Zeal For Truth

The Why
As covered last week, some in the Emerging Church have looked back to Church history to form worship styles differing from American Evangelicalism. Others have chosen to experiment with new practices instead (although it’s important to note that these two impulses aren’t mutually exclusive).

The motivation for experimenting with worship practices comes from the ideas that everything good can be a means with which to worship God (a complete rejection of the regulative principle), and that the means of worship should reflect the talents and interests of the church community. Bob Hyatt, the leader of an Emerging church plant in Portland, Oregon, when faced the question of what his new church would be like, said, “I have no earthly idea.” Hyatt expounds on this:

If a bunch of cloggers … showed up, we’d be the clogging church. If a bunch of skate punks showed up, we’d be the skate church. I wasn’t out to niche target-market our community, and so felt great freedom to just sit back and watch what happened. I still feel that freedom…

The What
Dance, drama, and painting, are some of the more common “experimental” practices found in Emerging churches (as well as other types of churches). A more unique idea is that of stations, which are small areas setup for people to go to during the service. There they can do various things, such as pray, journal, meditate, or an artistic activity. This shows an interesting combination of the experimental and historical impulses.

Perhaps some of the most important innovations have come in regard to the act of preaching. Some use relative minor changes such as preaching from the middle of the congregation, or perhaps sitting down so as to be on the same level as everyone else.

Others are making bigger changes, having grown dissatisfied with how preaching is done. They allege that that the monologue format is flawed method and that the overuse of it can damage a church. For example, a preacher can become seen as the sole person with the authority to speak on Biblical matters, and the rest of the church could grow complacent in their own study (and pick up other negatives resulting from acting as an audience).

Doug Pagitt, an Emerging Church leader in Minneapolis, has referred to the monologue style as “speaching,” and recommends instead a “progressional dialogue.” This opens the sermon to questions and input from the congregation, possibly leading to a more impactful service and one that lives up to the idea of the priesthood of all believers.