Lo-Fi Monk

Posts Tagged ‘Worship’

Open Source Worship Presentation Software

We are finally moving towards worship presentation software. This painfully slow move may have been the single most frustrating aspect of the entire church planting experience. So much goes into setting up the basic aspects of a functional, edifying worship service. Most folks go to church on Sunday, and are ushered into a corporate worship experience, and then depart without giving much thought about how much time, energy, work, and basic know-how was invested into the morning. If you truly desire to peek behind the curtain, to see just how much energy and know-how it takes to lead a congregation into the presence of God on a Sunday morning, then plant a church. You will not only have to find, recruit, and develop a technology/media savvy crew, but you will also have to learn all about the technology, software, and hardware required to develop a relevant and meaningful worship experience. You will have to learn these things, unless, of course, you sit on your laurels and wait for God to send you someone to do it for you. If that’s the case, don’t bother. You will fail.

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June 27, 2008 | Tags: , , , ,

The Unchurched Prefer Sacred Spaces Over Common Spaces

The idea of sacred space is not lost on the unchurched, it seems. Recent research by Lifeway has revealed a surprising fact about our church buildings:

People who don’t go to church may be turned off by a recent trend toward more utilitarian church buildings. By a nearly 2-to-1 ratio over any other option, unchurched Americans prefer churches that look more like a medieval cathedral than what most think of as a more contemporary church building.

The unchurched preference for medieval cathedrals over utilitarian or all-purpose church buildings should not be reduced to mere whims of architecture. The preference is rooted in unconsciously expressed theology and our deep need to worship and inhabit sacred spaces. Our contemporary multi-purpose, conference-like halls do not offer enough of a break from the world’s common spaces to facilitate the dance with the sacred we naturally look for during worship times. This research should not be ignored or hastily discarded.

April 24, 2008 | Tags: , , ,