Your Church Isn’t As Cool As My Church!

Why is it that people like to spend more time bashing a church than they do fulfilling their commands as Christians?  I’ve noticed over the past several years that if Church A is growing and Church B is stagnant then Church B will accuse Church A of doing something, for instance brain washing, to get members in their doors.  The biggest problem is that Church B is not growing because of the people who fill those pews every week.

Over the past 15 years we’ve seen many new churches pop up that provide a more contemporary worship service and while those churches seem to be growing each week the traditional churches are becoming emptier causing those members to blame the contemporary churches and their practices.  I’ve heard the old-fashioned churches accuse the contemporaries of only wanting the members money yet, they both ask for a tithe in their services and they go about it the same way.  How is this any different?  If both churches have a tithe plate passed one time in their service then what is the issue here?  I’ve been to both types of churches and here is what I have noticed:

1. Both services open with a few songs.  The contemporary churches use a band and sing a few praise songs and the traditional ones sing out of a hymn book.
2. Both ask for an offering after those songs.  The difference is that the contemporary churches may have thousands giving during their tithing and the traditional usually may have just a few hundred.
3. Both sing a song during the offering.
4. The traditional churches usually talk about some kind of church business or potluck dinner after the service and the contemporary normally goes straight into the message.
5. Traditional services have an invitation and sing “Just As I Am” while contemporary services have an invitation with maybe a light electric guitar or keyboardist playing in the background.
6. The service ends.

I really don’t see any difference in the two once you look at it other than there is a band playing and the contemporary churches don’t have hymnals.  They normally use a screen with the lyrics on there;  many traditional services are going that way too.

The last thing is that I’ve heard that these contemporary churches don’t preach out of the bible or else only preach passages.  Well I was raised Baptist and my pastors always preached out of book x, chapter x, verse x through y.  Contemporary churches do the same as a matter of fact about 60% of traditional churches that I pass have a sign up that says contemporary service at a certain time as well.

On Sunday the 24th of January 2010 Newspring Church in Anderson, SC celebrated their 10 year anniversary by filling almost every seat in the house.  Over 14,000 people were singing “How Great is Our God”, “This Is Our God”, and “Revelation Song.”  Some people say the church is too big, well you are going to hate heaven if 14,000 people is too much for you.  Newspring announced it would open its 5th campus in Charleston.  How many churches would love to do that?  Some say a man who has no seminary degree should not be preaching the word of God.  I didn’t realize Paul, John and the apostles had seminary degrees.  Didn’t they preach the gospel?  Weren’t they some of the first ones to teach about Jesus?

In conclusion, I was one of those contemporary church haters for a long, long time, but instead of continuously griping about something I had no idea of and only going by hearsay or letting others influence my decision I listened to the only voice that can lead me where I need to be and that is the voice of God.  I love contemporary services. I love pastors that don’t sugarcoat the gospel and try to make me believe that walking with Jesus will mean that my life is perfect.  I love knowing that I’m not going to be coddled and I am going to be held accountable by my church for my mistakes.  Sure there are those who attend contemporary churches that live like the devil during the week, but sing like a saint on Sundays.  Thing is though, it happens even in the traditional ones.

My church is no better than your church because we are all on the same team!  Remember that next time you want to question another ones place of worship!

Advertisement