The one thing that is a bummer when a church has a lot of people in its worship gatherings is not being able to meet new people as easily (that is why for us Community Groups and other mid-week gatherings are so critically important). But it is refreshing to hear someone's outside perspective who joined us in worship and seems to really understand why we are doing what we are doing - without even talking with the person.
This is a blog post with a view of what it was like visiting Vintage Faith Church (click on the previous words to get to the post) on the Sunday we announced we are merging with the Presbyterian church. What we did was in talking about the mission we are on together and being "one" in Jesus, as we took communion we had people come to 3 different art stations where everyone in all three worship gatherings (the 9 AM is the Presbyterian/Traditional one) and they had their profiles traced and captured on art pieces. It was symbolic of representing that although there are 3 worship gatherings we are all "one" and even two churches are "one" as we explained what was happening. The art pieces are hanging in the coffeehouse for the next couple of weeks. But it a way of representing as we took communion, the oneness we are in Jesus through what He did on the cross and what we now embark on as a mission as "one".
If you read his post, (I could not find the first name of who wrote the post or I would be using it, sorry!) you will see it mentions it is crowded. We just started a temporary video overflow in the coffeehouse, but we will be starting a second worship gathering in the evening, which means 4 gatherings on a Sunday when that happens. But we are waiting until we remodel in the interior of the sanctuary. When we were renting space at Santa Cruz Bible Church, we could arrange the room in totally different ways since the chairs were movable. In this photo that is on the other blog, you can see that we put black curtains up to divide the stage area and make that a prayer space. So people go back into that area when we do these things. On the post, he also links to when he visited us while in the other meeting space which was very interesting to read (for me at least). But in this sanctuary, it is all rows of pews which really locks us into not having too much flexibility. But one day.... worship is more than just the seating. Worship is more than just the seating. Worship is more than just the seating.......
I have been asked why I don't post blog entries more often, and I am just so incredibly crunched right now with just getting back from a wonderful conference in Dallas LeadNow/Fusion which I will have to write about - and then immediately went off to Monterey on a church staff retreat for 2 days and now am prepping for this Sunday's sermon on "Don't be in the Bubble - Be in the World" and also working on the Appendix for the forthcoming They Like Jesus but not the Church DVD small group curriculum, and an article called "I See Mean Christians" for Relevant Magazine, and also I am very late on my assignments for the Doctor of Ministry which were due Monday and today is Wednesday. So I am more of an infrequent blogger. I don't know how people have the time to blog daily, but I'm glad some do, as some people sure have great daily blogs - but I am not one of them. More of a weekly blogger or hopefully twice a week, I guess on average.
Back to my prep, but I just read this post and for those that ask what a Vintage Faith Church worship gathering is like, here is a good description from someone I believe is a kindred in heart and mission and understood what we are doing without even having to explain it.
