Published: September 05, 2008 08:43 pm      

Church sure is different these days

Inside Out column

If you’re a poor little lamb who has lost your way when it comes to finding a church in which to happily pasture, take heart! You’re not alone.

During the past decade, there has been a lot of “sheep-shifting” as lambs dissatisfied with their own flocks have wandered aimlessly in search of new pastures.

Many have been disillusioned to find the proverbial grass was not greener in the new fields. Wide-eyed and with brows wrinkled in dismay, visitors found other churches were also using newfangled music. No notes. Just words on a wall. Straightforward sermons had given way to mini-dramas, interpretive dance and a variety of new ways of sharing an old message.

Visit a Catholic church these days, and you may hear familiar hymns you sang as a child growing up in a Protestant flock. Visit a Protestant church, and you may not hear any hymns you know. You’ll be introduced to “7-11” songs — you sing seven different songs 11 times each.

While worship leaders are busy reinventing worship, pastors are preaching sermons attempting to define what worship is.

The whole phenomenon has made me re-examine why I go to church. A local pastor gave me some good insights this week.

Today’s desired church experience, like our society, tends to be consumer-driven, he said. We go to church looking for music WE like, sermons that move US in a particular way and a church service that fits OUR social, cultural and spiritual needs.

Church leaders today still challenge us to focus inward to develop a solid faith but encourage us to move outward in new ways to share that faith with others, the pastor said.

I left his office with some new perspectives, but still feeling nostalgic and a bit dismayed. Change is harder as we get older. I’ve been wanting to go back into the past and recapture the kind of worship I knew growing up. Instead, I’ve been challenged to move forward and embrace a new vision — one that calls for some major changes in the way I view worship, ministry and evangelism.

I wish I had answers for myself and for other sheep who don’t feel quite at home in the church today. Whether we are Protestant or Catholic, we’ve all been swept into what seems to be an ever-changing tide.

I was reminded by the Apostle Paul’s encouragement to the Philippian church to “press on.” Those first believers were challenged to accept new ways of worship, and many of them would be called upon to give their very lives for their faith.

Pressing on implies we must be focused on a goal, and we have to keep moving ahead in spite of discomfort, disillusionment and disappointment. For us wandering sheep, the challenge is to keep our eyes on the Good Shepherd as we learn to embrace new ways of leading other sheep to Him.

— E-mail: bdavis@register-herald.com