Emergent Worship

As I continue to work when I shouldn't be I'm re-reading Dan Kimball's Emerging Worship: Creative Worsihp Gatherings for New Generations and his The Emerging Church: Vintage Christianity for NEW GENERATIONS.

We are considering adding a third service on Sunday mornings at TPUMC and I am going to be part of the consideration process as we look at what to do. I've started new services twice before in my career (as well as having been a part of several focus groups and having folks visit the services that I was leading and answering their questions about the process) and have found the process to be energizing, terrifying, and labor intensive.

We currently offer a 'liturgical service' and a 'contemporary service' that are just that in their structure. We are not at the typical 80% rule for starting a new service but I think one can make a legitimate case for starting a new service for reasons other than one is out of room. (For example, our sanctuary is beautiful and seats 1000 people, so, in order for us to follow that rule, we would need to have an average weekly attendance for our two services would need to be 1600 people. That's a bit of a challenge for a church that has an 'active' membership of 450 or so and a total membership of 1000.)

I think one can make a case to expend resources on a new service in order to meet other needs of the congregation and for evangelistic purposes.

As far as my recomendations go, I am strongly considering pushing us in an emerging worship direction. (Which is somewhat amusing to me because part of the churches worship evolution included a period of blended worship and I know I'm going to have to very clearly articulate that this is a blended style but that the service will be blended in a very different way.)

Of the many things that attract me to the concept of the emerging church, perhaps the two most interesting pieces for me are (of course) the blending of ancient and modern practices as well as the insistence that there is no one model that a local church should copy. My minsitry setting is fairly unique and is, I believe, in need of a unique vision that is rooted in the Gospel.

I'm looking forward to getting into the discussion again!