A friend and fellow blogging clergyman has just enjoyed a 6 week sabbatical – and in the course of this took the opportunity of free Sundays to visit a variety of other churches.
Gary Jenkins makes some interesting observations about his experiences - I have copied them, below.
Visiting a church is not like going to your own church, because the whole experience of going to your own church is as much about meeting the people of the congregation to which you belong as it is about the actual content of the service.
With that proviso here are a few reflections on the seven churches (2 inner city, one city centre, one rural, 3 suburban) I have visited in my sabbatical.
The clergy Traditional clerical attire of the cassock and surplice variety has just about disappeared from main services. In about half of the churches the minister wore a clerical collar; in the rest a shirt and tie or open necked shirt. All the preachers were male, and in all but one case so were the service leaders.
Music Traditional hymns are rare but are occasionally heard. A small band has almost completely replaced the traditional organ (which, however, was heard once). Most churches have the words of songs projected on to a screen but only one had all the words of the service, including the liturgy projected.
Visitor information was quite poor. In most cases it wasn’t clear where the toilets were, or where to take children for Sunday school activities, in only about half of the churches was there any information about refreshments afterwards. One of the church’s omitted all details of its address or location from an otherwise informative website. Leaders and preachers were only identified in the service sheets in about half of the churches.
Evangelical philistinism still reigns. In which other type of church would you find a chancel full of electronic equipment or Holy Communion celebrated on small side table, more like a flower stand, and in which other tradition could songs be chosen with such little concern for good English, good theology or good taste?
Preaching was clear and biblical, nearly always part of a biblical series. Typically sermons were of 20-25 minutes duration. Surprisingly in only one church did the preacher make use of the AV facilities for the sermon, and then only in the most basic way.
Spiritual life There was real spiritual life and vitality in every church and it was great to be able to worship with God’s people.
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