Instead of plugging people onto church, let’s plug the church into the people.
Does that make any sense?!?!
Interactive Service
October 14, 2008 By Leave a Comment
So I’ve been searching for ways to get the Millennials (Gen Y) more engaged during Sunday Services. The struggle here for me is two fold. One, does making a service “more engaging” take away from the preaching of God’s Word? Two, there are a gazzilion ways to make it “more engaging” so do we just keep trying some until one works?
Here are some interactive service ideas (some good, some awful):
- allow people to text message in questions – some have done this fairly successfully, but can it work with the Millennials without destroying their attention span?
- use text messaging to see where people are on the confusion scale – they can text in ’1′ for not confused and ’2′ for confused and you can graph the responses to see it real-time during service
- leave time for a Q&A session after the message – I’m doing this now and people are actually asking questions, and very good questions at that. Of course this could put the Pastor in an interesting position, but a good answer will always be “I don’t know and I will find out for you.”
- break the usual environment; the movie theater format – this may not be possible logistically for some, but I’m currently sitting in a circle rather than the stage/audience format. Think outside the box and create something for your environment
Anyone have any more ideas or thoughts?
Something Different
September 20, 2008 By Leave a Comment
So I’ve been bothered lately by the thought that the way we are doing church isn’t much different than going to a movie in terms of physical engagement. So many kids go through Sunday after Sunday like a spectator so I’m trying something different. What about a circle? I’ll give the message from the middle of the circle while the students can sit in a more engaging physical setting. Physically sitting in a circle makes you natually feel more like a group. They can see each other, they can see my backside, they can keep each other accountable from falling asleep. Well, we’ll see what happens Sunday.
Anybody try something like this? How did it go?
Rethink
September 12, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Is what you do at church what church is supposed to be? If you had to change something about church what would it be? What would be your own expression of worship? Doesn’t it feel like you’re going to watch a movie when you go to church?
Step Up
August 13, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Here’s a great quote from Mark Batterson’s blog evotional.com:
“What is most lacking in the church of Jesus Christ is not education or resources. Keep learning, but we are educated way beyond the level of our obedience. And keep giving, but we do not lack the resources to alleviate poverty or fight injustice or spread the gospel. We are the most resourced church in the most resourced country the world has ever known. You what is most lacking? Good old-fashioned guts.”
Man, this rang so true! We’ve got more in our heads than our hearts! There are so many books to challenge our thinking, but what are we doing to challenge our hearts? Are you letting God perturb your heart? Are you more concerned about how much you know and regurgitating it or is your heart being filled with Godly compassion and boldness? I love new books and new thoughts, but it’s hard to ignore the truth that is spoken in the Bible.