Currents Counter-Culture: Indigenous Worship vs. Religious Mobility
If every congregation does its own thing, how will newcomers ever feel at home?
July 1, 2003
In Worship Evangelism (Zondervan, 1995), Sally Morgenthaler urged churches to view worship as exactly what postmodern seekers have been seeking—a unique experience of the presence of God. Later she founded Sacramentis.com to help them design interactive worship services especially suited to their communities. We wondered how indigenous churches can still feel like home to the growing number of people who are moving to new addresses but seeking Christian community. You encourage congregations to create their own music and liturgies. But what elements of worship must we have in common? Sally Morgenthaler: Planning doesn't begin with a blank slate. We still look for prayer, interaction with Scripture, and praise and adoration. But that's not enough. The elements need to point to a common theme—the character, person, and acts of God. In the growing diversity of worship styles, what's at the core of worship? The "Grand Narrative." What does this Grand Narrative look like? Liturgical churches historically rehearse the Grand Narrative of God—creation, fall, redemption of humanity. Many emerging ministries craft an eclectic worship mix to interact with the Grand Narrative. Like the modern art of pastiche (creating something new out of pieces on hand), they blend the arts, drama, object lessons, silence, ancient songs and choruses to give people interactive, experiential entry points into the story of God. How can a church miss the redemption story? Many contemporary churches use the elements to highlight a mini-theme of the week. Worship becomes a mental process of preparing for the point of the sermon, a moment when the worshiper realizes, "Ah, that's my problem, and that's how I'm supposed to fix it." But there's a real weariness with ...
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