worshiping for the 99 or searching for the 1

I’ve had a perpetual conversation between friends in regards to worship. It has been said that our church is ahead of the curve. Some have said they are so thankful to be a part of this church’s worship. Some have said that it is deeply life-giving for them, especially considering their recent church history. But when I think about it, I still feel it  lacking.

Being the {nontraditional} worship leader, I have tried to imagine what it is that is missing for the worship for us. Why is it not engaging for me, while it’s extremely engaging for many others. Which has led to the question of what is the purpose of worship, what kind of effect should it be having upon us. What exactly is it that we are doing, gathering each week; singing songs, drinking coffee, listening to someone talk. As a church we’ve talked about our gatherings intentionally being both emotionally engaging and intellectually stimulating. This mostly plays out as the sermon being the intellectual stimulation and the music being the emotional engagement. This seems to be a poor division for many reasons. It limits the possibility for all the aspects of the gathering. It also doesn’t reflect well how differently people learn, grow, and interact with other people and god.

This then leads to the question of how to actually do it. How to transform our worship to be holistic, where it isn’t separated between elements of experience but rather leads to an immersive experience involving the complete person. I think part of the solution is creating a more balanced service, i.e., music & sermon taking a lesser focus or rather more integrative of the whole. Another aspect is drawing the spectators away from inactivity into an engaged participant role.

One of the questions or rebuttals I have got is that people are getting something out of the worship gatherings as they are now, so who are we to change something that is working for someone else. Who are we to question or change one’s experience of the divine. Essentially this is the ‘if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.’

I’ve struggled with how best to answer this before, but I think Jesus might have an answer for this. We find in the gospels (Matt. 18 & Luke 15) the parable of the lost sheep. This is the story of the good shepherd leaving the 99 to go after the 1. In this parable Jesus is highlighting the fact that Jesus’ message isn’t focused on those who think they are already in, but rather it is for those who are on the outside, excluded, left out, discarded.

I think what I’m in search of is a worship gathering that connects with the 1 rather than the 99. There are 99 places {or maybe more} around town where you can experience a worship service similar to what we’re doing, the same songs, sermons, coffee & donuts, meeting in stores fronts, but Vintage started because the expression that we needed couldn’t be housed anywhere else. So Vintage started to open the possibility for something that couldn’t be done somewhere else. So while our theology and the mission of our church might be different than many churches, I don’t think our worship gatherings reflect that difference {at least as well as it could}.

This is something Robb and I have worked on for the last year. We have made many changes, adding or taking away many different elements of the gatherings. But it seems the next step on that journey is on the horizon. When Robb started Vintage, he knew it wouldn’t be the biggest but he knew he could make it the most authentic. I think it is time to take that message and apply to our worship gatherings; to make a gathering that is authentic to the fabric of who we are. And while we might feel like we partly there, we haven’t fully arrived.

The quest is to transform our gatherings into a  form that is engaging, holistic, and especially authentic to the vision and voice of Vintage.

In the coming weeks we will be experimenting with our form of worship, we will trying different ways of engaging with the message that Paul described in the book of Romans. During this time, please be open to the different forms. This is us experimenting, searching for deeper richer ways to express the gospel and open new ways for us to respond. The purpose is never to be cool or simply exciting. It isn’t about a flash in the pan, but always about creating space for us all to have a transformative experience because of an encounter with the living God. I would love to get honest feedback about what works or especially what doesn’t work for you.