So although I wasn’t leading worship or even in attendance at my church on Sunday morning, I thought it would still be fun to do a worship confessional. I had the privilege of taking my two oldest daughters with me to a church that is about 40 minutes away to be a part of their morning service. We left mom at home with our new addition and hit the road for some good churchin’!

The church we visited is one that has been on my radar for a couple of years. They are a big church for this part of Ontario and seem to be doing some interesting things. In terms of style I would compare them to any typical Willow model but they are a bit unique for Canada in that they are multi-venue on Sunday morning – the main auditorium with contemporary worship, a cafe area with a live video stream of the main service, a youth-focused venue with louder music and a more traditional, quieter venue with more reflective music. With the addition happening on our building and the strong possibility of both multi-venue and multi-site in our future, I was excited to see first-hand how these guys do it.

I think I twittered on Sunday that I am always thankful for the chance to visit other churches. I always come away having learned some new things as well as having been reminded of things to do and things NOT to do. This past Sunday was no exception.

To be fair to the church I visited, I’m not going to post their name until I have a chance to share my thoughts with them directly. I’m not posting this to either lift up or tear down this particular church – it is only a recap of the thoughts and reactions that I had on Sunday morning during my time with them. I did have a chance to meet their director of programming and we’ll be getting together shortly for lunch. I always love the opportunity to meet guys who are involved and passionate about the same things as me!

Okay – so here is the GOOD of my time on Sunday morning -

• Parking attendants were enthusiastic, smiling and looked like they were genuinely excited about helping me find my parking spot as I came in – that was a very nice touch!
• Lots of greeters inside the front door wearing bright yellow lanyards. I had no idea where to take my kids so my first reaction was to look for someone with a yellow lanyard – this made it very easy!
• The check-in process for my two girls was simple, painless, efficient and re-assuring. I had no reservations at all about leaving my girls with their childcare teams.
• The buiding was laid out very well and the different venues were clearly marked with signage that fit the feel and tone of the service. I knew right away by looking at the signage what kind of experience was going to be happening.
• The auditorium is an A+ space – great PA and lighting, lots of stage space, comfortable chairs, good sightlines, good colours and “feel” in the room.
• The musicians were well-rehearsed, talented and sounded like they were a band rather than a bunch of instruments playing along. Their parts and transitions were well thought-out.
• The message was some good teaching and had lots of “next step” opportunities for the congregation to apply the teaching to themselves personally.
• Getting my kids after the service was again painfree and enjoyable. They seemed to have had a good time and I was given a short outline of what my older daughter had done in her class that morning with some suggestions for follow-up questions at home.

Okay – so here is the NOT SO GOOD of my time on Sunday morning -

• The audio mix was terrible – the instruments were way too quiet and the vocals were way too loud. Terrible is probably an overstatement but I definitely spent more time critiquing the mix than I did just enjoying/engaging with the music.
• There was no call to worship – the lead vocalist simply walked out and said something to the effect of “Good morning, everyone. Let’s stand together to praise the Lord.” This did nothing to encourage me, remind me, inspire me, call me to worship our Saviour and Sovereign King as part of His church. It was another significant reminder in regards to the importance of taking time to intentionally call our people to worship on Sunday morning and to never assume that they are ready to go for it.
• The song selection in the worship package did not help things. The band started with three songs that I would consider to be response songs – songs that spoke of me living my life for God, following God, committing everything to God. These are worthy and noble things but they were not songs that spoke of the holiness, justice, mercy, power, grace and eternal love of God. As a worshipper on Sunday morning, I want to sing about those things!! It wasn’t until the fourth song of the set that the band played a song that spoke directly and clearly of the character of God but by then it was, for me, too late.
• The flow of the service was less than stellar. I don’t know if it’s because it is summer and people on the planning team are away but there were several things. The song flow didn’t really work, the announcements seemed to be very full of info, the congregational prayer lasted perhaps 15 seconds, there was a video clip used to introduce the message – I still have no idea what movie it was from or the real point of the clip. It really seemed like the team just felt like they had to include specific elements (announcements, prayer, video clip) and didn’t give a ton of thought to the experience of the person sitting in the seat. I never once in the whole service found my mind or my heart settled on what was actually happening.

Again, none of this stuff is meant to tear down what this church is about or what they are doing. I understand that I have a more critical than normal viewpoint when it comes to this stuff but I still go in to every situation like this trying to learn, trying to glean, trying to be reminded of what is and what is not important. On Sunday morning I was ready – very ready! – to spend some time engaged in worship with part of God’s church that I had never met before. I was ready to sing, to pray, to tell God how thankful I am for the amazing things that He’s done in my life. And yes, it is 100% my responsibility to do those things but on this particular Sunday morning I found myself more conscious of what was NOT happening – good sound, cohesive flow to the service, opportunities for engagement and interaction – rather than giving my mind and my heart an opportunity to pour out my praise to God.

Would I go back to this church? In a heartbeat! This is a church that is reaching their community, having an impact in the lives of people who are close by, a church that is serious about discipleship and serving. This is a church that showed its love for my kids and that they valued their little lives. What I experienced on Sunday morning would in no way affect my decision to go back if I was looking for a church.

Was I impacted deeply about the importance and eternal signifance of every minute on Sunday morning? You bet I was! Again, this is why I love having the opportunity to visit other churches – I always come back with one or two or three things that I can implement immediately in to the culture of our church to help us lead our congregation in to a deeper understanding of what it means to worship God with our whole lives.

So yeah – this is a long confessional. Sorry about that! :) Let’s hear some push back. Was I too critical of the experience? Did I let my wandering mind get the best of me? Is it my own darn fault that I didn’t like the service flow? Let’s hear it!