Thank you for your recent visit to LifeJoy Church. We trust you experienced true life joy during your 43-45 minutes with us. To help us increase your joy on your next visit, please answer the following brief questions:
Which celebration of joy did you attend?
Which celebration of joy did you attend?
Saturday 6PM CWCC (Couples with Children Celebration)
Saturday 7PM CDNC (Couples Date Night Celebration)Saturday 9PM KSFC (Keep Sunday Free Celebration)
Sunday 8AM K2SLC (Kids to Soccer Later Celebration)
Sunday 10 AM TOTS (Traditional Old Tither Service)
Were you warmly greeted at the door and immediately directed to the coffee bar?
Was your coffee prepared as requested and was your barista friendly and efficient?
Once inside the celebration venue, did you find your seat comfortable and your view of the stage unobstructed?
Please rate the Praise Band (unless you attended the Old Tither Service).
a) loud
b) super loud
c) rattling heaven's gates loud
If you attended the Old Tither Service, please rate the choir.
a) uplifting
b) melodious
c) sleep-inducing
If a passage from the Bible was read or prayer was offered, was it short enough to hold your interest?
Please rate, on a scale of 1 to 10, the humorous "Life-Lesson" video or skit, for a) production values b) acting c) writing d) relevance
Was the pastor dressed casually enough to put you at ease?
If he/she gave a message (Joy-Talk) was it sufficiently conversational so as to not come across as "preachy?"
Did the pastor successfully avoid any words that might cause you discomfort, such as sin, crucifixion, repentance or judgement?
Finally, and most importantly, when you left LifeJoy, did you feel better about yourself than when you arrived?
Unfortunately, this fictitious survey is not too far-fetched. One couple who joined a church I served told me of an experience they had in a congregation striving to be "seeker friendly." Consultants from a mega-church were invited to interview the staff and critique a worship service. As I recall, their recommendations included shortening public prayer and the sermon, removing one or two of the less-gifted singers from the Praise Team, cranking up the volume of the music, and encouraging the female members of the team to wear more alluring clothing in order to attract and hold the interest of more young male "worshippers."
If you are familiar with worship as described and modeled in the New Testament, you know that it was intended to glorify God and to edify (build up) His people. It is primarily Theo-centric, focused upon God, and it only benefits man secondarily---that is, it benefits man to focus upon God and learn about Him. Worship was never intended to be for the comfort or entertainment of the congregation, and certainly not to attract young "seekers" and hold their attention with short sermons, short prayers, short skits and short skirts. John Stott said it well, "Sermonettes produce Christianettes."
Was the pastor dressed casually enough to put you at ease?
If he/she gave a message (Joy-Talk) was it sufficiently conversational so as to not come across as "preachy?"
Did the pastor successfully avoid any words that might cause you discomfort, such as sin, crucifixion, repentance or judgement?
Finally, and most importantly, when you left LifeJoy, did you feel better about yourself than when you arrived?
Unfortunately, this fictitious survey is not too far-fetched. One couple who joined a church I served told me of an experience they had in a congregation striving to be "seeker friendly." Consultants from a mega-church were invited to interview the staff and critique a worship service. As I recall, their recommendations included shortening public prayer and the sermon, removing one or two of the less-gifted singers from the Praise Team, cranking up the volume of the music, and encouraging the female members of the team to wear more alluring clothing in order to attract and hold the interest of more young male "worshippers."
If you are familiar with worship as described and modeled in the New Testament, you know that it was intended to glorify God and to edify (build up) His people. It is primarily Theo-centric, focused upon God, and it only benefits man secondarily---that is, it benefits man to focus upon God and learn about Him. Worship was never intended to be for the comfort or entertainment of the congregation, and certainly not to attract young "seekers" and hold their attention with short sermons, short prayers, short skits and short skirts. John Stott said it well, "Sermonettes produce Christianettes."
PS. Yes, I suppose this could be called a sermonette. But before you tattoo me with an H for hypocrisy, let me remind you that these little stories do not pretend to be sermons. For my version of one of those, you are encouraged to see the videos on the River's Edge Bible Church, PCA Facebook page, or go to sermonaudio.com and search for Russ Sukhia.
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