Shawna Atteberry

The Sunday I attended Willow Creek Chicago Church was the three-ring circus I was expecting and then some. There were good points. The music was good, and they had a string section in addition to the usual praise guitars, drums, and keyboards (I love strings). They also had a small choir plus praise team. There was both drama and dancing. The pastor is a good speaker, and the sermon had interactive aspects. But everything was very “I” and “me” oriented with a “what can God do for me” mentality. There was also the jump from salvation to heaven. We’re saved to go to heaven. There was nothing about building God’s kingdom and being Christ’s ambassadors here on earth. There was a huge emphasis in the sermon that we are made in the image of God, but there was nothing about imaging God to our world. We’re saved to have a private, personal walk with Jesus until we go to heaven. There were also no ties with the church-at-large or the historical church. There was no communion, which didn’t surprise me. There was nothing said at the end of the service about going out to be God’s image in our communities and doing kingdom work.

The Willow Creek service tended to be on the schizoid side. We sang. Then there was the welcome and greeting each other. The sermon was next. The first time I thought the sermon was over was when the drama started. But the sermon continued after that. Then there was a song, and the sermon continued after that and then finally finished. Then more songs. The service was set to get people emotional and elicit an emotional response (one of the final songs was “I Could Only Imagine”–again no hint of “Where Cross the Crowded Ways of Life” or a more up-to-date song of that vein–only heaven). It was also very personal and very private: Jesus saves me. Jesus loves me. There wasn’t any intentional corporate communal worship outside of shaking hands with a few people. EVERY song revolved around the words “I” and “me.” There was no “we.” There was no corporate sense that we are God’s people here to do God’s will and build God’s kingdom.

The Sunday I attended was their one year anniversary, so they had a slide show. 95% of their volunteers are for the Sunday morning service. Most of the church’s resources are spent on that one service. There is some community ministry, but considering the church runs 1,200-1,500, it doesn’t seem like a lot. They do have small groups and are starting neighborhood groups that would meet once a month. But again this is around 5% of the volunteers, which is what percentage of the church? And how many people actually attend the small groups? That number was not included in the slide show. Are they getting the substance and grounding they need in the groups? Because they are not getting it Sunday, or that Sunday anyway.

I definitely like William Law’s order of worship better. As I said in my previous post in this series, there are many modes of worship: singing, reading, listening, communal, and sacramental. At Willow Creek the major two modes of worship were singing and preaching with a nod to the communal through a short greeting and offering. Outside of the singing, the congregation sat passively through most of the service except for the few interactive parts of the sermon. And it was a long service due to the anniversary stuff: 1 hour and 45 minutes.

I would like most of my church’s resources to be going out and most of “church” to take place outside the walls of the church. I want most of my volunteers to be out and about making a difference in the world. This is not going to be too big of a problem, since the church I’m planting will start in my living room (I’m planning on starting January 6). And I’m wondering if that’s a good way to start? No upkeep or maintenance expense; we can focus on what we can do in this neighborhood, in this community. How can we be the body of Christ in the South Loop incarnationally while we don’t have a building or formal place to meet? I like those questions. I think I’m going to be doing church very differently from the traditional model. And I’m okay with that, or I’m getting okay with it. If nothing else going to different churches and services helps me solidify my philosophy of ministry and worship. And I think that is a good thing.

Related posts:
W Is for Worship
A Via Media for Worship

William Law, an Anglican priest in the 1700s, came up with a worship order that make sense to me. Not only that, but it allows the pastor to have a considerable amount of freedom in putting a service together. As I said in yesterday’s post, elements of the three main worship styles (traditional, contemporary, and liturgical) can be incorporated into the service. The worship service has four movements: Preparing to hear God, Hearing God, Responding to God, and Being sent out to do God’s work.

First we prepare ourselves to meet and hear God. This is done through music, and both traditional hymns and contemporary songs can be used. Reading Scriptures, responsive readings, readers’ theater, communal prayer, and drama can also be incorporated here. Through singing, reading, and hearing, we prepare ourselves to hear God’s word. The next movement is the sermon. After the sermon, we respond to what we heard and God’s grace through passing the peace, the offering, and communion. Responsive readings, communal prayers, and drama can also be added here. We are then sent out to be God’s ambassadors to the world. There are many modes of worship in this service: singing, reading, listening, communal, and sacramental. It doesn’t revolve around only two forms of worship–singing and the sermon–the way traditional and contemporary services normally are. It also does not have to be as formal as liturgical services can be. The Scriptures for the week can be the lectionary passages or passages the pastor chooses. There is a lot of flexibility in this approach to worship.

Now that you know my preferences for worship, the next posts will be on my experiences with churches I have already attended here.

The picture is “The Supper at Emmaus” by He Qi. You can see more of his work at his gallery.

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W Is for Worship

I have began visiting churches in the South Loop where I live. I have been processing their services theologically by writing about them. I have decided that I am going to post what I find. But I thought that the first post should be a general overview of worship styles in the United States. There are three main worship styles: traditional, contemporary, and liturgical.

I grew up in the traditional evangelical worship service. This includes singing traditional Protestant hymns accompanied by a piano, organ, and if the church is large enough a choir. Normally four or five songs are sung, the pastoral prayer is given, the offering taken up, and the sermon preached. There might also be an altar call after the sermon. Communion was served once a quarter, so it didn’t become an “empty ritual.” But there are many traditional congregations that practice communion monthly. The service is done from scratch Sunday to Sunday with the pastor (and staff if the church is large enough) picking out the songs, picking Scripture to preach from, and prayers.

The contemporay worship service has comtemporary choruses and sometimes songs (they’ll even throw in a hymn once in a blue moon). They have the praise band and team leading the singing part of worship. These services will also incorporate dance and drama. The sermon is usually about a felt need and there is a lot of PowerPoint presentations. The sermon also tends to be interactive because outside of singing the congregation tends to be sitting and observing for a lot of the service. Of course offering is taken up, and like traditional churches, communion is observed monthly or quarterly. As with the traditional service, the contemporary service is created from week to week.

Liturgical services have a set order every week written by the denomination or church. Normally there is a book of worship with prayers, Scripture readings, and responsive readings for that Sunday (the Catholic Missal or the Anglican Book of Common Prayer are examples). This service also uses the lectionary, which contains four readings for each Sunday: Psalm, Old Testament, Epistle, and Gospel. All four readings are read during the service, and the priest or pastor preaches on one or more of the readings for that Sunday. There are a lot of different forms of active worship in liturgical services for the congregation: reponses to the priest or pastor, singing, prayers, responsive readings, praying the Lord’s Prayer, and reading one of the Creeds. This kind of service also does not revolve around the sermon as do the former two services. Everything in this service leads up to Communion, which is celebrated every week.

These are the three main styles of worship. Of course, many churches use a combination of two or all three. My favorite order of worship can incorporate elements of these three worship services. That will be the subject of my next post.

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