Learn, learn, learn

There are lots of churches out there. Big, small, traditional, contemporary and somewhere in between. There are churches with stained glass and some with no glass at all. Gail and I were at a church in October that has more people than they have parking and run parking shuttles to move many of their thousands of folks from an off-site parking lot to their church building.

I was in a church once where the ceremonially robed minister did not touch a Bible, instead another ceremonially robed minister held a giant, and I mean giant Bible for the main-man to read. Some churches dance while some never do. Some churches have electric guitars and drums while others have no musical instruments at all.

It is this diversity that enables, or should enable the body of Christ to reach and serve the diverse population of God's prized creation within the communities we live.

For the last several Sundays Gail and I, along with some friends have visited a few of those diverse churches to learn. Not to learn about stained glass, robes or what kind of instruments to use but to learn how to do church in a school.

Here are some highlights of what we've learned or confirmed:

• God is working in churches that meet in schools
• Good use of technology can draw people into the service
  
• Bad use of that very same technology can be a terrible distraction
• Loud music can be cool
• Overly-loud music can be just plain painful
  
• Seating matters
• Don't confuse visitors
  
• Energy and passion from the church team; greeters, ushers etc... is critical
• Joy from those same people is also critical
• Joy flows from within the individual
  
• Consistent energy and passion however flow from leadership and it fades as it travels
• The leader with low energy and passion will have followers with even less
• People are inspired to serve God when they understand the value of what they are doing
• To pull off volunteer-driven church in a school, or anywhere, vision must be communicated clearly and often
• God has put some AMAZING people at Rock Bridge!
• Be open minded because some things that I've never thought of or think are ridiculous or even stupid... are working for God in other churches!
  
• Learn, learn, learn!
  

I expect to do a few more visits over the coming weeks to keep learning, but what I'm REALLY excited about is getting started here at home. Can't wait!