messages and allowing people come to their own conclusions regarding the other issues. It makes for a welcoming church and less of a tribal church which checks to see if you have all the right markers to join the tribe.

That being said, a lot of "cool" churches have some severe problems, but no more than traditional churches.

 

[DreadWarrior]

Some churches focus too much on being "cool", and not on teaching the Bible. That is a problem. Other churches in the name of trying to avoid that, have no appeal to the outside world and they tend to be rigid pharisee churches. I believe that a church needs to be current with the culture, but most importantly it needs to be teaching and following what Scripture has to say. As Mark Driscoll said in a recent sermon "You can have a church that people love, and God hates".

 

[HalupkiMonster]

I go to a Church where theology and Church traditions are regarded as extremely crucial to our path to Christ. I have also been fortunate enough to meet friends to whom tradition and theological stances are very crucial not only to how they worship, but how they live their lives. I guess you could say I'm a Church nerd and am happy to find others like me.

There will always be those in the Church for whom theology and history is very important. There are also those for whom these things are unimportant.

Having worked with many different people on the topic of faith, I can report that it's simply reality that some have less intellectual capacity than others. The Church needs to develop a sort of marketing technique geared towards these people to whom outward appearances is a very deciding factor in their Church search.

 

[Sketcher]

Is Your Church Too Cool?

I don't know the specific story of the CP kid that she's referring to, but there's a kid with CP in my extended family. If he ever gets to the point where he would need to be escorted out of a church service, I guarantee you that he would not be paying attention to the service. I really think that's a bad example that she used.

What's So Uncool About Cool Churches?

This article was the better of the two of them, and it had some points - but remember this is coming from an Episcopalian. That denomination has been one of the more rapidly shrinking denominations. So while I am not dismissing everything, I'm wondering about what his frame of reference really is.

I fall in the 25-35 age demographic & I share these posts here because I have a genuine concern for the future of the church regarding how young adults are handled.

It seems visually that here where I live, young adults are adopting non-denominational "too cool" churches & or only attend mainline denominations that are trying to be cool. A conversation I had recently revealed the potential damage - because a young woman like myself didn't know the differences in churches. Because cool seems to equal dumb Christians & that is bad news for faith in the future.

There's a point when it becomes too much, yes. Content is the key for me, though. As far as style is concerned, it shouldn't be so over-the-top, or on the other end, so terribly done (as in, "Please make it stop!") that it distracts me from the Lord. Music, light, all of that should point me to the Lord.

We need to embrace & engage healthy theology & not abandon Christian traditions & history. My icon just says Christian, but I hold to Wesleyan theology - I am just in between churches. I am seeking a UMC & will change my icon once I formally join a church.

What are your thoughts?

Scripture should be preserved, history should be remembered, traditions should be periodically re-examined. I'm fine with traditions, so long as they still serve their purpose. If there's a better way to achieve the same goal as a certain tradition, then we should use the better way.

 

[Unix]

That' great! :

wears long dresses, has a lot of energy,

 

[Mankin]

There will always be those in the Church for whom theology and history is very important. There are also those for whom these things are unimportant.

Having worked with many different people on the topic of faith, I can report that it's simply reality that some have less intellectual capacity than others. The Church needs to develop a sort of marketing technique geared towards these people to whom outward appearances is a very deciding factor in their Church search.

I would consider myself an intellectual since I enjoy deeper conservation about history. However, I also dislike denominations that tell me how I should think. I prefer environments where people are free to discuss different topics without someone coming down hard on you for not following the party line.

I'm not saying the Eastern Orthodox church does this. I just find that more traditional churches tend to cultivate rather homogenous environments as far as ideas are concerned.

 

[Unix]

I'm not trying too hard to sit only with or build relationships only with those who are like-minded or have the same interest, but I do want the people I spend time with, IRL or on the internet, to have an initial interest so that they will at least listen to what I may say:

There will always be those in the Church for whom theology and history is very important. There are also those for whom these things are unimportant.

In fact, I really enjoy diversity to some degree. Right now I'm discussing with a young Christian girl who lives at some distance in a different city. She told me right away that I'm too old but we started discussing anyway. It's really interesting and fascinating how someone her age can inspire me so much to think more about things I haven't been thinking about that much. I would love to be in some kind of relationship with a girl like her, but without sex, just because discussions are really important to me. I chose to talk to her in the first place because she enjoys discussing life and going for a walk. We have barely discussed theology as a topic. But it's important to both be Christians.

 

[HalupkiMonster]

I would consider myself an intellectual since I enjoy deeper conservation about history. However, I also dislike denominations that tell me how I should think. I prefer environments where people are free to discuss different topics without someone coming down hard on you for not following the party line.

I'm not saying the Eastern Orthodox church does this. I just find that more traditional churches tend to cultivate rather homogenous environments as far as ideas are concerned.

In my experience in my Church, and in the RCC, these "apostolic" Churches do not force their beliefs on followers, however they do have reasons for believing what they believe, and try to explain them. Certainly people may have their own opinions, but on matters like Eucharistic theology and such, one may question, but these are the foundation of our faith so the questioning and inquiry should hopefully lead to a better understanding of the Church's teaching. Even so, those who are still learning are welcomed.

I've found in Protestant circies at school that I've stumbled upon, it's usually "bash the evil catholics" time. Once, when I described by Church to them, they couldn't stop telling me how wrong I was. This obviously doesn't represent all of Protestantism, however I've only ever seen the enforced homogenity in this setting.

I will say, however, that there are reasons we encourage homogenous thinking and such, at least theologically, within the Eastern Orthodox Church. We upold the Ecumenical Councils and the canons of Church teaching, along with the Gospels, as being pretty darn important. These make us Orthodox. If someone doesn't uphold these, it doesn't really make sense (in my mind) as to why they would want to be in the EOC.